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How do I restore my Apple iPhone?My iPhone is being very weird: when I plug it into my iMac the computer doesn't seem to recognize it any more. How do I fix it so I can be a happy iPhone user again? I recently encountered a similar problem, though I am guessing that it was for a different reason: I have three different Macs that I will occasionally use to connect to the iPhone. One day I plugged my own early 4GB Apple iPhone into my MacBook and while I didn't expect to be able to add music to it since it wasn't the primary computer with which I synced the unit, I was nonetheless quite surprised to realize that iTunes had lost all ability to differentiate between music, video, photos and other content. How did I know? By looking at the summary graph in the app. It looked like this: 
That's not good. No way around it. Since I know I have a backup of the Address Book and all the music and video that I had squeezed onto the device, I thought that it was time to experiment with a restore. So I clicked "Restore" in iTunes. Then the first of many rather scary warnings popped up: 
I clicked "Restore" again and adverted my eyes, fearing the very worst: a completely wiped, out of the box new iPhone with nothing on it. Rather to my surprise, iTunes took advantage of the restore process to also upgrade the phone software (I had thought I was up to date already): 
Since I was already committed to the process at that point (mentally, at least, I suppose I could have clicked "Cancel") I choose "Next" and then watched a progress bar for a few minutes as it downloaded and installed: 
... and watched a different progress bar: 
... and yet another: 
Finally, after much progress (as you can see!) iTunes told me that the iPhone was restored: 
At this point I waited and after a minute or two the phone restarted itself and reappeared in Apple iTunes: 
That was, I don't mind saying, quite a relief! Nowhere in the process of restoring an iPhone does Apple say anything about being able to restore the backed up data. I thought I'd have an unknown phone and be manually configuring everything, but, fortunately, that wasn't the case! No question, I choose "Restore" and "Continue" here and got to see yet another progress bar dance on my screen: 
If this were a musical, we'd have Danny Elfman writing themes for these progress bars, wouldn't we? Or would we trim that part of the production down a bit? :-) Once again, iTunes wanted to restart the phone: 
Once it did, things did start to look a bit better: 
(though it's still a puzzle what "Other" data is using 188MB. My address book, etc., aren't that big!) Since I have my iTunes / iPhone setup configured to automatically sync with my music library (well, a subset of it with a 4GB phone) the next prompt I got -- after it had ostensibly restored from backup -- was to resync my music: 
And so I did, clicking on the fateful "Erase and Sync" button. And guess what I saw? 
Finally, my iPhone was restored and resynced. Net result? I lost the photos that I'd downloaded on the phone, but otherwise all the notes, phone numbers, weather locations, timezones in the clock, old text message discussions, icons, custom bookmarks, etc etc etc were all restored without incident. It was a tiny bit unnerving to wipe a well-used cellphone and restore it, and I'm still a bit puzzled what's in that 188MB of "Unknown" data, but it is a survivable process and there's precious little that appears to be lost along the way. Oh, and you get to see a lot of progress bars!
Categorized:
iPhone and Cell Phone Help
,
iPod, Sony PSP and MP3 Player Help
(Article 8327,
Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: apple iphone, apple itunes, restore an iphone Previous: How do I remove inapproriate searches from my Lijit search cloud? Next: What are the best Web sites for film fans? Subscribe!
I have accidentally deleted a folder called apple mobile services and while reinstalling the folder is not installed again and then a message appears that iphone service is not installed remove ituens using installer and then install it again.What should i do? Posted by: Naresh at August 22, 2008 7:11 AMhow do u stop from in sync iphone to itunes automatically? thanks Posted by: irdasuriana at August 28, 2008 5:05 AMHello I am in Mexico and get an Iphone from the States that a friend give me and toll me that was unblock and I just put a a SIM from mexico and works for a while (usinf the dellular and WIFI)until I hook up to my pc for upgrate the sofware to version 2.2 and now say that I need to get a right SIM and contact to a srvice company and is blockes what can I do for restore? I AM TRAVILING BY SOME FAMILY I DONT HAVE MY SIM AND I HAD TO RESTORE NOW IT SAYING I NEED VALID SIM WHAT TO DO GOING MAD NOW PLEAS OF U CAN HELLP ME TELL ME WHAT TO DO I AM GOING TO BE HERE FOR SOME TIME? Posted by: Most wanted at January 28, 2009 3:21 PMi have an 8gig iphone which i can not transfer anything to because its viewed as a camera. how do i set it to be viewed as a phone or ipod. Posted by: gibson ramwi at February 10, 2009 6:22 AMMy special needs son accidentally synced his new pc BLANK itunes OVER his completely loaded iphone music files. So all of his music is gone - there was 1280 songs on it. Is there anyway to