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How to Turn Your Samsung Galaxy On, Off, and Restart It

Elena is 71. She keeps her Galaxy phone in her handbag. One day at the clinic, she took the phone out and the screen was black. She pressed the screen. Nothing happened. She tapped it again. Still nothing. Elena worried that the phone had broken, or that the battery had died at the worst time. She did not know if she should press a button, plug it in, or ask for help.

A black screen often means something very simple. The phone may be off. The phone may be asleep. Or the phone may need a restart. These are three different things, and each one has a calm, simple fix. This guide explains all three. You will learn how to turn the phone on, how to turn it off, and how to restart it when it feels slow or stuck.

First, learn the names of the parts. The Side key is the long, thin button on the side edge of your phone. On some phones it is on the right edge. On other phones the place may differ a little. The screen is the large glass face of the phone. The Quick settings panel is the set of small round icons that appears when you swipe down from the top of the screen. One of those icons is for power. You will use that icon a lot in this guide.

Please read this warning before you start. The Side key can do different things on different phones, because its job can be changed in settings. On some phones, pressing and holding the Side key opens the power menu. On other phones, the same press opens a voice assistant instead. Both are normal. That is why this guide gives you two ways to turn the phone off or restart it. If one way opens the voice assistant, do not worry. Just use the other way. Never assume that one press will do the same thing on every Galaxy phone.

Step by step: turn the phone on

  1. Find the Side key. Hold the phone in your hand. Run your finger slowly along the side edges. Feel for a thin button that sticks out a little. That is the Side key. On many Galaxy phones it is on the right side, near the top. On some models there may also be buttons for volume above or below it. The Side key is the one you will use to wake and turn on the phone.
  2. Press the Side key once, briefly. Press it and let go quickly, like ringing a doorbell. The screen should light up. If the screen lights up, your phone was only asleep. Swipe up on the screen, or use your fingerprint or face, in the normal way you unlock it. You do not need to do anything else.
  3. If the screen stays black, press and hold the Side key. Press the Side key and keep holding it for a few seconds. Do not tap it again and again. Hold it steady. You may feel a small vibration. The Samsung name or a logo may appear on the screen. Let go of the button when you see the logo. Wait. The phone is now starting up. It may take a minute. Do not press more buttons while you wait.
  4. If the screen still stays black, charge the phone. Plug the phone into its charger. Leave it plugged in for at least 15 minutes. Do not keep pressing buttons during that time. After 15 minutes, try step 3 again while the phone is still plugged in. A phone with a fully empty battery needs a little charge before it can show anything on the screen.
  5. Unlock the phone when it asks you. After the phone starts, it may ask for your PIN, your pattern, or your password. Type it in slowly. This is the code you set when you first used the phone. It is not the same as a code from a text message. If you have forgotten it, do not keep guessing many times. Ask a trusted family member for help, or contact Samsung support.

Step by step: turn the phone off with the Quick settings panel

  1. Swipe down from the top with two fingers. Place two fingers at the very top edge of the screen. Swipe down in one smooth move. A panel will open with small round icons. This is the Quick settings panel. If you only see a few icons, swipe down again to see more.
  2. Look for the power icon. Look for a small icon that looks like a circle with a short line at the top. That is the power icon. It is often near the top of the panel, close to the settings gear picture. The place may differ a little by model. Take your time and look at each icon.
  3. Tap the power icon. A new screen will appear with choices. Look for the words Power off, Turn off, or Shut down. The exact words may differ a little. Tap that choice. The phone may ask you to confirm. Tap it again to confirm. The screen will go black. The phone is now off.
  4. Wait a moment. Give the phone a few seconds. Do not press buttons at once. When the screen is black and still, the phone is off. You can now put it away, or leave it off for a while.

