Factory Reset iPhone Safely: Backup First, Then Erase

To factory reset iPhone, open Settings, tap General, tap Transfer or Reset iPhone, then tap Erase All Content and Settings, enter the passcode or Apple Account password, and confirm. Apple's reset page ends the process at the Hello screen. Before you tap any of that, check the date under Settings > your name > iCloud > iCloud Backup, because an erase can't be undone and a backup you assumed exists is the most common thing people lose.

If you're selling the phone, sign out of your Apple Account first so Activation Lock releases. If you're troubleshooting, try Reset All Settings before the full erase, because it keeps your data. If you're locked out, skip to the forgotten-passcode section, which has its own route.

Which Reset Do You Actually Need

"Factory reset" gets used for five different things, and only one of them deletes your photos. Apple's iPhone User Guide lists the options under Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset, and I've added the two that don't live in that menu.

Apple's guide is explicit that Reset All Settings deletes "No data or media." That's the option people should try first for a phone that's merely acting strange, and it's the answer to "how do I factory reset without losing everything." You can't, but you often don't need to.

The slow phone guide covers the less drastic fixes for sluggishness. A full erase for a slow phone is a big hammer, and I'd only reach for it after storage, battery, and updates were ruled out.

Back Up First, and Check the Date

Apple's backup page gives the iCloud route.

1. Connect to Wi-Fi.
2. Open Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud.
3. Tap iCloud Backup.
4. Tap Back Up Now and stay on Wi-Fi until it finishes.

The line under Back Up Now shows the date and time of the last successful backup. Read it. A backup that says "last week" is not the backup you want before erasing today, and a phone that's been silently failing to back up for months because iCloud is full will show an old date here. If you get the not-enough-storage alert, Apple's answer is to buy more storage; my answer is to first clear space using the phone storage guide and retry, then buy storage if the backup still won't fit.

A computer backup through Finder or the Apple Devices app is a second copy, and for a phone with years of photos I'd make both. Two backups cost twenty minutes. One failed restore costs the photos.

Before You Erase, in Order of Regret

Each of these is easy to skip and hard to fix afterwards. Apple's before-you-sell page is the source for the sequence.

1. Verify the backup date as above. Stop here if it's wrong.
2. Unpair an Apple Watch if you have one. Apple lists this step first, ahead of the backup, and I'd keep that order.
3. Sign out of your Apple Account if the phone is leaving your hands. Settings, your name, scroll down, Sign Out. On iOS 18 or earlier you'll enter the Apple Account password and tap Turn Off. Apple says that when you erase after this, Find My and Activation Lock turn off. Skip the sign-out and the buyer gets an "iPhone Locked to Owner" screen on iOS 15 or later, and a phone they can't use.
4. Decide about the eSIM. The erase screen asks whether to keep or delete it. Details in the next section.
5. Remove the phone from your trusted devices list afterwards, per Apple, so it stops receiving your verification codes.

If the phone is staying with you, step 3 is optional and I'd skip it, because staying signed in keeps Activation Lock protecting the phone through the erase and the restore.

Erase From Settings

Apple's steps, with the prompts you'll meet.

1. Open Settings, tap General.
2. Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone. On older iOS versions this was labelled Reset, which is why older guides look different.
3. Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
4. Enter the passcode or the Apple Account password when asked.
5. Choose whether to keep or erase the eSIM.
6. Tap Continue to confirm.

The phone restarts and lands on the Hello screen. That's the finished state. Don't interrupt it, and keep it on a charger if the battery is low, because an erase that loses power halfway is the one scenario where you may need the computer method to recover.

Apple's page has a "won't erase" section for three cases. A forgotten passcode or a disabled phone, a forgotten Apple Account password, and a Screen Time passcode, which Apple notes won't be removed by restoring from a backup.

The eSIM Question

Apple's reset page says you choose to keep or delete the eSIM, and if you delete it you contact the carrier to reactivate the plan. The right answer depends on where the phone is going.

Keeping the phone and troubleshooting, keep the eSIM. The plan survives the erase and the phone reconnects after setup. Selling or giving the phone away, erase the eSIM. Apple's before-you-sell page says to choose the option to erase the device and the eSIM profile. Otherwise the buyer is carrying your line.

