Reset an old iPhone or iPad

Martyn Casserly reveals how to reset a frozen iPhone or iPad and restore it from a backup

In this tutorial we will show you how to reset an iPhone or iPad – perfect if you need to wipe an iPhone or wipe an iPad because you are selling it. Alternatively, if your iPhone or iPad has frozen we can show you how to reset it and restore it from a back up. Here’s how to reset, restore and reboot your iPhone or iPad the next time it hangs. Read on to find out how to erase your iPhone or iPad, and restore everything again afterwards.

Fix a frozen iPhone or iPad

If you’ve ever watched the IT Crowd, you’ll be well versed in the mantra “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”, which is the stock response used by Denholm Industries’ IT department to solve all computer-related ills.

In real life… well, strangely enough it’s often the way to fix problems that occur on your iPhone, iPad or even Mac. Modern electronic devices are very complicated, and can get themselves into a bit of a confused state from time to time. Resetting can clear out random problems that cause the device to get stuck in a loop, appear sluggish or otherwise impair their performance. It’s not a guarantee, but you’d be surprised how often it works.

For bigger issues though, you might find that a trip to the Apple Store is in order, and this often results in a fixed device but with all the data wiped clean. To solve this it’s vitally important that you backup your iPhone either with iCloud or iTunes. With that safety net in place you can restore your iPhone when it starts to have problems. Read on to find out how to restart your iPhone if it’s completely unresponsive, backup your iPhone before resetting it and more.

What to do if your iPhone has crashed

If your iPhone or iPad has become unresponsive, or you’ve shut it down and it won’t turn on again, all is not lost. There is a feature on iOS devices that can be used when the normal modes of operation aren’t working. Thankfully they are very easy to do, and require no tools or specialist knowledge. In fact you just need two fingers and about 20 seconds.

To restart your iPhone or iPad hold down the Home button (the one on the front of the iPhone or iPad) and at the same time hold down the power button (aka the lock switch) until you see the Apple logo appear on the screen. Now you can let go of the buttons and let your device complete its start sequence. This is called a hard reset, and should hopefully fix any issues you were having. If things are still not as they should be, then it might be a good idea to restore an old backup, as some of your files could be corrupted and causing the issue. Read on to find out more.

Back up your iPhone or iPad before you wipe it

If you want to start with a clean slate, then there are a few steps to take. First, make sure that you have a backup ready.

You can use either iCloud or iTunes to backup your iOS device. For iCloud go to Settings > iCloud > Backup and ensure that the feature is enabled. To see when the last backup was run look under the Back Up Now option where the date and time should be displayed. If you haven’t done a backup before you can tap the Back Up Now button and follow the instructions.

To use iTunes you’ll need to plug your iPhone or iPad into your

PC or Mac using the charging cable. Click on the iPhone or iPad icon in the top left corner of iTunes, under the Play button.

Reset your iPhone or iPad

Once you’re confident that you’ve backed up your iPad or iPhone, you’re ready to perform a factory reset. This will completely wipe your device which is why having a backup is so important.

A factory reset can help resolve issues with your iPhone or iPad if it’s crashing or freezing, but it is also what you’ll want to do if you need to wipe your iPhone or iPad before selling it, or passing it on to a family member or friend.

When selling an iPhone or iPad, it’s absolutely vital that you delete all the sensitive data stored on it. If not, an unscrupulous buyer could gain access to your social media profiles, your financial

information and even your personal photos and videos, enabling them to browse through your private moments or steal your identity.

Luckily it’s very easy to completely wipe an iPad or iPhone. Simply follow the steps in this tutorial and your data security will be assured:

Go to Settings > General > Reset and then select

Erase All Content and Settings. After typing in your passcode if you’ve set one, you’ll get a warning box appear, with the option to Erase iPhone (or iPad) in red. Tap this. You’ll need to enter your Apple ID password to confirm the action, then the iPad or iPhone will wipe everything off its storage and go back to the initial setup screen you saw when you first used the device. You can also fully reset your iPhone or iPad through iTunes. When you plug in your iOS device, you should be able to see a ‘Restore iPhone’ button, which will fully reset the device.

Deleting apps and other items individually

That’s the quick method, but if you just want to free up some space a full wipe clearly isn’t the best option. To look at the biggest culprits filling up your storage allocation, go to Settings > General > Usage. iOS will tell you firstly how much space you’re using and how much is available, and will then list the apps taking up the most space.

Remember that these listings include associated documents and files as well as the app itself, so Photos and Music are likely to be up near the top.

Instead of deleting the app (which you wouldn’t be able to do anyway, with Apple’s preinstalled apps) you could go into the app in question and clear out some old photos or songs, for example.

To delete an app you’re finished with, click it in this list, then Delete App and confirm. Alternatively, from the Home screen you can tap and hold any icon, then tap the X at the top left of an app to delete the app. (If it hasn’t got an X, you can’t delete it.)

iCloud backup

If having erased the content of the phone you intend to keep using it, you can restore the content to your phone from your backup.

With the factory reset completed you’ll need to go through the setup of your iPhone again from the beginning; entering your details, Wi-Fi password and a few other things until you reach the page where you’re asked how you want to ‘Set Up iPhone’. You have the three options – Set Up as a New iPhone, Restore from iCloud Backup or Restore from iTunes backup – so select the iCloud option and you’ll be prompted to enter your iCloud account details. Once you’ve done this, and agreed to the terms and conditions, your iPhone will begin restoring all of your data.

Obviously this could take a while if you have large backups or a slow internet connection, so don’t attempt this if you’re in a hurry. When the backup is completed your iPhone will reboot, and then it will start the larger job of downloading all of your apps.

iTunes backup

As with the iCloud instructions we’ve already outlined, follow the steps up to the ‘Set Up iPhone’ screen, then select Restore from iTunes. You’ll be prompted to Connect to iTunes, so plug in your iPhone and you’ll see a screen on iTunes that gives you the option to restore a backup. Click continue and your iPhone will be set up automatically, with the apps being restored from the iTunes backup. When it’s finished, you’ll have a freshly cleaned system and hopefully any problems that you were encountering before will be a thing of the past.

What to do if your iOS device isn’t backed up

If you’re worried that your iPhone or iPad wasn’t backed up, chances are that there is a backup that you were unaware of. To find out if you are backing up to iCloud (you get free 5GB of space) go to Settings > iCloud and tap on Storage. Wait a few seconds for Manage Storage to show up and tap on that. Here you will see your various backups for your iOS devices (there might be one for an old iPhone you could delete if you need more space).

One of the backups should say that it is This iPhone or This iPad. Tap on that and you can see what is, and isn’t being backed up. You can basically turn things on and off so that they don’t take up your full 5GB, or you can pay a few pounds a month for more storage.

You may think that some of those apps don’t need to be backed up, after all, you will be able to download them again from the App Store as you already own them. But note that the data may include saved data for games, and other settings and preferences that you would prefer not to lose.

To check when your iPhone last backed up, go to Settings > iCloud > Backup and look at the date and time of the last back up. It will have happened the last time you plugged your iPhone in to charge and had Wi-Fi access available.

If you find that you aren’t backing up this way, we recommend you go to Settings > iCloud > Back up and turn iCloud Backup On as this is the simplest way to back up and means that you always recover the data on your phone no matter where you are, all you will need is a connection to the web.