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How to reset an iPhone to factory settings?
If you’re upgrading your iPhone or you’ve been experiencing issues and have decided to sell it, you’ll need to completely reset your iPhone.
Resetting your iPhone back to factory settings clears your personal data and makes sure no one has access to your private information.
Read on to learn more about how to factory reset an iPhone and the different ways to back up your personal data!
When should I reset my iPhone?
Before you trade in iPhone, you’ll need to sign out of your iCloud account once you’ve backed up your device.
Just make sure to reset your phone once it has been backed up or you will lose all of your personal data. Follow these easy steps to factory reset your iPhone
- Select Settings and scroll down to General
- Choose General and then Reset
- Choose Erase all Content and Settings
- You’ll be asked to enter your passcode and you’ll need to confirm you want to erase everything
- Once you’ve confirmed, it should take a few minutes to erase
- Once everything has been wiped, your iPhone should restart as new
What happens if I reset my iPhone?
It’s a pretty simple process to carry out an iPhone full reset through factory settings, but you will need to complete a few steps first. Before you reset your device, make sure it’s fully charged as the reset process can drain the battery.
When you start the reset, to turn off Apple’s Find My Service, you’ll be asked to enter your PIN code and then your Apple ID password.
The iPhone screen will go dark and the Apple logo will appear with a progress bar. You should then be greeted with a screen saying ‘hello’ – this indicates the reset has completed.
You’ll now be able to send your iPhone to the buyer without worrying if any of your personal data can be accessed.
First thing, back up your iPhone
We encourage backing up your iPhone before carrying out a factory reset to make sure nothing is lost. All you’ll need to do is back up your data to iCloud, remove your iCloud account and delete your Apple ID.
Just follow these easy steps to back up your iPhone to iCloud:
- Go to Settings and choose your name at the top of the page
- Open your Apple ID page and choose iCloud
- Scroll and select iCloud backup, then Back Up Now
Follow these steps to sign out of your Apple ID:
- Go to Settings and select your Apple ID at the top of the page
- Scroll down and select Sign Out
- Enter your password if prompted to and then Turn Off in the top right corner
How to reset iPhone without password?
Thinking ‘how do I factory reset my iPhone without a password?’ We’ve got you covered! All you need to do is reset your iPhone using iTunes, iCloud, or Settings.
Settings
To reset your iPhone, you’ll need to go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase Content and Settings
iTunes
Just connect your iPhone to a computer or MacBook and open iTunes. In the Summary Tab choose Restore iPhone and then Restore.
iCloud
To reset your iPhone using iCloud, you can only carry out this process if you know your Apple ID password and Find My iPhone is turned on. Go to iCloud.com and choose to Find My iPhone > All Devices > Erase iPhone. Your iPhone passcode and data should have been wiped.
Reset iPhone using iTunes
Wondering ‘how to factory reset iPhone on iTunes?’. It’s really easy to reset your iPhone using iTunes. Just connect your device to a computer or MacBook and follow these easy steps:
- Use a USB or USB-C cable to connect your iPhone to a computer or MacBook
- Locate the iTunes app and click the device button near the top left of the iTunes window
- Choose Summary
- Click Restore and follow the on screen instructions – you may need to choose Agree to the software license and download the necessary iOS file before restoring
- The process can take several minutes and you’ll be presented with iOS setup Assistant upon start-up.
- You can then restore your iPhone from a backup or start from scratch
How to hard reset iPhone
A hard reset is recommended when your iPhone is unresponsive, for example, the screen has frozen, the screen has gone black or there is an issue with the start-up. However, there are different ways to carry out a force restart on different models.
Just follow these simple steps for each iPhone model:
- If you’ve got the iPhone SE 2016, iPhone 6S, or an earlier model then you’ll need to press and hold the sleep/wake home buttons together until you see the Apple logo
- If you’ve got the iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus, press and hold the sleep/wake and volume buttons down until the Apple logo appears
- If you have an iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone SE (2020), iPhone 12, or iPhone 13 then press and quickly release the volume up button, press and quickly release the volume down button, press and hold the sleep/wake button until the Apple logo appears.
How to soft reset iPhone
A soft reset is just turning your iPhone on and off, but there are two different ways to do this!
If you need to quickly reboot your device, just hold down the power button and one of the volume buttons. It all depends on what model you have, some older iPhones just need you just hold down the power button for them to turn off.
The second option is to open Settings, General, and scroll down the page to find ‘Shut Down’ which is highlighted in blue. Drag the ‘Power Off’ slider and it will turn off. Wait around 30 seconds to turn the iPhone back on.
Whether you’re upgrading or just want to make some extra cash, trade in your iPhone with Decluttr or head over to our sell cell phone page!
