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How can I wipe my old Apple iPhone clean of data?

I just bought a new 3G Apple iPhone and now want to give my old iPhone to my brother-in-law. He's even ready to pay for it. Problem is, I want to wipe it clean so he gets a pristine phone. How do I do that?

Dave's Answer:

When I bought my fancy new 16GB Apple iPhone 3G phone I too had an older iPhone (an ancient, tiny 4GB original first wave iPhone) that I wanted to jettison, so I can completely understand your plight. Mine was also going to a friend, but I still really wanted to wipe it clean rather than have him poking through my pictures and address book.

Further, having my iPhone applications on the phone would just cause heartache anyway because he wouldn't be authorized to use them so almost 30% of what was on the iPhone would be dead and just wasting space. Not so good.

Here's how my phone looked when I started this process:

You can see custom apps, custom bookmarks, a restructured home screen (notice that I have Twinkle on the bottom bar rather than Safari) and 57 messages in my Mail inbox that I haven't read as of yet.

To wipe everything, I went to Settings:

If you scroll down to the bottom, you'll see what we want: Reset:

Once you're into the Reset area you'll see that there are rather a lot of choices:

iphone reset 4: Settings: Reset: Options

To start, I chose "Reset All Settings", which prompted me for a security code:

iphone reset 5: Settings: Enter Restrictions Passcode

Luckily I knew it (if you don't have parent restrictions set up I don't think you'll be prompted) so proceed to the warning prompt:

iphone reset 6: Settings: Reset: Reset All Settings

With a small, quiet prayer to the patron saint of gizmos, I pressed "Reset All Settings" and waited.

After a few seconds I was taken back to the home screen, but it was just a bit different:

So that reset the icon locations, etc, but notice that it didn't actually delete my inbox, nor, after some investigation, did it clear my address book, SMS text message history, etc.

To clear out my email settings, I went to Mail, Contacts, Calendars on the Settings menu:

iphone reset 9: Mail, Contacts, Calendars

Again, scroll to the very bottom and you'll see the "Delete Account" option:

iphone reset 10: Mail, Contacts, Calendars: Delete Account

I tapped on that button and, no surprise, got a confirmation window:

iphone reset 11: Deleting Email, Contacts, Calendars on Apple iPhone

Yeah, I really did want to delete all of this personalization, so I again tapped "Delete Account".

Next time I got to the home screen there was no mail:

iphone reset 12: Mail Wiped, Apps Still Present

Further, the contacts list was wiped and the calendar was erased too. But those pesky apps were still hanging around, which I didn't want either.

I could have gone into the Safari settings and also erased that data selectively, as shown here:

But in fact, it was time to go to the big guns, to do what I should have done in the beginning, skipping all the little sub-reset functions that had wasted my time. Before when I went to Settings --> General --> Reset I should have picked "Erase All Content and Settings" rather than "Reset All Settings".

This time that's what I'll do:

iphone reset 14: Erase All Content and Settings on Apple iPhone 3G

Another short prayer to the patron saint of gadgets and I tapped on "Erase iPhone".

This time it took quite a bit longer, but when it was done, the phone was completely clean, like pristine out-of-the-box clean:

iphone reset 17: no music at all on my iPod/iPhone 3G

In fact, when I plugged it into my Mac and checked with iTunes it showed up as a brand new phone too:

And that, as they say, was that.

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Categorized: Cell Phones and Mobile Phones (Article 8451)
Tagged: apple iphone, erase iphone data, iphone 3g, reset iphone
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Comments

Perfect timing, Dave! I just bought a new iPhone and was about to surf for instructions to properly wipe the old one before donating it.

Much appreciated!

Posted by: Tammy at August 21, 2008 1:56 PM

Wondering how you take those crystal clear screenshots of the iphone screens :)

Posted by: Amit Bhawani at August 22, 2008 2:49 AM

Amit, a screenshot capability was added in the 2.x version of the iPhone firmware . Simply hold down the home button (the button on the face of the iPhone on the front), push the reset button on the top right edge of the unit, then let both go. Voila! You just took a screenshot. :-)

Posted by: Dave Taylor at August 22, 2008 6:36 AM

Hello,
I did a full "delete contents and reset all settings" function and now my phone won't respond at all. It won't open and my computer doesn't even recognize it. Any advice/guidance would be appreciated. (I have the regular iPhone lately updated to the latest version and unlocked).

