How to Reset an iPhone 7 or Enter DFU Mode for Last-Ditch Recovery

This tutorial explains how to reset an iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and how to activate Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU) mode to troubleshoot your device if needed. Apple has changed the reset process with the iPhone 7 series, and with the devices now making their way into users' hands, it's a good time to let everyone know what to do when things go wrong.

A hard reset basically force-reboots your iPhone, which is useful if the device is freezing, throwing up errors, or has stopped responding completely. DFU mode, on the other hand, restores an iPhone if a reset or standard Recovery Mode doesn't solve the problem you're experiencing.

DFU mode lets the device interface with iTunes, update the firmware and restore the OS without automatically installing the last downloaded version. It's useful for installing older versions of iOS if a beta persistently hangs your phone, or if a jailbreak goes bad.

Note for iPhone 6s and earlier owners: Apple has had to alter the hard reset process and DFU mode activation on the iPhone 7 because the physical-click home button has been replaced with a Force Touch-based Taptic Engine, which is rendered unresponsive if the OS isn't functioning properly. Owners of iPhone 6s/6s Plus or earlier devices should therefore consider all mentions of the "lower volume button" in the below steps to indicate when the home button should be held down instead.

How to Reset an iPhone 7

Press and hold down the iPhone's power button on the right side of the handset.
With the power button still held down, press and hold the lower volume button on the other side of the handset.
Continue to hold both buttons while the display remains blank, until it comes back on with the Apple logo showing.

How to Activate DFU Mode on an iPhone 7

Turn off your iPhone and connect it to a computer using a Lightning to USB cable, and ensure iTunes is running.
Press and hold down the power button on the handset for three seconds.
With the power button still held down, press and hold the lower volume button, and keep holding both for 10 seconds. The screen should remain blank throughout, so if you see the Apple logo displayed, you've held the buttons for too long and will need to restart the process.
Release the power button, but keep holding the lower volume button for about 5 seconds. Again, if your phone displays the "Plug into iTunes" screen, you've held down too long and need to restart.
If you performed the previous steps correctly and your phone's screen remained blank, a dialog prompt should appear on your computer saying "iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes."

iTunes' iPhone device screen should show the phone as being in iPhone Recovery Mode, with the message: "If you are experiencing problems with your iPhone, you can restore its original settings by clicking Restore iPhone."

iTunes recovery mode

To exit DFU mode, simply hold both the lower volume button and the power button until the Apple logo is displayed on your iPhone's screen.

Related Roundup: iPhone 7

Buyer's Guide: iPhone 8 (Caution)

Top Rated Comments

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JustThinkin'

23 months ago

This post is rambling too much. Get to the point within a sentence or two.

You must be joking. I found the article well written - in fact it was just right. Novices and Experts alike can get the point quickly - because it provides proper context.

Rating: 11 Votes

Kaibelf

23 months ago

This post is rambling too much. Get to the point within a sentence or two.

Behold, the Twitter generation.

Rating: 5 Votes

2457282

23 months ago

I had no idea that the reset had changed to use the lower volume button. Thank you MR, this will save me some frustration in the near future. :D

Rating: 5 Votes

Larry The L

23 months ago

This post is rambling too much. Get to the point within a sentence or two.

Are you serious? The article is fine. The things you people complain about just astound me. Can you please rewrite the article for us and prove your point by showing us how your abridged version will work better than the one presented. Thanks so much.
[doublepost=1474050351][/doublepost]

You must be joking. I found the article well written - in fact it was just right. Novices and Experts alike can get the point quickly - because it provides proper context.

You need to understand that some people have an attention span of only one sentence. We must accommodate them.

Rating: 4 Votes

SteveJobs2.0

23 months ago

This post is rambling too much. Get to the point within a sentence or two.

Rating: 4 Votes

Telos101

23 months ago

Does this indicate that the lock and volume buttons will remain physical?

This is a really good point. Something has to remain physical on the iPhone 8, right? Otherwise every OS freeze would essentially brick your phone!

Rating: 4 Votes

realeric

23 months ago

This post is rambling too much. Get to the point within a sentence or two.

"Use 'lower volume button' instead of 'home button' to reset or DFU iPhone 7".

Rating: 3 Votes

Fortimir

23 months ago

"Use 'lower volume button' instead of 'home button' to reset or DFU iPhone 7".

Yeah, those instructions work for the already-initiated. But every day there will be people learning on how to do this for the first time. Obviously they put this post together for search engine purposes so in the future when someone goes to Google trying to figure this out, all the instructions are there.

Rating: 2 Votes

SteveJobs2.0

23 months ago

You must be joking. I found the article well written - in fact it was just right. Novices and Experts alike can get the point quickly - because it provides proper context.

Bullet points are fine, but the initial paragraphs contribute little to the discussion. Also, at least on the mobile version, you cannot see how to reset the phone until you read the full text which requires clicking on a separate link.

Rating: 1 Votes

keysofanxiety

23 months ago

This post is rambling too much. Get to the point within a sentence or two.

Had there been two sentences written instead:

"What the hell? This isn't an article. Next time, take the effort to write some more stuff before putting it on your page."

Rating: 1 Votes

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