How to clear iphone to factory settings

If your iPhone is frozen, unresponsive, stuck in a booting loop or became sluggish, you can try resetting your iPhone to its factory settings (known as hard-reset) — the way it was when you took it out of the box. In this tutorial we'll show you 3 ways to reset an iPhone. The procedure requires no third-party tools or specialist knowledge.

Note: Bear in mind this will wipe everything on your iPhone. Make sure you back up your photos, videos and other important content, take out the SIM card before performing a factory reset.

Method 1: Hard reset directly from the iPhone

  1. Tap the Settings icon on your Home screen.
  2. Go to General and then scroll to the bottom of the screen.
  3. Tap on Reset -> Reset All Content and Settings.
  4. You'll get a warning box appear, with the option to Erase iPhone in red. Tap it.

    How to clear iphone to factory settings

  5. You'll need to enter your Apple ID password to confirm the action, then the iPhone will wipe everything off its storage and go back to the initial setup screen you saw when you first used the device.

This is the easiest way to reset an iPhone but it requires you remember the Passcode. If you forgot your iPhone Passcode and couldn't bypass the lock screen, then perform a hard reset with the following methods.

Method 2: Hard reset an iPhone with Home + Power buttons

  1. Hold the sleep/wake button ( It is located on the right side of iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus. On iPhone 5 or lower models it's located on the top of the phone.) and the Home button at the same time.

    How to clear iphone to factory settings

  2. Hold them both until you see the screen go black. In some cases, you may need to keep holding them even after the red power-off slider appears. If it appears, just keep holding it.
  3. Wait until the silver Apple logo appears.
  4. When this happens, you can let go - the iPhone is rebooting.

Now your device can boot up normally. The device has been restored with factory settings but the exciting thing is, you will find all your data intact and unaltered.

Method 3: Hard reset an iPhone from recovery mode

  1. Connect your iPhone to your computer with a USB cable and start the iTune.
  2. Before entering the recovery mode, you need to turn off your device completely. Press and hold the Power button and slide to turn it off. If the device isn't responding, press and hold the Power and Home buttons at the same time for a few seconds to turn it off.
  3. Press and hold the Home button until the "Connect to iTunes" screen appears — you'll see a connector pointing at an iTunes icon. You can now release the button.
  4. At this point, you'll also see a message telling you iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode and needs to restore. Now you can click the Restore button in iTunes and then wait for iOS to download and install on your iPhone.

How to clear iphone to factory settings

If you're planning on trading in your old iPhone for a new one, there are some steps you'll want to take beforehand to ensure it's de-linked from your accessories and accounts and that everything on it is erased.

How to clear iphone to factory settings

The procedures described below shouldn't take long to follow, and at the end of it you can rest assured that you have a clean ‌iPhone‌ reset to default factory settings and ready to trade in. Here's what to do.

Back Up Your iPhone

Before you reset, you should back up your device. You can back up your data to iCloud, but we'd advise you connect your ‌iPhone‌ up to a computer and perform an iTunes backup instead, just to be sure. You can find steps to back up your ‌iPhone‌ by clicking here.

Transfer 2FA Accounts

If you buy a new ‌iPhone‌ to replace your existing one and you use an authenticator app (Google Authenticator, for example) to access online accounts protected by two-factor authentication (2FA), then you should transfer those accounts to your new phone as soon as possible, because without the 2FA codes close at hand, you could find yourself locked out of your online accounts.

Got an Apple Watch? Time to Unpair

If you're trading in your ‌iPhone‌ and have an Apple Watch linked to it, you're going to want to unpair it first. Here's how.

  1. Bring your ‌iPhone‌ and Apple Watch close to each other.
  2. Launch the stock Watch app on your ‌iPhone‌.
  3. Tap the My Watch tab.
  4. Select the Apple Watch you want to unpair, then tap the info button (the encircled "I") next to it on the next screen.
    How to clear iphone to factory settings

  5. Tap Unpair Apple Watch.
  6. Tap again to confirm.
  7. Enter your Apple ID password when prompted to turn off Activation Lock.

Deactivate Services and Log Out Manually

Erasing your ‌iPhone‌ deactivates Find My ‌iPhone‌ and logs you out of all your ‌iCloud‌ and iTunes accounts automatically – in theory. Occasionally we've heard cases of erased iOS devices still being linked to ‌Find My‌ ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iCloud‌ accounts.

How to clear iphone to factory settings

Whatever the truth of these reports, you can always make doubly sure this won't happen by deactivating and unlinking these services yourself. To learn how to turn off ‌Find My‌ ‌iPhone‌, click here. To sign out of ‌iCloud‌ and the iTunes and App Stores, launch the Settings app on your ‌iPhone‌, tap on your name to open your account settings, tap Sign Out at the bottom, then enter your ‌Apple ID‌ password and tap Turn Off.

How to Factory Reset Your iPhone

Now that you've backed up your ‌iPhone‌ and manually deactivated services and accounts, it's time to perform a factory reset of the device. These steps will guide you through the process.

  1. Unlock your ‌iPhone‌ or iPad and launch the Settings app.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Scroll to the bottom and tap Reset.
  4. Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
    How to clear iphone to factory settings

  5. Tap in your passcode if requested.
  6. Enter your ‌Apple ID‌ password to erase the ‌iPhone‌ and remove it from your account.
  7. Tap Erase.

Allow the reset process to continue – it shouldn't take any longer than a couple of minutes. Once it's completed, you'll see the iOS welcome screen on your ‌iPhone‌. That's your green light to trade it in.

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How do I wipe my iPhone before selling it?

Go back to Settings and tap General > Transfer or Reset [device] > Erase All Content and Settings. If you turned on Find My [device], you might need to enter your Apple ID and password. If your device uses eSIM, choose the option to erase your device and the eSIM profile when asked.

Does factory settings delete everything iPhone?

Factory reset or hard reset deletes complete data and settings from your iPhone. All your photos, videos, contacts, call logs, passwords, messages, browsing history, calendar, chat history, notes, installed apps, etc., get deleted from the iOS device.

Does a factory reset delete everything?

A factory data reset erases your data from the phone. While data stored in your Google Account can be restored, all apps and their data will be uninstalled. To be ready to restore your data, make sure that it's in your Google Account. Learn how to back up your data.

How do I force my iPhone to factory settings?

Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset. Choose an option: WARNING: If you choose the Erase All Content and Settings option, all of your content is removed.