Does resetting iPhone delete everything? This guide will tell you what will happen if you factory reset the iPhone and the safe way to completely wipe your iPhone.
What Will Happen If I Reset My iPhone?
I have no choice but to reset my iPhone to fix iOS errors. Does resetting iPhone delete everything?
- Question from Apple Community
Does A Factory Reset Actually Delete Everything on iPhone?
I have an iPhone 7 I want to sell. I just reset all the settings and removed all the data using the option in the general settings. I want to know if it deletes all the data properly, and no one else can retrieve the data.
- Question from Quora
Why reset an iPhone?
When your iPhone behaves erratically, a factory reset can help you fix iOS errors.
When you want to sell your old iPhone, resetting your iPhone seems to help delete all data to prevent personal information leakage.
Well, what will really happen when you tap the “Erase All Content and Settings” option? Does factory reset delete everything on iPhone? Is it possible to recover data after resetting iPhone? What’s the best way to completely wipe iPhone clean? Keep reading to know everything.
Table of Content
When you tap “Erase All Content and Settings”, the iPhone will return to the original setting as if it were new. Everything on your iPhone will be deleted, whether it’s personal data or custom settings.
All personal data will be erased and you will say goodby to contacts, messages, notes, photos, videos, songs, apps. So it is necessary to backup iPhone before resetting, otherwise, you may lose some important data.
iOS system apps will not be affected. The stock apps come with your iPhone cannot be removed even with resetting, such as Camera, Calendar, Mail, and others. It will just clear out the records on these apps.
No, factory reset will not delete anything from iCloud, whether it’s iCloud backup or the files that synced from iPhone. The files in iCloud is stored online but not on your iPhone. The reset operation on iPhone will not affect files in Cloud. Similarly, the iTunes backup stored on the computer will not be affected.
A jailbroken iPhone allows you to install apps outside the App Store. However, the factory reset will remove all jailbreak apps as well as all adjustments. You may need to jailbreak the iPhone again after the reset.
Here are the steps to erase iPhone to factory settings. The process can be completed on iPhone directly. However, if you want to erase iPhone to sell, it’s recommended to wipe iPhone more deeply with a professional tool to make data recovery impossible.
1. Go to Settings app > Tap General > Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone (Reset in iOS 15 and earlier) > Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
2. If asked, enter your passcode or Apple ID passcode. (It will need the Apple ID and passcode to turn off "Find My iPhone" or "Activate Lock".)
3. Depending on your device, it may take a few minutes to complete the process.
Before the resetting, all iPhone data are encrypted using strong encryption and the keys that used to encrypted and decrypt our data are stored on the device. When you choose to reset your iPhone, the device "obliterates" the keys. So your data is still there, but no one can read it anymore.
In other words, the “Erase All Content and Settings” will make your data inaccessible on the iPhone, but it is still recoverable. Your data can be recovered by using a recovery tool. So if you are going to sell your iPhone, it is recommended to wipe the iPhone thoroughly with a professional iPhone eraser to ensure that data recovery becomes impossible.
FoneTool is a professional iOS data management tool that can wipe your iPhone completely with just one click. It will overwrite and erase the data multiple times to ensure that the privacy files on iPhone are not at risk of being restored.
Steps to Erase iPhone Data Permanently
1. Free download FoneTool on your computer > Launch it and plug in your iPhone.
2. From Toolbox on the main interface of FoneTool >Click iPhone Eraser.
3. Tick the options as per your need.
4. Click Erase Data > A warning message will appear and click Yes to confirm.
Does factory reset delete everything on iPhone? Well, the answer is Yes. However, the data can be recovered through recovery tools. If you do not want to expose your personal files to others, let FoneTool help you deeply wipe the device to ensure that the information will never be found.