Here’s how to clear your iPhone

Want to sell your iPhone to someone, or give it to a friend/family member? Then it is useful to first restore the iPhone to factory settings, this prevents others from accessing your data. Restoring to factory settings is different from resetting an iPhone, where your data is retained.

Restoring your iPhone to factory settings is simple but it is important to keep your attention. After all, this is important data, and you don’t want anyone else to gain insight into your data or, for example, reset your iPhone to factory settings without saving your data. We address the topics below in this blog:

• Preparing your iPhone
• Emptying iPhone yourself: in 4 steps.
• Factory reset: without Apple ID, iTunes or passcode
• iPhone emptied, can I still recover my data?

Preparing your iPhone

We recommend preparing the device first with the following 2 steps before you start restoring your iPhone factory settings.

1. Back up the phone. This way, you retain your data when you restore your iPhone to factory settings. This can be done in several ways. Namely through iCloud on your iPhone or – if you have your phone connected to your mac – through Finder. And for those with new iPhones, these days Apple has a feature that allows you to scan your old iPhone with your new iPhone to transfer your data to the new iPhone.
2. Log out of iCloud: this action is required because it prevents others from retrieving your iCloud from the iPhone.- Open iCloud settings at the top of your settings menu.
   – Click on that, scroll all the way down and click “Log Out. For this you do need the email address and password used for this!

Emptying iPhone yourself: in 4 steps.

Once you have prepared your phone, you can get started on the actual reset to factory settings.

1. Open your settings from your main screen.
2. Under “general” in your iPhone’s settings, you’ll find a “reset” option.
3. Click this option and then click “delete all content and settings.”
4. After this, you will have to enter your iPhone’s password twice for confirmation.

Once you have completed these steps, you will now have successfully reset your phone back to factory settings!

Factory reset: without Apple ID, iTunes or passcode

If you are not logged into your Apple ID and still want to restore your iPhone to factory settings, you can take the following steps.

1. Grab a computer to start this process.
2. Starting recovery mode: make sure your device is not yet connected to the computer. Follow the appropriate steps below for the device you want to start recovery mode for
   • iPhone X or newer: Turn off the device. Now connect the device to your PC while holding the side button until you see the recovery mode screen.
   • iPad with Face ID: Turn off the device. Now connect the iPad to your PC while holding down the button on top of the iPad until recovery mode starts.
   • iPhone 7, iPhone 7 plus and Ipad touch: Turn off the device. Connect the device to your PC while pressing and holding the home button until recovery mode starts.
   • iPhone 6, iPod touch or iPad with a home button: turn off the device. Connect the device to your PC while pressing and holding the home button until recovery mode starts.
3. Go to finder and find your device. Then choose “restore” to return your phone to factory settings. If you do not own a Mac (Apple computer), you can download iTunes to perform the process.
4. Wait for the process to finish. After that, you can reset your device! (after correctly entering Apple ID information)

iPhone emptied, can I still recover my data?

We assume that you followed the steps in this blog properly but when you deleted your data and it went by accident, we understand that it is extremely annoying. Your best option is to restore the most recent iCloud backup on your phone. If you don’t have one, then we’re afraid we have bad news for you. A few tips, though:

• Check out iCloud.com for just retrieving your files – you’ll need an Apple ID and password to do so.
• You may still be able to find your photos in Google photos – if you used this service.
• You can always use a data recovery company like Stellar Data Recovery. This is not cheap – but they are almost always able to recover your data!

Are you running into something? We are happy to help you.

Know that at all of our stores, we are always ready to help you with challenges of all shapes and sizes. You are always welcome to visit the store!