If you are looking for clear guidelines on hard resetting an iPhone, you have landed on the right page. Here you will find easy-to-follow instructions about the same.
Is your Apple iPhone locking up and freezing up, all of a sudden? Then you need to know how to soft or hard reset an iPhone. Since its launch in 2007, Apple iPhone sales have been constantly rising, making it one of the most popular smart phones ever. With the latest launch of iPhone 4S, there is renewed interest in the Apple device. Although it is one of the most advanced smart phones to be launched in recent times, it has its share of problems.
When too many applications are loaded simultaneously, at times, the iPhone screen freezes and becomes unresponsive. What can you do in such circumstances? You need to know how to deal with iPhone problems. Like the Ctrl + Alt + Delete option for Windows OS, which lets you solve the deadlock caused by some application, there is a soft or hard reset option for an iPhone that can restore its functioning to normality.
As an iPhone user, you need to know how to hard reset it. This may save you a lot of aggravation or delay, that may be caused otherwise. Let me make it clear that hard resetting an iPhone is extremely simple and you can finish it within a matter of minutes. In the following lines, first we will look at the procedure to soft reset an iPhone 3G, iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S, followed by simple instructions on how to hard reset it to factory settings.
How to Soft Reset an iPhone?
To simply deal with an iOS freeze, caused by a program, that is not responding, press and hold on the home button for some time to restore functioning to normality. Soft reset is rebooting the Apple iOS through software settings. To soft reset the iPhone you need to do the following.
- Locate the Sleep/Wake button on the iPhone.
- Press it and keep holding it for a while, till you see the appearance of a red slider.
- Drag down the slider. This will switch off the iPhone. Then again press and hold the sleep/wake button, till you see the Apple logo appear. With that, your iPhone will be soft reset and your screen freeze problem will go away.
How to Carry out a Simple Hard Reset on an iPhone?
You should go for a hard reset to factory settings, only if the soft reset doesn’t work. To carry out a simple hard reset, do the following.
- Locate the home button, at the bottom of the screen and the sleep/wake button at the top right position, on the iPhone.
- Press the home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously and hold them till the iPhone is rebooted. This should restore functionality back to normal.
How to Hard Reset an iPhone to Factory Settings?
For a hard reset to factory settings, you will need the iTunes software installed on your PC or Mac, along with a USB data cable. You need an Internet connection on your Mac. Here’s how to go about it.
- Connect the iPhone with your Mac or PC, using the data cable and open the iTunes program.
- If your iOS software is old, upgrade it to the latest version first.
- Sync all your personal data and back up all your photos, videos and songs using iTunes. A part of it should happen automatically, as you connect your iPhone with iTunes.
- Next, locate the summary tab in iTunes and click on the ‘Restore‘ button provided there.
- Once you click on ‘Restore’, a window asking whether you want to back up your data, will pop up. If you haven’t backed up data already, let iTunes do it for you. Then begin the ‘Restore’ process.
- The reset to factory settings will take some time. Firstly, the iPhone will reboot. Once rebooted, you will receive an ‘iPhone Activated‘ message, followed by a ‘Set up your phone‘ message. This confirms the hard reset to factory settings. All that remains to be done is choosing the backup date, from which you want to restore your phone. With that selected, your data will be restored back to the phone.
The instructions for hard and soft reset provided above, apply equally to iPhone 3G, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. I reiterate that a hard reset to factory settings is going to restore everything about your iPhone back to the condition which existed when you bought it first. It is going to forget all that it has remembered and stored for you. It’s flash drive memory and internal stored memory is going to be wiped out to nothingness.
That’s why, you have to make sure that you back up all your data and personal information, before you decide to go ahead with it. Sometimes a soft reset can do the job for you. Follow all the instructions on resetting an iPhone clearly and understand them before implementing!