Last night I accidentally erased all data off my iPhone after multiple failed unlock attempts when my phone was in my pocket. I thought I had this feature off, but it appears in passcode settings it is on and set to erase all my iPhone data after 5 failed attempts. I cannot turn it off because “data protection is enabled”. Any ideas how to turn this off?
iPhone 11, iOS 14
Delete the entire email account that may be associated with your work. Also check to see whether any profiles exist on your phone that you can delete. You can see the installed profiles in Settings ➔ Settings Settings ➔ General ➔ Profiles & Device Management. If you delete a profile, all of the settings, apps, and data associated with the profile are also deleted.
After that you can shut down your iPhone and then restart it. Check to see whether that resolves the issue.
Axel F.
Delete the entire email account that may be associated with your work. Also check to see whether any profiles exist on your phone that you can delete. You can see the installed profiles in Settings ➔ Settings Settings ➔ General ➔ Profiles & Device Management. If you delete a profile, all of the settings, apps, and data associated with the profile are also deleted.
After that you can shut down your iPhone and then restart it. Check to see whether that resolves the issue.
Axel F.
Check your Screen Time and Restrictions. My iPhone shows Data Protection is enabled, however the Erase Data switch is not turned on. Did you restore your iPhone to a backup from your device after you erased all the data? Do you have a profile on the iPhone from an employer, or have a work email account on the device? If so, then the employer may control that setting.
It appears that Erase Data button is greyed out because of a policy/profile installed by another organization such as your place of education or employment. If your iPhone is receiving emails from your work or school then the mail exchange server can install a profile/policy setting that you download on your iPhone. This is done as for security purposes so that the school/employer can protect its data. If you delete/remove this profile/policy then you will not be able to send or receive those work/school emails.
Axel F.
Yes I have a work email, I have deleted it but it hasn’t changed anything.
i backed up from a very old saved back up on my computer
How do I delete it?
Thank you that worked!!
Lauren, you are welcome. Glad it worked out for you.
Axel F.
“Erase all data” function
