How to restart your Samsung Galaxy tablet

Restarting a Samsung Galaxy tablet is one of the easiest ways to resolve a wide range of common problems. Knowing the method best suited to your situation can save you a lot of frustration. Whether your tablet is running slowly, an app becomes unresponsive, or the screen freezes, a restart is almost always the best first step you can take to resolve the problem.

You might not even realize it, but there are three methods for restarting your Samsung Galaxy tablet: a standard restart for everyday slowdowns, a force restart for completely frozen screens, and a last-resort recovery process for situations where nothing else works. Each method is simple, takes only a few minutes of your time, and will not put your data at risk. We will guide you every step of the way so you can handle the situation in the best possible way.

Sometimes your tablet works great but has become a little too slow for your liking. All devices might need a reboot from time to time, and your Samsung Galaxy tablet is no different. A standard restart is the quickest solution for slow performance or minor application issues.

Restart your Galaxy tablet using the buttons:

1. Press and hold the Power button on the side and Volume down button at the same time.

2. When the power menu appears, tap Reboot. Confirm your selection.

3. Your tablet will completely shut down and restart automatically.

Restart your Galaxy tablet via the user interface:

1. Swipe down to display the quick settings panel. Press the power button.

2. Select Reboot and confirm your choice again.

Both methods are safe and fast and will not cause you to lose any of your data. A good rule of thumb is that if your tablet seems slow or an app keeps crashing, a standard reset is worth trying first.

How to force restart a frozen Samsung Galaxy tablet?

If your screen is frozen, it will not respond to touch calls for a force restart. This method will completely bypass the software and force the hardware to restart.

1. Press and hold the Volume down button and the Side/power button simultaneously.

2. Continue to hold for at least 7 seconds.

3. You’ll know it worked when the screen goes black, the tablet vibrates briefly, and the Samsung logo appears upon reboot.

Samsung’s official support documentation states that this is the recommended approach when a device is frozen or not responding to any of your inputs. It is safe, effective and reversible.

If the two methods mentioned above fail to get your tablet working, don’t panic! There are still things you can do to make your device bend to your will.

1. Hold it Power button for up to two minutes to force a complete shutdown.

2. Leave the tablet power off for one minute, then press the button Power button again to restart it.

3. If the tablet is still unresponsive, you should let the battery drain completely. Once done, plug it in and charge for 30 minutes before turning it back on.

If one of these restarts does not resolve the issue you are having with your tablet, you may want to consider a factory reset. The problem is that this method completely erases the tablet and restores it to its original state. All apps, photos and personal data will be deleted permanently, so you should back up your files before continuing.

To perform a factory reset, you need to go to Settings > General management > Reset > Factory data reset. This will require several confirmations from you.

If factory reset still doesn’t fix your problem, the problem may be hardware related. You can try the diagnostic tool in the Samsung Members app. Launch the application, go to Support and run the tool to identify any underlying issues. It will check software, battery, network connections, sensors, buttons, cameras and much more. Your tablet may need additional help from Samsung support or a repair shop, and that’s the best way to understand things.

Most tablet problems are easier to fix than they might seem at first, and a simple restart is usually enough to get everything working properly again. Now that you know several ways to do this, you will surely find a way to repair your Samsung Galaxy tablet.