retrieve the songs FROM HIS IPHONE???? His old pc had a virus and can't get anything off of it that's why we bought the new pc. HELP PLEASE - I'M SO DISTRESSED AND SO IS HE. Posted by: Joyce at May 28, 2009 10:01 PMIf i take out my SIM and then restore will that work Posted by: Alyssa at June 11, 2009 11:05 AMHi I have apple iphone 3g when i upgrade my version it shows itunes and usb port in screen now i dont known how to resolve it can any one help me how to activat my i phone Posted by: Venkatesan at June 13, 2009 1:37 PMIF ,Y I PHNR IS LOCKED HOY DO I UM LOCK IT. I FORGOT Y PASS CODE I used my itune user account and password on my friend's iphone as he did not have an account yet. How can he get this info off his phone so he can use his own account info? It automatically brings up my email address and asks for my password each time. Posted by: linda hurba at July 29, 2009 1:08 PMhi, i am a Nigerian, i love my iphone. this problem started today when i tried deleting some of my contacts, it hung for one hour, then i took it for repairs, it was flashed so they say (restoring the software)but now i can not use my iphone again....i am missing my iphone, can anybody advice me on what to do?..i love my iphone Posted by: kunle at October 7, 2009 9:21 AMI AM TRAVILING BY SOME FAMILY I DONT HAVE MY SIM AND I HAD TO RESTORE NOW IT SAYING I NEED VALID SIM WHAT TO DO GOING MAD NOW PLEAS OF U CAN HELLP ME TELL ME WHAT TO DO I AM GOING TO BE HERE FOR SOME TIME? Posted by: adil at October 9, 2009 7:36 PMok my iphone is having major problems i bought it brand new and i plugged it up to my computer and everything was going good then it started messing uplike it froze i touched it and it wouldnt do nothing so i left it alone then i came back and it was working then i tryed to put music on it it froze now im like wtf? so i leave it alone i come back and the screen is black so i unplug it and i plug it back up and the apple is on the screen then i unplug it again and the apple slowly dissapears so i plug it back up and now...it cuts on and off only when its cut on to my computer when its not pluged up to it the iphone will not do enything!help please Posted by: joe at November 21, 2009 4:59 PMhi i'm from kuwait and i need ur help plz :) , l have iphone 3g , i make erase iphone and while it loading i hold the two buttons , then it turn off and the screen being black , after tht when i turn it on .. just the log is showing and baing black again , i wanna ur help if u understand me and this is my email ibraheeemovec@hotmail.com ,, thx Posted by: ibrahim at December 4, 2009 4:36 AMi was rebooting my iphone, as i do about once a week, but when i tried to turn it back on it got stuck on the apple/pineapple screen n it won't go back to my regular screen... i cant receive calls or texts... when i call from my house phone it goes strait to voicemail... what can i do!!?!?!?! i dont have the software for the phone..i lost it...and i have a new laptop. how can i fix this!!?!?!??!!? please help!!!! Posted by: joanne at January 23, 2010 10:32 AMmy iphone is a cracked version and it had a fall. Now it showing a itune logo with a usb connector heading towards logo and if i connect it itune on windows OS it is asking for passcode for it. How can i make it work. plz help me. Posted by: Satish at February 18, 2010 10:10 PMI have recently updated my unlocked i-phone to 3.1.3 and now isn't working. Have you any software to restore my i-phone? Posted by: clare at March 12, 2010 6:15 AMHi Clare. I don't have much experience with jailbroken phones but if you really want to start over, what happens if you plug it in to your computer, launch iTunes and choose "Restore"? Posted by: Dave Taylor at March 12, 2010 9:50 AMI had to reinstall windows on my computer.I lost all my files for iTunes.I have all my songs on iPhone I want to restore it on itues help Posted by: Greg at May 11, 2010 8:40 AMI want to restore my iphone but every time I try to do so,i get negetive response,saying operation time out/error What shallm i do Posted by: vikash chhetry at May 16, 2010 12:39 AMi've recently bought a sim+card reader...b'coz i want to recover deleted messages from my sim...but after installing all the drivers that came along with it, data recovery software's which i have, cannot find my sim...i dont kno wether its a pc/sc or a pheonix tecnology since both cant find my sim which is in my reader...please help.. : ) Posted by: Freako_Aitea at June 4, 2010 5:18 PMHi I have apple iphone 3g when i upgrade my version it shows itune and usb port in screen now i dont known how to resolve it can any one help me how to activat my i phone please! Posted by: Austin at June 18, 2010 8:37 AMWhat's in the 188MB of Other? It says right there in the pop-up of iPhone Software Update that 162.1 MB of it is about to be the Operating System. The balance of it is probably application data and address book inof, calendar, etc. Posted by: Mark at June 30, 2010 12:01 PMI have a 8GB Iphone 3G, i want to restore it, but im afraid it will do something to the sim card is that possible, i just want the phone to restore but i still want to make calls with it text and i want the sim card to still work. hi, I have an iphone 3GS running 3.1.2 and crashed when i ran blackra1n on it. it doesn't turn on anymore and I can only put