How to Power Off, Restart Samsung Galaxy S22, S21 and S20

Are you trying to turn off your Samsung phone? There are many reasons to do this. For starters, it can be a quick and easy way to avoid being interrupted by your smartphone while watching movies, attending meetings, and other events. Additionally, it is often the first troubleshooting method you try whenever you encounter a problem with your handset. It seems to magically fix most problems. Regardless of the reason, there are many ways to turn off or restart your Samsung phone, whether it is a Galaxy S22, Galaxy S21, Galaxy S20, or older models. Let’s take a look at them all.

Instructions to turn off and restart Galaxy S21 and S22

Turning off or restarting the Galaxy S21 or S22 series isn't too difficult, but a small change from Samsung to activate Bixby makes this simple task unnecessarily complicated.

If you're looking to turn off or restart your Galaxy S21 or S22, follow the instructions below.

Customize the Side key on Samsung Galaxy S21 and S22

The power key on the Galaxy S21 and S22 series is called the Side key. Its primary function on older smartphones was to bring up the power menu. However, on the Galaxy S21 and S22, pressing and holding the button brings up Bixby, Samsung's voice assistant.

If you don’t use a voice assistant, this can be frustrating. Thankfully, you can tweak the Side key settings to bring up the power menu, making it easy to power down, restart your device, or activate emergency mode when needed.

1. Open the Settings app and navigate to Advanced features > Side key .

2. From the Press and hold section , select the Power off menu option .

How to Power Off, Restart Samsung Galaxy S22, S21 and S20
Customize the Side key so it shows the power menu when pressed

Now, whenever you press and hold the Side key on your Galaxy S21 or S22, it will bring up the power menu.

How to restart Galaxy S21 and S22

If you've customized the Side key functionality, you can easily turn off or restart your Galaxy S21 or S22 in a few steps.

1. Press and hold (hold) the Side key on your Galaxy S21 or S22.

2. Your phone will vibrate and you will see the power menu appear on the screen.

3. Select Power off or Restart option according to your preference.

4. Confirm your selection by pressing Power off or Restart again.

If you're using Bixby on your Galaxy S21 or S22, you can also say, "Hey Bixby, turn off the phone" to bring up the power menu from where you turned off your device. This is the easiest way to turn off your Galaxy S21 or S22 without having to press any buttons.

Use the quick settings panel

Another way to turn off your Galaxy S21 or S22 is to use the quick settings panel.

1. Swipe down on the status bar to expand the notification shade.

2. Swipe back again to display the quick settings panel.

3. You will see the virtual power button right next to the search icon at the top of the control panel.

4. Tap on it to bring up the power menu. From there, select the Power off or Restart option . You will have to confirm your choice to turn off or restart your device.

How to Power Off, Restart Samsung Galaxy S22, S21 and S20
Use the quick settings panel to turn off your Galaxy S21 or S22

The above shutdown and restart methods can be applied on Samsung's flaship product lines, including the S21 FE, S21 Ultra, and S22 Ultra.

Instructions to turn off and restart Galaxy S20

When the Samsung Galaxy S20 series was launched, there were quite a few changes, including how to turn off and restart the device. With most Android devices and previous Samsung models, the way to turn off the device is to press the side button of the device, then select the power off mode in the display interface. With the Galaxy S20 series, there are different ways to turn off the power. The following section will guide you on how to turn off and restart on the Samsung Galaxy S20.

Method 1: Open the Power menu via physical button

To access the Power menu on your device, the simplest way is to press the volume down key and the side key at the same time for a few seconds as shown below.

How to Power Off, Restart Samsung Galaxy S22, S21 and S20

Immediately after that, the Power menu appears so we can press Power Off to completely turn off the power or press Restart to restart the device.

How to Power Off, Restart Samsung Galaxy S22, S21 and S20

Method 2: Change the function of the side button

The right side button of the Samsung Galaxy S20 is not the power button, so when we hold it down for a few seconds, it will call the company's virtual assistant Bixby instead of opening the Power menu. However, Samsung supports you to change the side button function according to other options supported by the system. We access Settings > Advanced Feature > Side Key . Then in the user menu, press Power Off Menu to switch the task to perform.

So when the user presses the side button, the Power menu will be displayed to choose to turn off or restart.

How to Power Off, Restart Samsung Galaxy S22, S21 and S20

Method 3: Open Power menu via Quick Panel

Samsung also provides a shortcut to quickly access the Power menu from the Quick Panel. Swipe down from the top of the screen and select the power button icon in the upper right corner as shown.

How to Power Off, Restart Samsung Galaxy S22, S21 and S20

Method 4: Use Bixby Samsung to turn off and restart

Bixby will help you turn off or restart your device. If you haven't changed the side button's action, press and hold the side button until the Bixby icon appears. If you have changed the action, swipe down from the top of the screen to open the notification interface and select Bixby from there.

When the virtual assistant logo appears, say Turn Off My Phone or Restart My Handset .

How to Power Off, Restart Samsung Galaxy S22, S21 and S20

At this point, the virtual assistant will ask you again if you are sure you want to perform the action, press the Power Off command directly or press the Bixby button to perform via spoken command.

How to Power Off, Restart Samsung Galaxy S22, S21 and S20

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