There are many reasons why you might want to restore iPhone to factory settings, such as glitching, selling or giving away. Actually, factory reset refers to restoring your iPhone to its original factory settings, which means that it will completely erase your iPhone and leave nothing behind. Therefore, it is important to transfer pictures, music, notes, and other data you've added day by day from your iPhone to computer for backup. Read through this tutorial to learn what to do before factory resetting iPhone, and 3 methods on how to restore iPhone to factory settings. If, unfortunately, you don't have any backup available after you restore iPhone to factory settings, you can use Leawo iOS Data Recovery to recover iPhone data without backup.

Related readings:

How to Restore iPhone from iTunes/iCloud Backup Without iTunes?

How to Fix iPhone Stuck in Recovery Mode Won't Restore?

How to Fix iPhone Stuck on Transferring Data?

Part 1: What to Do Before Restoring iPhone to Factory Settings?

Restoring iPhone to factory settings will bring it back to the basics it came with: no photos, contacts, music, password, or anything you've added day by day. But before you start the process of restoring iPhone to factory settings, you'd better back up your iPhone to computer in case of data loss.

1. How to Back Up iPhone Before Restoring iPhone to Factory Settings?

To back up your iPhone before factory reset, there are many methods and software beyond iTunes and iCloud. Among all iOS backup software, Leawo iTransfer can be considered as the best one. This software enables users to transfer various kinds of files between iPhone, iTunes and computer for backup, including apps, music, movies, TV shows, eBooks, ringtones, photos, Camera Roll, contacts, text messages, bookmarks, notes, and more. Bypassing restriction of iTunes, it can selectively back up data on your iPhone without efforts. If you also want to back up your iPhone with iTunes or iCloud, see: How to Backup iPhone?

Step 1: Download Leawo iTransfer

  • itransfer
  • Leawo iTransfer

    - Transfer files among iOS devices, iTunes and PCs with ease.
    - 6x faster than iTunes
    - Transfer up to 14 kinds of data and files without iTunes.
    - Support the latest iOS devices like iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, etc.
    - Play back, view, and delete data and files on iOS devices.
    - Support Windows & Mac OS

Step 2: Connect your iPhone to computer

Run Leawo iTransfer and connect iPhone to computer with USB cable. The software will recognize your iPhone automatically.

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Step 3: Choose target data to back up

Click the name of your iPhone, and choose a type of data you want to backup in the left sidebar. The specific iPhone data will be displayed in the right panel, where you can freely select data to backup. Alternatively, you can click the right-arrow button in the bottom-right corner to transfer all data from this library to computer.

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Step 4: Start to back up your iPhone

After selection, right-click on the data, and then, a dialog will pop up. Confirm the output directory and click Transfer Now button to start backup iPhone to computer.

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2. How to Turn off Find My iPhone Before Restoring iPhone to Factory Settings?

Disabling Find My iPhone feature before restoring iPhone to factory settings is necessary, otherwise someone may steal your iPhone and wipe it, and you will not be able to do anything about it. When you disable Find My iPhone, it requires your Apple ID and password.

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Steps:

  1. Open Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap [your name] > Find My.
  3. Tap Find My iPhone, and turn it off.

Part 2: How to Restore iPhone to Factory Settings with iTunes?

iTunes not only enables users to back up and transfer data between iPhone and computer, but also enables users to restore iPhone to factory settings. Before you start, make sure that the latest version of iTunes has been installed on your computer. Then, follow the steps below to factory reset iPhone with iTunes.

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Steps:

  1. On PC, or a Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier, open iTunes. On a Mac with macOS Catalina or later, open Finder instead.
  2. Connect your iPhone to computer with a USB cable.
  3. If a dialog pops up on iPhone asking for passcode or Trust This Computer, enter password or tap Trust to authorize.
  4. Click on your device once it appears on iTunes. Then, in the right panel, click Restore iPhone... button, and click Restore button again in the pop-up window to confirm restoring iPhone to factory settings.

Part 3: How to Restore iPhone to Factory Settings Using Find My?

If you have an Apple ID, your iPhone is probably connected to Find My, a service to make it easy to keep track of your Apple devices. Beyond that, if you have enabled Find My feature on your iPhone, you can also use iCloud to reset your iPhone to factory settings with iCloud remotely.

  • Step 1: Open a web browser on your computer and go to icloud.com.
  • Step 2: Log in to iCloud with your Apple ID and password.
  • how-to-restore-iphone-to-factory-settings-with-icloud-1
  • Step 3: Click Find iPhone button in the main interface, and you will get a map of locations of all your devices.
  • how-to-restore-iphone-to-factory-settings-with-icloud
  • Step 4: Click All Devices at the top and select your iPhone.
  • Step 5: In the pop-up window, click Erase iPhone, and confirm your selection. As long as your iPhone is turned on and connected to the Internet, it will be reset to factory settings immediately.
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Part 4: How to Restore iPhone to Factory Settings on iPhone?

As a matter of fact, you can also wipe and restore iPhone to factory settings on iPhone itself. If you don't have a computer to help you factory reset iPhone, then this is the best method. Simply make sure that your iPhone is connected to a Wi-Fi network and a charger to prevent the process from failing. Then, follow the detailed steps below to restore iPhone to factory settings on iPhone itself.

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Steps:

  1. Open Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Scroll down and tap General > Reset.
  3. Tap Erase All Content and Settings, and tap Erase iPhone in the pop-up window.
  4. If asked, enter the PIN code of your iPhone. A few minutes later, after the screen goes dark, if you see the Apple logo along with a progress bar, it indicates the reset is successful.