Step by step: turn the phone off or restart it with the Side key

  1. Press and hold the Side key. Press the Side key and hold it down. Keep holding it. On some phones, the power menu will appear after a few seconds. On other phones, a voice assistant may open instead. Watch the screen and see what happens on your phone.
  2. If the power menu appears, choose what you need. The menu will show choices such as Power off and Restart. Tap Power off to turn the phone off. Tap Restart to turn the phone off and on again by itself. Confirm if the phone asks you to confirm. Then wait while the phone does the job.
  3. If a voice assistant opens instead, use the Quick settings way. Say nothing to the assistant. Tap outside the assistant box, or press the back arrow, to close it. Then use the Quick settings panel method above, with two fingers swiping down and the power icon. That way works even when the Side key is set to open the voice assistant. Do not change the Side key setting unless you feel sure and have help.
  4. If the screen is frozen, hold the Side key for longer. If the screen does not respond to touch at all, press and hold the Side key and keep holding it for a long time. Do not let go after two seconds. Keep holding and watch the screen. The phone may turn off or restart on its own after a while. If nothing happens after a long hold, plug the phone in to charge and try again, or ask Samsung support for help for your model. Do not press the phone hard. Gentle, steady holding is enough.

Try it slowly: Elena at the clinic

Elena tried the steps in order. First she pressed the Side key once. The screen stayed black. Then she pressed and held the Side key for a few seconds. The Samsung name appeared. She let go and waited. The phone asked for her PIN. She typed it in slowly. Her phone was back, with her contacts and photos just as she left them.

Later that week, Elena practised turning the phone off at home, when she was not in a hurry. She swiped down with two fingers. She found the power icon. She tapped Power off. The phone went black. She waited ten seconds. Then she pressed and held the Side key until the logo appeared. She felt calm, because she had done it once when nothing was urgent.

You can practise in the same way. Do it at home, sitting down, with the charger nearby. Practise turning the phone off with the Quick settings panel first. Then practise turning it on again with the Side key. When you have done it once at home, you will feel much less worried if the screen goes black when you are out.

Common mistakes

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if my phone is off or just asleep?

Press the Side key once, briefly. If the screen lights up, the phone was asleep. If the screen stays black after a brief press, the phone may be off or the battery may be empty. Try a long hold of the Side key, and then try charging it for 15 minutes.

Will restarting delete my photos or contacts?

No. A normal restart does not delete photos, contacts, or messages. The phone turns off and starts again, and your things should still be there. Do not confuse Restart with a factory reset, which is a very different thing and does erase the phone. This guide does not tell you to do a factory reset.

Why does holding the Side key open a voice assistant on my phone?

On some Galaxy phones, the Side key is set to open a voice assistant when you hold it. On other phones, the same hold opens the power menu. The setting can differ by model and by how the phone was set up. That is why this guide gives you the Quick settings way as well. Use the way that works on your phone.

How often should I restart my phone?

You do not need to restart every day. Restart once in a while, for example when the phone feels slow, when an app freezes, or after a software update. Once a week is plenty for most people. If you never restart, that is also fine, as long as the phone works well.

My phone is an A-series model. Will the steps be the same as for an S-series phone?

Mostly yes, but small details may differ. The Side key may be in a slightly different place. The power icon may sit in a different spot in the Quick settings panel. The words on the power menu may differ a little. Use the ideas in this guide and look for the same icons and words on your own phone. If a step looks different, use the Settings search box to look for the name of the setting.

If the words on your screen look different

The power menu is a good example of how words can change. One phone may say Power off. Another may say Turn off. A third may say Shut down. The Quick settings panel may show the power icon at the top on one model and a little lower on another. An A-series phone and an S-series phone can look a little different, even when they do the same job.

Look for the picture and the meaning, not only the exact word. The power icon is a circle with a short line at the top. Restart means the phone turns off and on again by itself. Power off means the phone stays off until you turn it on again. If you cannot find the power icon, swipe down with two fingers again to show the full panel. If you still cannot find it, open Settings, tap the search box at the top, and type Power. The search can point you to the right place for your model, region, carrier, and One UI version, which may be One UI 8, One UI 8.5, or One UI 9.