Just bought a new Apple iPad 2 and want to prep your old iPad 1 for resale? You might be lucky and sell it to a relative (or be really nice and give it to them, for that matter), in which case it isn’t a crisis if some of your information remains on the device, but if you’re tapping into Craigslist or eBay, you’ll want to know exactly how to reformat the iPad back to its out-of-the-box state for the new user.
There are various ways you can decouple the iPad from your paired computer (e.g., the computer running iTunes that you use for syncing things up), but they’re inferior to the core approach of using iOS itself to wipe its memory clean and ensure that there’s no vestige of your data or personal information left on the device.
Before you start, however, it’s obviously a good idea to sync the iPad and make 110% sure that you have everything you need and want off the device.
When we’re done, well, it’s going to be indistinguishable from a brand new iPad from the Apple Store or Best Buy and for you to do anything with the device at that point will involve actually setting it up again. Not good if you wanted to grab that last photo or video off first…
Synced up? Good.
Now pick up your iPad and go to “Settings” –> “General” and scroll down to the very bottom:
Once you tap on the “Reset” option, you’ll see that there are a bunch of options from which to choose:
We want the Big Gun, “Erase all Content and Settings”. Tap on that and if you have a security code set for your iPad as I do, you’ll have to verify your identity to proceed:
If you don’t have a security code, it’ll simply ask for confirmation that you really want to erase everything and restart the device:
No, really, are you SURE you want to do this? 🙂 Tap “Erase” and it’ll ask you yet again to confirm your action…
After you tap “Erase” again, the iPad starts grinding away (not literally!) and after a short period of time will restart with the plug-me-in graphic:
That’s it. You’ve just wiped, erased, reformatted, and cleaned up your iPad into a like-new state. Now it’s time to enjoy that shiny new toy…
after i format my ipad mini 2, the screen showed the apple logo, but it seems it taking too much longer time to loading.
why is it happened? and how i want to reverse this ?
thanks guys
I bought this iPad mini from the local BestBuy or FutureShop about 3 years ago. I think it’s an ipad mini3, and because I am older and a privacy fanatic who didn’t want my information or credit card info misused I set it up with a fake name and email address at @mail.com. I only ever let my young daughter use it for media consumption and only ever downloaded free apps and games so I never felt the need to input my real identity and certainly not that of my daughter.
I used that email address once just to set up the iPad and never again so I cannot remember the apple id password or the password to get me back into that 3 year old never again used fakeyfake madeup @mail.com address, presuming that @mail.com hasn’t long since deleted the unused account.
This was not a big deal in the past because the Apple ID login pop-up would ask for the password about once a day so I would dismiss it and keep watching YouTube or browsing or my daughter would play games or whatever, but since I updated the software the Apple Login ID is persistent so I can’t even use the thing anymore.
I tried resetting and erasing but after the Language selection and Country selection it is now asking for the old email address AND the password to that old unused email address. So guys I am lost as to how to get this bitch up and running again. I tried the forgotten password option but it asked for possible email addresses where the passcode or something could be sent but as you might guess, I never used backup email addresses.
Any ideas, or must I take a sledgehammer and pulverize it because it is now useless?
I want to erase all content of my ipad4 from apple data base and start from the biggening from my game center, icloud and tunes, etc. What should i do? It will be done if i reformat my ipad?
I purchased a used IPAD 2 from a Pawn store. I do not know the security code when I try to reformat the IPAD. How do I bypass the security code?
You might need to take it in to the Apple Store and have them help you because it might well be locked down because it was stolen prior to it being sold to the pawn shop. good luck!
Taylor, I am in the same predicament. If I take it to Apple Store will they take it away and return it to previous owner if it turns out to be stolen?
Apple doesn’t have the legal right to confiscate any gear from you, but it could still be very awkward and I’m not sure how they would deal with it…
hi Dave i want formate my ipad
& i forget my password
Dear Sir
i purchased a used ipad. now i want to re format but it is asked icloud password
which i dont have so can i remove and re set icloude with my id.
please advice
thanks
Does this really set all data files back to zeros. Or can a file still e recovered by fixing the name of the file?
tnx very helpfull
I have a ipad which i have reformated using the ”big guns” method you have described. However mine has been showing the ‘circular-rotating-line-action’ in the centre of a black screen for quite a few hours now. Like it started the wipe then got ‘lost’ in the job. would i damage the ipad in anyway if i were to switch it off?
Thanks for your tips I appreciate them!
Mary
Okay, I’ve done everything to clean and reset my Ipad. The picture with the plug
and ITunes is on, how long does that stay on?
I follow those steps but when it was formating , the ipad shuted down and it didnt work any more
NOTE : the battery is 96%
Hi,
If I need to unlock the device right from the start to wipe it, how is that done?
Also, do not forget to de-authorize the iPad from iTunes.
Theoretically, yes. Actually, I’ve tried this before and it worked fine, but, um, your mileage may vary. 🙂
Out of curiosity, if you do somehow “accidentally” do this reset, can it be brought back from your pre-wipe sync?