Follow the steps below to learn how to restart or force restart your iPad Pro.
How to Restart Your iPad Pro
Apple does not offer any option in iPadOS to restart your iPad Pro. Instead, you have to first shut down the device and then turn it back on to restart it. You don’t need to worry about closing apps running in the background or losing any data loss with this method.
Simultaneously press the Volume Up button and the Top button on your iPad Pro until the power menu appears. If you have the first or second-generation iPad Pro with a physical Home button, you only need to press and hold the Top button until the slider to turn off the device appears. Drag the slider to turn off your iPad Pro. Alternatively, you can navigate to Settings > General > Shut Down and then drag the slider to turn off the device. Wait for 30 seconds and then press and hold the Top button to turn it on. Once the Apple logo flashes on the screen, you can get let go of the button.
How to Force Restart Your iPad Pro
If your iPad Pro has frozen or become unresponsive, you can try to force restart it. In such situations, you won’t be able to bring up the slider to turn off the device manually.
Force restarting your iPad Pro won’t lead to any data loss; instead, it will help your frozen device get back to work. However, if your iPad Pro froze while working on a document, there could be partial data loss, but that will be due to the application freezing rather than force restarting the device.
This method is completely safe and won’t harm your iPad Pro in any way. You can also force restart your iPad Pro if it is not booting despite holding the Top button.
Do note that force restarting and hard resetting the iPad Pro are not the same. The latter refers to resetting your iPad back to factory settings, leading to data loss.
Follow the steps below if you have an iPad Pro with Face ID to force restart it. The steps remain the same irrespective of the iPadOS build your iPad is running on.
Make sure to hold your iPad in portrait orientation during the process. Quickly press and release the Volume Up button. Now, quickly press and release the Volume Down button. Press and hold the Top button until the Apple logo appears on the display. You can let go of the button after that.
If you have an iPad Pro with a Touch ID-based Home button, you need to press and hold the Top button and the Home button at the same time for a few seconds until the Apple logo shows up.
Restarting and Force Restarting Your iPad Pro Is Not the Same
You can restart your iPad Pro once every few days or weeks if you think it is acting a bit sluggish or if there is excessive battery drain. However, you won’t need to force restart your iPad Pro regularly. It is only to be used when the device acts up and completely stops responding to your inputs. In such scenarios, you don’t really have a choice except force restarting it.