Moving to a new iPhone, follow the transfer prompts during the new phone's setup rather than deleting the eSIM by hand. Apple's computer-restore page notes that a Finder or Apple Devices restore doesn't delete eSIMs, so a computer erase leaves the line where it was. That's a reason to prefer Settings for a phone you're selling.

Erase With a Computer

Use this when Settings is unreachable or the erase keeps failing. Apple's computer restore page requires turning off Find My first, under Settings, your name, Find My, Find My iPhone, with the Apple Account password. The Erase iPhone user guide repeats the same requirement for Finder.

1. Connect the iPhone to the computer with a cable.
2. On a Mac, open a Finder window and click the iPhone under Locations. On Windows, open the Apple Devices app. Apple says to use iTunes only on macOS 10.14 or earlier, or on a Windows PC without the Apple Devices app.
3. Click General at the top, then Restore iPhone, then Restore to confirm.

Apple says this erases the phone and installs the latest iOS. Expect the Hello screen when it's done.

Locked Out or Forgot the Passcode

This is the case the PAA questions are really about. There are two honest routes and no third.

Route one, on the phone. Apple's forgotten passcode page describes a lock-screen erase on iOS 15.2 or later. It needs three things you can't add afterwards. Find My was already on, the phone has a Wi-Fi or cellular connection, and you know the Apple Account password. On iOS 17 or later the steps are to enter the wrong passcode until the phone says it's unavailable, tap Forgot Passcode?, tap Start iPhone Reset, enter the Apple Account password to sign out, and tap Erase iPhone. Then set up from the backup.

Route two, with a computer. Apple's recovery mode page is the route for phones on older iOS or without a connection. Open Finder or the Apple Devices app, connect the cable to the computer first, then connect it to the phone while holding one button, and keep holding through the Apple logo.

When the computer offers Restore or Update, choose Restore. Apple warns the download can take more than 15 minutes and that the process erases the data on the phone. After the restore, Activation Lock still asks for the Apple Account that was on the phone, so this route wipes the passcode without wiping the ownership check.

Without the Apple Account Password

There isn't a route, and I'd be suspicious of any page that sells one. Apple's Activation Lock page says the Apple Account password is required before anyone can turn off Find My, erase the device, or reactivate it. Activation Lock turns on automatically with Find My, and Apple says it keeps deterring reactivation even after a remote erase. That's the design working as intended, and it doesn't make an exception for the owner who forgot.

If the phone is yours, recover the Apple Account through Apple's account recovery, then use route one or two above. If you bought a phone that shows "iPhone Locked to Owner", Apple's page says the previous owner can remove it from their account in a browser, and the Find My guide explains what that removal looks like from the owner's side. If the phone was stolen rather than bought, the stolen iPhone guide is the one to read; this article assumes the phone is in your hand.

Factory Reset With Buttons

Several ranking pages, and a lot of related searches, describe a button combination as a factory reset. It isn't one. Apple's force-restart guide gives the sequence for a current iPhone as press and release volume up, press and release volume down, then hold the side button until the Apple logo, and describes it as a restart for a phone that isn't responding. Nothing is deleted.

The only button sequences that lead to an erase are the recovery-mode holds in the table above, and those need a computer on the other end of the cable. If a forum answer promises a reset "with buttons only" on an iPhone 14, 16, or 17, it's describing a force restart and calling it something else. Try the force restart anyway when the phone is frozen. It costs nothing and is often the whole fix.

After the Hello Screen

Set up the phone and restore from the backup you verified earlier. Apple's reset page notes that a restore doesn't bring back a Screen Time passcode, which is good if you'd forgotten it and confusing if you hadn't. If you removed an eSIM, call the carrier before you need the phone to make a call.

For a phone you sold, there's nothing more to do on the device. Apple's advice if the phone is already gone is to erase it remotely through Find My on iCloud.com, remove it from your trusted devices, and change the Apple Account password.

When to Stop

Stop before the erase if the backup date is wrong, if the Apple Watch is still paired, or if you're selling and the phone is still signed in. Stop after the erase when the Hello screen appears; anything else on the screen means the process didn't finish and the computer route is next. And stop reading if the phone isn't in your hand and you don't know the Apple Account password. Nothing on this page, or on Apple's, gets around that.