it on restore mode. I tried restoring to version 4.0 and 4.01 but for both i got that this device is not eligible for this software. I tried 3.1.3 and it says not compatible. Please help. Posted by: roger Karam at August 22, 2010 6:18 PMHi, i have accidently restored my own iphone backup onto my sister's iphone, and this caused all her important data - notes, contact list, calender been overrided. Could you pls advise me how to retreive her original data in her notes, contact list, and calender back? i feel very stressed and bad for my mistake. Pls help! Posted by: Alice at September 8, 2010 10:32 PMHi Dave I really hope you can help me. I restored my iphone and all i am able to do is make emergency calls and it also changed the langue, what can i do about it. I bought the phone used and unlocked Posted by: Malatha at September 14, 2010 9:54 PMTo whom it may concern; My iPhone 3GS was jailbroken, running off V 3.13, I Installed a third party app that completely locked my phone up after letting every specialest look @ it I was told my only option was to restore. I could not even get the phone to stay on long enough to complete restore. I finaly got restore to finish with what I thought to be w/o new 4.1 version. Needless to say it updated to new Version, unjailbroke phone& I lost everything. There are apps. I installed the only back up I had on iTunes in order to retrieve contacts etc..... RegretfulIy I did NOT have any kind of back up inclusive of cydia, rock etc..,,,,I don't even know if that is possible QUESTIONS 1. Is there any way to restore my apps & info obtained through Cydia PS. I apologize for length of blog, this is first time I've done this& I wanted to ensure u had all info to help u help me I know it's a lot of item to cover, but Thank you in advance if someone could help me w these issues I have spent alot of $$$$ & Time for all the apps, music and software installed with and after I had someone unlock my phone Posted by: Steve VanRensselaer at September 24, 2010 11:48 AMI recently lost my iPhone of which had songs purchased from iTunes. The phone was never synced to my computer after the purchases so the songs were never saved in my iTunes library. iTunes store does acknowledge that the songs were purchased however how do I get them saved into my iTunes library so that I can load them on my new iPhone? Posted by: Patrick at October 3, 2010 5:52 AMPatrick, go into iTunes on your computer -- on the assumption that it's the same account you were using on the phone -- and choose "Check for Available Downloads" on the "Store" menu. Also try purchasing one of the songs again and see if it pops up "you've already bought this. download again?" Good luck. Posted by: Dave Taylor at October 3, 2010 7:20 AMhello, i backed up my iphone 3gs in iTunes version 9.0 and i updated the software to 4.1 from other computer,, but when i want to restore my iphone and open iTunes it says u need to download new version of itunes,, so what can i do ??? if i download the new version will the data be lost??? thnx for help Posted by: fahad at October 24, 2010 2:19 PMMy son has just purchased a iphone 1st Gen 2nd hand which was Jail Broken. He deleted the Apps which looks like it has caused a problem as the phone is completely locked up with just the Apple Icon on the screen, it won't even charge. I cannot restore to any factory settings or after restore i tune in my iphone my phone still not turning on Posted by: Ajay Sharma at March 29, 2011 2:28 AMI have an i phone 3G 8gb. I can't set a home screen wallpaper. Can u have any solution? Posted by: Prince at March 31, 2011 7:30 PMthank u very much, this article gave me the courage to do it! haha, let's hope is the same result! xx Posted by: karen at June 9, 2011 8:38 AMi I have apple iphone 3g when i upgrade my version it shows itunes and usb port in screen now i dont known how to resolve it can any one help me how to activat my i phone Posted by: alok at June 17, 2011 6:41 AMOk so my husband bought an iphone from someone and in an attempt to delete everything on it he did a master erase. Now the phone won't come on to the home screen or anything. When we plug it to itunes it says it needs to be restored but when restoreing it,it will only go so far then it will always pop up with some error and not restore. What can I do? Posted by: shay at June 20, 2011 4:32 PM@alok, I'm unclear. What made you think there was an upgrade required for your phone and what does iTunes show? @shay, on the "Restore" option, choose "New Phone" rather than "Restore from backup", and you should be able to proceed... Posted by: Dave Taylor at June 20, 2011 11:12 PMam having problem when i try to restore my iphone it gives me and erro i dont know why i need helps Posted by: efe williams at June 22, 2011 11:24 AM@Dave....where would I choose that at? If u are saying ob the phone,the phone will not even come on to the home screen!:( Posted by: shay at June 23, 2011 1:37 PMShay, the easiest way to restore your phone is by plugging it into your computer and clicking on the Restore button on the "Summary" tab within the iTunes program. You can also force a restore / initialization by wiping your phone out directly, which can be done with Settings -> General -> Reset -> Erase All Contents and Settings. In both cases, make sure you have