How to reset iphone on computer with itunes

There are a number of reasons why you might want to factory reset your iPhone. With factory reset, we refer to bringing your iPhone back to its original factory settings. In other words, factory resetting means wiping your iPhone completely, leaving nothing behind.

One reason why you might want to do a factory reset on your iPhone is if you are looking to sell your phone and want to erase all data and personal information. Doing a factory reset might be necessary also in cases where your phone freezes and there is no other way to restore it. You may read more about factory resets in our other guide.

However, in this blog post, we’ll tell you how you can factory reset your phone even if you don’t know the password to your device. We’ll focus only on methods of doing a factory reset without additional third-party software and use only methods that can be done with Apple’s own apps and software.

How to factory reset iPhone with iTunes

One way to factory reset your iPhone in case you have forgotten your password is by using Apple’s iTunes on a computer. One requirement for this step is that you have synced your iPhone to iTunes once before. Here’s how to do this.

1. Before proceeding further, make sure that you have a backup of your iPhone as you will lose everything on your phone once the factory reset is done. You can read how to do this in our other blog post.
2. Connect your iPhone to a computer with a USB cable and open iTunes.
3. On the left side of the screen, navigate to “Summary”.
4. Next, press a button titled “Restore iPhone…”.
5. A prompt will appear, asking you to confirm the factory reset. Press “Restore” if you are certain that you want to factory reset your iPhone.
6. Wait for the reset to finish.
7. Done!

Now you can use your earlier backup to return all of your data, apps and files to your iPhone.

How to factory reset iPhone with iCloud

In case you have enabled Find My iPhone, you can also use iCloud to factory reset your iPhone, even if you have forgotten the phone’s password. This method also requires that you remember your Apple ID and password.

1. First, if you don’t want to lose everything on your phone, make sure that you have a backup of your phone available.
2. Open a web browser and go to icloud.com. Log in to iCloud with your Apple ID and password.
3. Navigate to “Find iPhone” and select the iPhone you want to reset.
4. Press “Erase iPhone” (under a trashcan-icon).
5. Done!

Next, use your earlier backup to return all of your data, apps and files to your iPhone.

Summary: How to factory reset iPhone without password

You should be able to factory reset your iPhone with these two methods. Always make sure that you have a backup of your phone, just in case you run into a situation where wiping clean your iPhone is the only option. 

Generally speaking, iPhone reset can be done on the device directly. Simply go to Settings > General > Reset (Transfer or Reset iPhone in iOS 15) > Erase All Content and Settings and that’s it. However, you may have forgotten the passcode that is required to continue the erasing. What’s worse, your iPhone may be disabled because you have entered the wrong password too many times.

So is it possible to reset iPhone with iTunes without passcode? Luckily, it’s workable! No matter whether you have synced your iPhone with iTunes before, there are ways to make it. Or you can refer to this 3 Ways to Erase iPhone Without Password guide to find more solutions.

How to Reset iPhone from iTunes without Passcode

Here are two methods that can help you reset iPhone from iTunes without passcode. Please download and install the latest version of iTunes on computer.

◆ If you have synced your iPhone with iTunes before:

1. Run iTunes > Connect your iPhone to computer via USB cable.

2. Click the Device tab > Click Summary > Click Restore iPhone... option to factory reset iPhone.

3. Click Restore to confirm.

It will erase all data on your device and install the latest iOS on your iPhone.

◆ If you never sync iPhone with iTunes:

To reset iPhone from iTunes without password, you need to put iPhone into recovery mode.

1. Put your iPhone in Recovery Mode:

For iPhone X or later, iPhone SE (2nd generation), iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus:

- Make sure your iPhone isn’t connected to your computer.

- Press and hold the Side button and one of the volume buttons until the power off slider appears > Drag the slider to turn off your iPhone > Then connect your iPhone to computer while holding the Side button > Keep holding the Side button until you see the recovery mode screen.

For iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus:

- Make sure your iPhone isn’t connected to your computer.

- Press and hold the Side button until the power off slider appears > Drag the slider to turn off your iPhone > Then connect your iPhone to your computer while holding the Volume Down button > Keep holding the Volume Down button until you see the recovery mode screen.

For iPhone SE (1st generation), and iPhone 6s and earlier:

- Make sure your iPhone isn’t connected to your computer.

- Press and hold the Side (or Top) button until the power off slider appears > Drag the slider to turn off your iPhone > Then connect your iPhone to your computer while holding the Home button > Keep holding the Home button until you see the recovery mode screen.

2. A pop window will appear and you should click Restore to reset your iPhone.

How to Erase iPhone without iTunes

For anyone who wants to wipe iPhone before selling it, it’s recommended to use a professional iPhone data eraser to wipe iPhone deeply to ensure that data recovery becomes impossible.

FoneTool is such a tool that provides a 1-click erase solution. The Erase iPhone tool can help you permanently wipe iPhone data and make it unrecoverable. In addition, you can also let it help you backup iPhone before factory reset.

Steps to Erase iPhone Data Permanently

1. Free download FoneTool on your computer > Launch it and plug in your iPhone.

2. Click Toolbox from the left pane of the homepage > Choose iPhone Eraser.

3. Tick the options as per your needs.

4. Click Erase Data > A warning message will appear and click Yes to confirm.

Conclusion

That’s all for how to reset iPhone with iTunes. If you have a password-locked iPhone, you can put it into Recovery Mode to restore it. In addition, if you want to sell your iPhone, you can try FoneTool to deeply wipe your device, so that no recovery tool can retrieve your personal files.

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