How To Reset Your iPhone Content And Settings

by Ben on July 10, 2008

If you are planning to upgrade to a new Apple iPhone 3G anytime soon, you are probably thinking, “what am I going to do with my first generation iPhone?” We’ll whether you give it to a friend or family member or decide to sell it on ebay, you are going to need to reset the content and settings to their defaults so the new user can make it their own.

This is a simple task (like most things on the iPhone). Just follow these steps:

1. Make sure you sync your iPhone one last time so you have all of your content backed up to your computer.

2. On the iPhone, go to the Settings -> General -> Reset menu.

3. You’ll see the option to “Erase All Content and Settings”, select this option and confirm. This will do exactly what it says and remove all of the content (music, movies, pics, email, sms, etc) from your iPhone and set all of the settings back to their defaults.

{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }

1 gabriela bo July 29, 2008 at 6:17 pm

i need know how erase the memory keyboards, all old email adress, because i dont like that any people can see it

2 momen December 11, 2008 at 8:09 am

Hello
i have done this option and i haven’t back up all my settings so how to do to have back all my settings in my ihpone please

u can Email me
bye

3 gucci February 12, 2009 at 1:13 pm

have done same thing but the fucking fon donest stop restating one minute after the other is like is gotten a problem after restating it last time i now get all the restore ipsw that i need but still they say they all ash

4 bnolen23 May 19, 2009 at 7:16 pm

hey
i just did this, i hit erase all content and settings button and the iphone went to reboot, the apple just stays their and a loading wheel pops up after about 2 mins then it restarts itself and continues this pattern. i’ve tried to put it in dfu and recovery mode but the same process continues, my computer doesn’t recognize it either. how do i get it back to normal? or has it bricked?

5 Chuky May 30, 2009 at 7:43 am

my iphone 2g keeps restarting every 2 minutes with a loading wheel how can i stop this and start using my phone

6 louise June 9, 2009 at 5:18 am

i c ant open my iphone after erasing the content and setting…why?help me…i’m panic

7 AIDA CAOILE June 10, 2009 at 4:12 am

i c ant open my iphone after erasing the content and setting…why?help me…i’m panic TOO

8 Cindy July 10, 2009 at 8:19 am

hey,
I got an iphone 3G from my friend who got the new 3GS and we hit the Erase all content and settings button. She took her AT&T sim card so she can use it for her new phone, but now the phone is asking me for a sim card. I was wondering if I can just use any sim card and will it go back to the main screen for the phone. Will I still be able to use it if I put a sim card in?

9 Ben July 10, 2009 at 8:33 am

@Cindy

Your friend should have received a new sim card with the new 3GS so she should have left the old sim card in the 3G. When she activated the new iPhone, her number would have been moved to the new sim card in the 3GS. I’ve not done this myself but I understand that you need to leave the sim card that comes with each iPhone in that iPhone and call AT&T to have your number moved to the correct one.

Hope this helps.

10 adeel haider July 21, 2009 at 2:50 pm

hey
i just did this, i hit erase all content and settings button and the iphone went to reboot, the apple just stays their and a loading wheel pops up after about 2 mins then it restarts itself and continues this pattern. i’ve tried to put it in dfu and recovery mode but the same process continues, my computer doesn’t recognize it either. how do i get it back to normal? or has it bricked?

11 adeel haider July 21, 2009 at 2:52 pm

please send me his slution as soon as possible. it will be grat help for me.

Regards,
Adeel haider

12 Vitaliy Isikov August 2, 2009 at 8:01 pm

@ Adeel Haider

I just got into the same problem. Here’s how you fix it:

1. Plug your phone into your computer and have iTunes running.
2. Hold down both the home and power buttons until the phone reboots and the screen is completely blank.
3. Let go of the power button and keep holding the home button until you see iTunes has recognized your phone in restore mode.
4. Restore your iPhone

13 hofa August 4, 2009 at 2:32 am

pls hellp meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

i just did this, i hit erase all content and settings button and the iphone went to reboot, the apple just stays their and a loading wheel pops up after about 2 mins then it restarts itself and continues this pattern. i’ve tried to put it in dfu and recovery mode but the same process continues, my computer doesn’t recognize it either. how do i get it back to normal? or has it bricked?

14 victoria October 5, 2009 at 8:34 am

i got trouble using this “erase all” option… it says that it will take about 1 hour or more to finish the process and the iphone will get back to its factory settings. but it’s been 8 hours now but the apple logo is still on the screen and the settings are not back yet. is it normal to take this long 8 hour and still on going) to finish? please help me with this. please, please, please……

15 besim October 17, 2009 at 2:01 pm

help

16 luc fournier November 4, 2009 at 7:56 pm

Thanks Vitaliy, that worked for me

17 Scottyj30 November 20, 2009 at 7:05 pm

@ Vitaliy Isikov
Thanx m8 your a life saver…..worked well

18 nona December 13, 2009 at 7:22 pm

Thank you very much (Vitaliy) for ur help :)

19 Debby Ooi December 16, 2009 at 12:03 am

Who can help me, Please i meet same problem with ur all

20 Delancy April 21, 2010 at 8:33 pm

I hade the problem with resetting all contents I even connected to iTunes and held the home an power button til it reconized the phone but now it’s blank an iTunes is stuck. What should I do please help me I’m lost .

21 Dudez May 8, 2010 at 6:07 pm

I did the steps and now i gotta update some software i hope it work and any way thx Vitaliy Isikov u saved my ipod.

22 SD June 3, 2010 at 9:30 pm

When I do this will it delete all my contacts on my sim card as well? Because I am just looking to delete everything else and keep my contacts, please email me

23 Ben June 13, 2010 at 10:38 am

The iPhone doesn’t store your contacts on the sim card. The best way to do what you want is to sync with your computer first and then clear the iPhone. That way you’ll have the contacts available on you computer afterwards.

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