Posted by: Oren A at September 7, 2008 11:39 PM

To fix the problem - first switch the phone off by holding down the home key & power button until it switches off. Unplug USB cable, hold down home key & plug USB cable in while still holding down home key - that will put it into recovery mode, in which you can restore your iphone.

Posted by: bunker at September 23, 2008 4:41 PM

Do you know if the erased all content and setting button is equivalent to hard reset your iphone? what if you phone is already jail broke... will I have to jail break it again? Thank you. I want to know b/c I am giving my 1st gen iphone to my cousin and he has an itune acct already.

Posted by: Edamame at October 29, 2008 1:25 PM

Thanks! I appreciated the EXCELLENT info.
Cheers!

Posted by: tim at March 24, 2009 9:39 PM

what do i do if i erased all data it took 2 days and all i get is the apple symbol it doesn't go back to anything i have tried resetting it several times please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: ronnie at May 27, 2009 7:15 PM

This does a "delete" but not a true delete. Your stuff is still on the phone even though you can't see it through the iPhone interface. I would be more comfortable with a DoD wipe of the disk.

Posted by: spoonyfork at June 22, 2009 12:09 PM

I wiped my old G3 and now all I get is a prompt showoing the usb cable pointing upward toward the itunes insignia. When I slide the bottom it takes me to an emergency call prompt and thas all I get. I have tried turning it off and inserting the usb as I depress the home key and no luck.....any thoughts?

Posted by: Randy at July 26, 2009 6:29 PM

I erased all settings and data on my iphone 3g s all i have is a black screen with white apple logo what can i do.....help meeeeeee

Posted by: adecomm at August 10, 2009 8:54 AM

plug it in to your computer and choose "Restore" from within iTunes. That should resurrect it.

Posted by: Dave Taylor at August 10, 2009 8:57 AM

Thank you! You saved my life!!! The last thing I want is a little 13 year old going thru all my stuff. This was clear and concise. Thanks again!!!!

Posted by: Jenn at November 19, 2009 12:11 AM

when i do erase all contact and sitting the i phpne never swittch on againe why ?
now i can not use it what should i do ?

Posted by: roro at December 25, 2009 11:56 AM

how long does it take though, mines been going for almost 2 hours at least, and it just shows the apple with the little loading circle then itll go black like its rebooting come back to that apple and do it again, and it just keeps doing that over and over, for about an hour and a half now....

Posted by: gallagher at January 18, 2010 9:53 PM

I have selected reset all content and data - now the iphone just shows the Apple symbol (sometimes with the cog and sometimes without) - nothing else is happening! - been like it for 18 hours now - any suggestions? - I have tried forced restart

Posted by: Paul Southctt at February 15, 2010 5:32 AM

Ugh, not sure what to suggest, Paul. Perhaps plug the phone into a different computer?? You might end up having to pop into an Apple Store and/or call Apple for help on this one...

Posted by: Dave Taylor at February 15, 2010 9:03 AM

Thank you for the reset info it worked great.....

Posted by: Eric at February 17, 2010 5:04 PM

I was having the same problem as Oren A on September 7, 2008... THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!! your suggestions worked like a charm!!!!

Posted by: endlsdremr at February 23, 2010 8:12 AM

To respond to spoonyfork's problem, you need to reactivate the iPhone with iTunes after c complete wipe out as just described.

Start your iTunes program and connect your iPhone to the computer. After a short synchronization process, your iPhone will be activated and can now function normally.

Posted by: Stan at February 24, 2010 1:19 AM

same question as below...please help !!!

"how long does it take though, mines been going for almost 2 hours at least, and it just shows the apple with the little loading circle then itll go black like its rebooting come back to that apple and do it again, and it just keeps doing that over and over, for about an hour and a half now...."
Posted by: gallagher at January 18, 2010 9:53 PM

Posted by: Udit Khanna at February 25, 2010 2:33 PM

Thanks for the great information! Can you tell me why I'm getting bids on ebay for my iphone 3Gs that are far over what I paid for it? I mean they are no longer THAT rare are they?
Am I about to be had?
Thanks!

Posted by: John Parillo at February 28, 2010 1:50 PM

John, it's possible. Be leery of anyone who is bidding more than a brand new one would cost if you just walked into the Apple Store and bought it. Then again, yours will be contract free, so it's not exactly the same thing. Still, skepticism is a critical element of working with the eBay buyer or seller community.

Posted by: Dave Taylor at February 28, 2010 8:37 PM

if i did the 1st step will it have deleted my pictures as well?

Posted by: crangel222 at March 2, 2010 9:14 PM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!