Occasionally an iPod or iPhone may freeze or fail to respond to your commands. This can happen for a number of reasons and does not necessarily indicate a serious problem. Sometimes they just need a restart much like the way your computer needs a reset once in a while.

Restarting an iPod or iPhone is a simple procedure that will not erase any of your music, data files, or customized preferences.

1. Check that your hold switch is off by sliding the switch away from the headphone jack. The hold switch is located in the top corner of the iPod. If you see orange, then the iPod is locked. To unlock the iPod, slide the switch in the opposite position.

2. Press and hold the following combination of buttons buttons simultaneously for approximately 10 seconds to reset the iPod.

• iPod 1G to 3G (scroll & touch wheel iPods): "Menu" and "Play/Pause"
  
  
  
• iPod 4G+ (includes Photo, Nano, Video, and Mini): "Menu" and "Select Center Button"
  
  
  
• iPhone & iPod Touch: "Menu" and "Sleep Button" (see image on right)
  
• Shuffle: Turn it off. Turn it on. Done.
  

 

If you have an iPod Mini or 4th gen iPod or higher, then you need to press the Menu and Select buttons. The Select button is the center button in the middle of the wheel.

For older iPods (1G - 3G) you'll need to press the Menu and Play buttons to restart.

Upon reset, your will see the iPod/iPhone name and the Apple logo. When this happens, you can let go - the iPhone/iPod is rebooting. If your battery is very low, you may have to attach your iPod/iPhone to a power source.

3. The iPod name and the Apple logo will briefly appear upon a successful restart before advancing to the Main Menu.

4. If you have your iPod/iPhone connected to your computer and iTunes open, then your iPod/iPhone should mount and show up under "Devices" in the left iTunes sidebar. If your iPod/iPhone doesn't mount, please read this page: My iPod/iPhone Won't Mount or Update.

READER COMMENTS:

"I just wanted to say thank you so much for setting up this easy to use iPod Tech Support website. I dropped my iPod, and I went into shock because I thought I had lost all my songs and my $500 iPod. However, I realized it was just frozen, and using your website, I was able to reset my iPod, keeping all my songs, but unfreezing my iPod. Thanks again for everything. I really appreciate. One thing though, I had a small problem unfreezing the iPod: the hold switch was on. Just might be something u would want to point out. Thanks again and I know I am among many people that are thankful for your assistance." ~ MaxMcC

"This page has been a tremendous help to me. It is easy to understand (and not talking down to people, such as myself who have had an Ipod for several months and have only tapped into the music-listening/40K songs feature and not all the other cool features). The site explains very clearly in both text and graphics how one needs to fix a frozen Ipod. Explaining about the hold button is also very helpful, since if you're not used to one, it could accidently get pushed. Thank you very much." ~David

"got into a a big PANIC when my ipod froze on me, thanks to the website it got fixed in no time and no music was missing and the panic was gone, thanks for posting all the info!!!"