Backup And Restore Your iPhone Data Via iTunes

While it takes minutes to create a backup in the iPhone, restoring the same can be quite a mess. The data you store on your iDevices is automatically saved on iCloud so that you can retrieve it later. You generally need to restore your data when you purchase a new iPhone or iPad or any other iDevice. Other than that, you might want to perform a factory reset on your iPhone that will erase all the data stored in your device including photos, videos, music, contacts and all the apps as well. While generally people don’t prefer doing it, sometimes it’s the only option to fix some persisting issues in your device. There’s no guarantee though that performing a factory reset will fix your iPhone or iPad. But many trivial damages or malfunctions, usually the ones caused by downloading malicious software or app on your device can be fixed resetting your device. In some cases, it might also fix the issues caused by performing a jailbreak tweak on your device.

But once you reset your device, everything will be deleted and it will be as fresh as a new one. So it is always recommended to create a data backup before performing a factory reset. Also, restoring a backup on an iOS device isn’t as simple as it sounds. It might take around thirty minutes to get everything back in order and if you have a comparatively large backup, it might even take an hour depending on the size of the backup. So you need to remain very calm and patient until it completes. You can’t do anything with the time duration, if you haven’t done that before, things are gonna get a bit more messy. In that case, first you’d have to learn how to restore your iPhone or iPad after a factory reset. But don’t worry, you’re at the right place. This blog might save some additional hours of you stumbling around through different sites in search of an easy way to backup and restore your iPhone data. In this blog, I’ll tell you how to do that in these simple steps.

#1 Connect Your iPhone To The Computer

The first step of course is to connect your iPhone to the Mac or Windows PC but before doing that, make sure you have an iTunes app installed in your PC. On connecting it via USB cable, it will automatically launch the iTunes app but if that doesn’t happen, you must launch it manually. Once you’ve launched the app, the name of your iPhone will appear under the Devices option displayed at the top-left. If your device name is there, it means that your iPhone has been connected to the iTunes.

#2 Backup Your Device Data

You’ll see an option named Summary or Information just below your device icon, click on that. It will show your device information along with a few options. At the bottom right corner under the Summary tab, there will be a “Sync” button. Clicking on that will start transferring the device data to your computer. However, if you have enabled auto-sync in your iTunes settings, it will automatically start backing up the data the moment you connect your iPhone to the computer. Otherwise, you’ll have to do that manually.

#3 Perform The Restore

When your device is connected to the iTunes, go to the device summary. On the screen that follows, you’ll see two options i.e Restore, Update at the centre of the screen. Click on Restore! Once you click on that, it will first warn you that restoring it to the factory settings will delete all the data on your iPhone. Click on the Restore button again to perform an action.

#4 Wait Till The Process Completes

Like I said, the restore takes time depending on the size of your backup. So all you can do is wait till it completes the backup process. But do not disconnect your device in the middle of the process or it might be precarious.

#5 When Your iPhone Is Restored

After the 4th step, your iPhone is restored but you’re not done yet. You still have to wait till it restores the settings and data synchronization with the iPhone takes place. When it completes, the iPhone will restart automatically. This reboot however, might take some more time than usual.

#6 Activating Your Device

Once the iTunes restoration completes, the next step is to activate your iPhone. Just as your device restarts, a new message will appear on the computer screen saying the iPhone is awaiting activation. When the activation process completes, a new message will appear saying your iPhone has been activated.

#7 Setting Up Your iPhone

After the activation takes place, you need to set up your device via iTunes. While setting up your device, you’ll see two options on the screen.

1. Set up as a new iPhone

2. Restore from a backup

If you want to restore all the previous settings including contacts and saved accounts, go with the first option. Otherwise, set up as a new iPhone. After performing any of the steps, your iPhone will be restored to its factory settings without losing any data. You can now disconnect it from your computer.