You Should Memorize These Ways to Reset Your Cell Service

You might be scrolling through Twitter or TikTok, and your iPhone suddenly stops receiving new data. Getting disconnected from the network happens sometimes, so you should memorize a few fixes in advance to get back online faster.

Let’s get this out of the way first: It’s possible that you accidentally switched your phone to Airplane mode or disabled cellular data. Swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen to find the Control Center and make sure that the Airplane mode is disabled, and that cellular data mode is enabled. If you want to restart your phone, hold down the Side button and the Volume Down button until you see the Power screen, and swipe on “Slide to Power Off.” Wait for 10-15 seconds and hold the side button again to restart.

How to force restart your iPhone

You can “hard reboot” or “hard reset” your phone, if needed. It’s a slightly longer restart process that varies for different iPhones, so take a look at our instructions here. If you have a modern iPhone (ones with Face ID), press and release the Volume Up button, then quickly press and release the Volume Down button, and hold the Side button until the screen turns off and you see the Apple logo.

How to reset your network settings

You can also try resetting your network settings directly. This subset of the Reset feature only resets the network settings and nothing else.

Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings. Enter the passcode and confirm, and your iPhone will reset the network connection to its factory settings.

Pop your SIM card out and in

One thing that can occasionally help is taking your SIM card out of your iPhone for a moment, to give the card a chance to reset. Use the SIM tool that came with your phone and push into the tiny hole on the side of your device. Pop the SIM tray out, wait a moment, then push it back in.

If all else fails, take it up with your carrier or go to the Apple Store

If you’ve done everything on your side and still have network connectivity problems, talk to your carrier’s customer support to see if there’s an issue from their end, and consider getting another SIM card. If there’s physical damage to your iPhone, or a hardware antenna issue, you’ll need to talk to someone at the Apple Store.