How To Put An iPad In Recovery Mode (With Or Without Home Button)

Putting an iPad into recovery mode is unlikely to be something many users will have to do often, but knowing how to do it when the situation is called for is important. Recovery mode is a useful way to quickly and easily make changes to Apple’s tablet, including restoring an iPad. While the process of entering recovery mode is simple enough, it does differ depending on whether the iPad has a Home button.

As is the case with most of Apple’s devices, an iPad is a fairly reliable product. Therefore, most users should be able to avoid the frequency and intensity of problems that can affect operating systems and ecosystems that tend to be more open. However, that’s not to say problems don’t ever arise. Like any device, an iPad can be prone to software failures at times and recovery mode is often a useful way to rectify problems.

The method for putting an iPad into recovery mode depends on the model. More specifically, whether the tablet has a Home button or not. On iPad models with a Home button, recovery mode can be activated by pressing and holding the Home and Top buttons at the same time. If there’s no top button, then the Side button can be used instead. Regardless, both buttons will need to be held down until the recovery mode screen launches. If an iPad doesn’t have a Home button, then a different button combination is required to enter recovery mode. In these cases, the user will need to press but quickly release the volume up button, followed by the volume down (press and release again) button, and then press and hold the top button. At which point the iPad will begin to restart and, as long as the user continues to hold down the top button, the iPad will launch into recovery mode.

When & Why To Use Recovery Mode

Actually activating recovery mode is only the first step and largely useless on its own. However, what recovery mode can and does enable is the option to quickly access the system settings. Once here, users will be able to apply any outstanding updates or restore the iPad completely. Either of which can be a way to fix any issues that might be affecting the tablet. Generally speaking, the update option will be the best option to try first, but restore is there for when all else fails. The recovery mode can also be a very useful tool when the problem affects overall access to the iPad. For example, when the tablet is stuck on the Apple logo, a restore might very well fix the problem and allow the user to access their iPad again.

Many issues can often be fixed without having to go through recovery mode, and this is regardless of whether it is an iPad or any other device. Not to mention, restoring an iPad can result in a loss of the data on the device and this is all the more likely when Apple’s backup features are not actively used, or often enough. Due to all of this, putting an iPad into recovery mode should really be considered the final option for fixing problems, once all other options have been tried.

Source: Apple

About The Author

John Finn
(827 Articles Published)

John Finn is a technology editor and writer for Screen Rant. John has been covering technology since 2014 and focuses on where tech meets the movie and TV industry. A Psychology graduate from England who now lives in the US, John previously worked in the aviation industry as an airline reviewer. You can find John on Twitter (@J_Finns) or contact directly at john [at] screenrant [dot] com.

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