How To Factory Reset An iPhone Without The Password – The #1 Way

Yes, it’s possible to reset your iPhone without a password. Here’s how…

Wondering how to factory reset an iPhone without the password?

Resetting a smartphone is the process in which you wipe all data from the phone and reformat the phone to factory condition. When you reset an iPhone, all the data and personalized settings, and installed apps are completely erased from it.

When the iPhone starts up again after a factor reset, you’ll be presented with the “Hello” welcome screen guiding you through a new setup process – just as if you bought the iPhone new and were taking it out of its box for the first time.

It’s important to note that some people use the term “factory reset” when they really mean “restore.” You can check out the difference between resetting and restoring an iPhone here.

But in this article, we’ll tell you how to “factory reset” an iPhone without the password.

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Why Factory Reset An iPhone Without The Password?

Before we get to showing you how to factory reset an iPhone without a password, some may be wondering why you may have to do this.

After all, if it’s your iPhone, wouldn’t you know the password?

This is true for some, but in reality there are going to be quite a few people out of the millions of iPhone owners who forget their password. In that case, they need to be able to factory reset their iPhone without it.

Also, some people may buy a used iPhone and the owner may have forgotten to set the used iPhone back to factory settings. If this is the case, the new owner may have to factory reset the device without knowing the password.

With that in mind, it’s always wise t check that an iPhone has been restored to factory settings before you buy it. iPhones that are not can be iPhone that have been stolen. This is not always the case, of course, but it’s possible.

It’s best to always ask the seller if the iPhone is factory reset when you buy it and turn it on to check for yourself before you have over the cash.

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How To Factory Reset An iPhone Without The Password: Using iTunes

There is one really good option to factory reset your iPhone when you don’t know the password. However, keep in mind that doing this will wipe all the data and settings from the device. In other words, if you go through with this, you’ll loose everything on the iPhone.

Of course, you could get everything back if you have a recent iCloud backup of that iPhone’s data.

Then again, if you are factory resetting an iPhone and don’t know the password, it’s likely it’s because the iPhone’s old owner didn’t reset it in the first place, so the data on it won’t be important to you.

Here’s how to factory reset and iPhone without the password using iTunes:

1. Connect the iPhone to your computer with its USB cable.
2. Open up the iTunes app on your computer.
3. Look for the iPhone in iTunes’ sidebar and click on it.
4. Click on the Summary tab under iPhone in the sidebar.
5. Click the Restore iPhone button.
6. A warning will pop-up letting you know that by continuing all data will be lost on the iPhone. If you’re OK with that, click Restore.
7. iTunes will check if any new software updates are available for the iPhone. If there are, you will see another pop-up alerting you to this fact. Click Restore and Update.

The Restore process will then commence. It could take between 20-30 minutes or longer to fully erase the iPhone and restore it to factory settings. But when it does, the iPhone in question will start up again as if it were new and you’ve just taken it out of the box for the first time.

Also, be sure to check out how to use iCloud Keychain passwords for Windows! Wondering what a password manager is? Read this! And check out How to Add Notes to Passwords On iPhone!

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Michael Grothaus

Apple expert and novelist, Michael Grothaus has been covering tech on KnowYourMobile for the best part of 10 years. Prior to this, he worked at Apple. And before that, he was a film journalist. Michael is a published author; his book Epiphany Jones was voted as one of the best novels about Hollywood by Entertainment Weekly. Michael is also a writer at other publications including VICE and Fast Company.