How to Factory Reset iPhone: Step-by-Step Guide

Your iPhone knows more about you than your closest friend does. Bank accounts, saved passwords, health data, years of photos, every message you’ve sent since 2019. And yet, most people factory reset their phone by tapping a single button without doing any prep work first. Then they wonder why their old device is still showing up in Find My, or why the buyer is texting them asking for their Apple ID password.

Don’t be that person. A proper factory reset takes about 15 minutes, and if you follow these steps in order, you’ll hand over (or trade in) a phone that’s genuinely clean — no loose ends, no awkward follow-up texts.

Before You Touch “Erase” — Back Up Everything

This is the step people skip. Then they regret it.

You have two options, and honestly, just pick whichever is faster for your situation:

Option A: iCloud Backup

1. Connect to Wi-Fi.
2. Go to Settings → [Your Name] → iCloud → iCloud Backup.
3. Tap Back Up Now.
4. Wait until it finishes. Don’t interrupt it. If you’re low on iCloud storage, you’ll get a temporary free bump during device transfer — Apple added this a few years ago and it actually works.

Option B: Mac or PC Backup

1. Connect your iPhone to your Mac (Finder) or PC (iTunes/Apple Devices app) with a cable.
2. Select your iPhone in the sidebar.
3. Check “Encrypt local backup” — this is critical because encrypted backups save your passwords, Health data, and Wi-Fi credentials. Unencrypted backups skip all of that.
4. Click Back Up Now.

Mac backups are faster and don’t depend on your internet speed. If you have a Mac, use it. Period.

Sign Out of Everything That Matters

Here’s where most guides fail you. They say “sign out of iCloud” and move on. But there are actually three things to disconnect:

1. Unpair Your Apple Watch (If You Have One)

Do this before erasing the iPhone. Open the Watch app on your iPhone, tap your watch, tap the (i) icon, and choose Unpair Apple Watch. This automatically creates a backup of your watch data. If you erase your iPhone first, you’ll have to manually reset the watch and lose its backup.

2. Sign Out of iCloud and Find My

Go to Settings → [Your Name] → Sign Out. You’ll be asked to enter your Apple ID password. This is intentional — it’s disabling Activation Lock. If you skip this step, the next person who gets your phone will be greeted by a screen asking for your password. Not a great look if you’re selling it.

You’ll be asked whether to keep a copy of your data on the iPhone. Choose no for everything. You’re about to erase it anyway.

3. Deregister iMessage

If you’re switching to Android (no judgment), go to Settings → Messages and toggle off iMessage. If you’ve already erased the phone, you can deregister at selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage. This prevents the black hole problem where texts from iPhone users never reach your new Android phone.

The Actual Reset: Erase All Content and Settings

Now the easy part:

1. Open Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone.
2. Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
3. Enter your passcode.
4. Enter your Apple ID password if prompted (this is the Activation Lock removal again).
5. Tap Erase iPhone.

The phone will restart and show the “Hello” setup screen. That’s it. The device is clean.

What Actually Gets Erased

Everything. Your photos, apps, messages, Face ID data, saved Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth pairings, Apple Pay cards — all gone. The phone returns to factory software. It does not downgrade iOS, though. If you’re running iOS 19, you’ll still be on iOS 19 after the reset.

How to Reset Without a Password (Recovery Mode)

Forgot your passcode? It happens. Maybe you set a complicated one and haven’t typed it in months because Face ID handles everything. Here’s how to force a reset:

1. Connect your iPhone to a Mac or PC with a cable.
2. Force restart into Recovery Mode:
   • Press and quickly release Volume Up.
   • Press and quickly release Volume Down.
   • Press and hold the Side button until you see the Recovery Mode screen (a cable pointing to a computer icon).
3. On your Mac (Finder) or PC (iTunes), you’ll see a prompt: Restore or Update. Choose Restore.
4. The computer will download the latest iOS and install it. This takes a while.

Important: this method does require your Apple ID password afterward if Find My was enabled. Apple isn’t going to let someone who stole your phone just wipe it and use it. If you can’t remember your Apple ID password either, you’ll need to go through Apple’s account recovery process at iforgot.apple.com.

Setting Up as New After a Reset

When you see the “Hello” screen, you have three paths:

• Set up as new iPhone — completely fresh start, no old data. Good if the reset was to fix persistent software problems.
• Restore from iCloud Backup — downloads your backup over Wi-Fi. Can take hours depending on how much data you had.
• Restore from Mac/PC — fastest option. Plug in and restore directly.

In practice, if you’re keeping the phone yourself, restore from backup. If you’re selling or trading in, leave it on the Hello screen. The new owner will set it up with their own Apple ID.

One Last Thing

After the reset, check Settings → [Your Name] → Find My on another Apple device (or iCloud.com) and make sure the erased iPhone is no longer listed. If it’s still there, remove it manually. Leaving ghost devices in your Find My list is a minor annoyance that compounds over years — clean it up now while you’re thinking about it.

Factory resetting is one of those things that feels like it should be one button. And technically it is. But doing it right — with a backup, proper sign-outs, and no Activation Lock surprises — is what separates a smooth handoff from a headache that follows you for weeks.