a backup or resent sync to ensure you don't lose any data, and count the days until iCloud offers us completely wireless backups... Posted by: Dave Taylor at June 23, 2011 3:21 PMHi Please help me all thats on my phone a blue note symbole arrow pointing up and 911 I hit restore to factory settings and when it got done theres nothing on my iphone can anyone help me please thank you Dave that is what he did. He went to settings then deleted all the content on the phone. Now the phone will not come on to a hmescreen all it does is tells you to plug it into itunes. Then once I do that it says that the phone needs to be restored but it gets halfway through the restore and an error pops up.... Posted by: shay at June 24, 2011 3:22 AMDave that is what he did. He went to settings then deleted all the content on the phone. Now the phone will not come on to a hmescreen all it does is tells you to plug it into itunes. Then once I do that it says that the phone needs to be restored but it gets halfway through the restore and an error pops up.... Posted by: JAI at July 1, 2011 4:23 AMI was trying to put my daughters itunes on her phone. I clicked on "restore from the back up of Connie's iphone" which we thought was the right thing. Unfortunately it was not and it restored her phone back to her old and now she is missing her new text messages and phone numbers. Also no itunes were put on. Can this be undone or fixed? Posted by: Sharon at July 8, 2011 8:10 PMSharon, if you restored to the wrong backup, you can restore to a different backup. One of them should be the image immediately before the restore. In terms of iTunes, etc, the backup is of apps, contacts, and settings. Music, videos, photos, etc, you'll have to re-add separately as the default post-restore configuration doesn't have any of that additional content synchronized. It's a pain. Posted by: Dave Taylor at July 8, 2011 10:13 PMi have reset my iPhone 3G 32gig but during the process it froze and restarted but now it can't get into the system,its just freezing with a apple log on the screen when it is loading. please i need help on how to restore it Posted by: eddie at July 19, 2011 5:49 AMHi, thanks and regards, Dear all, I've an iphone 3gs since one month after i was bought it, i was connecttted it in my laptop and itune ask me to download and install the new solfware i was accepted it. when i tried to restore it when it is going to complete it gave me an error 1015. i'd like someone help me please God will bless you my friend Posted by: CATON Jean Vionel at August 15, 2011 3:54 PMHi all who can help me, God u! Posted by: CATON Jean Vionel at August 15, 2011 9:43 PMwiil resetting iphone 3gs to factory settings erase every purchased application? Posted by: Julio Balmana at August 31, 2011 9:16 AMYes, it'll wipe everything other than the default iOS apps, Julio, but you should have a copy of every app you've purchased (and every free app you've downloaded) in your iTunes sync, and the first time you plug the 3gs into your computer, they should all copy back onto it. Posted by: Dave Taylor at August 31, 2011 9:45 AMHi guys, I have a problem with my iphone (2g) , Hi, please help me. I purchase my college bound kid a new phone and inherited iPHONE, the old one :). I was wanting to add new apps and I was told I need it update, so I try doing that thru iTUNES, but it asked me for my daughter credentails; I did that, but it didnt do anything, so I unplug from itunes and try again; this time it asked me if I wanted to set up iphone with my name and I say YES; it did all the loading and things, BUT I lost all my contacts pics, etc? Why didnt it transfer, not to say why did it erase why I had before? ilocked my iphone and i cantget back in to it can u help me Posted by: jason green at October 11, 2011 11:56 AMi have to restore my iphone3gs,but due to weak net connection somtimes it disconnect while ristoring so i again have to restore from first..it takes 4 to 5 hours,,so i cant maintain connection till that time...so help me with any idea.. Posted by: sughab at November 21, 2011 8:44 AMseriously thank you so much! literally exact same thing happened to me and i followed your steps and i recovered everything- photos and contacts (well not my apps but thats the least of my worries) again thanks so much! im using my boyfriends iphone and i plugged it into my laptop and everything has wiped off it! i have a ipod touch and its made the iphone setting change to the ipod touch setting! iv lost all his contacts all his photos and its just totally changed! is there anyway i can get them bk! helppppp!! Posted by: felicity at December 26, 2011 1:58 PMFelicity, no worries. Your boyfriend can take a deep breath. All he has to do is the next time he plugs it into *his* computer, the computer he uses to sync the phone, he needs to click on the "Restore" button and everything'll magically show back up on the iPhone. (well, it'll take a while...) Posted by: Dave Taylor at December 26, 2011 3:22 PMi have upgraded my iphone 3 to 4.2.1 version and it locked up and now it wont let me restore it to factory settings Posted by: kayla at December 29, 2011 9:40 AMI have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...
I do have a comment, now that you mention it!
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