How to reinstall iOS on an iPhone without a computer or data loss

Since you cannot "find" the article, it probably never existed to begin with and you mis-remembered as Idris has pointed out. Putting the phone in recovery mode will ERASE it and will require you to either:

1). Set up the phone as new and redownload all apps and reconfigure the settings. iCloud content will download automatically if you have synch enabled.

OR

2). Restore the phone from backup.

This is the procedure. Believe me, if a procedure like the one you described existed, it would be documented here on ASC. I have done a search here and on the web and cannot find it.

If you find it, please post it here, and enlighten us.

Have you turned off beta software on the Software update setting? Have you updated to the regular update?

FWIW, I always set up a new iPhone as "new" never from backup, because I want a fresh iOS copy on my new phone and not one from backup. It is a pain to download each app one by one, and to reconfigure each one, but it it what it is. Believe me, if there was a way to do what you wish, I myself would have done it years ago.

And not to rub salt in a wound: you do know that installing beta software on your regular daily use iPhone is foolish? Ah, but you knew that already.

Or you're misremembering.

There is a process for dealing with an unresponsive phone that has a lot of fiddly button pushing but it also requires a computer.

If you can't update or restore your iPhone or iPod touch - Apple Support

Is there a reason you can't simply back up the phone?

cminous wrote:

it is a royal PITA to put everything back

It absolutely is.

I've been using iPhones since the iPhone 4. I also spent 20 years working for Verizon Wireless. And I've been participating here for twenty years. I've never heard of anything like what you're talking about.

Restoring iOS wipes the data. Full stop. You have to have backed up the data in order to restore it.

Now, if you had another iPhone, you could transfer everything to it using Quick Start. But it does require two phones.

Use Quick Start to transfer data to a new iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

You can erase your phone through Settings>General>Transfer or Reset iPhone>Erase All Content and Settings. However, doing that won't install a completely new copy of iOS. Only restoring to factory state with a computer does that.

To get your data back, you need to have backed it up first. If you back up to iCloud, no computer is required.

Perhaps if you explained why you want to do this, someone could provide some additional suggestions.

cminous wrote:

I did not start this forum to argue with misinformation, if you are not familiar with my post, I am not sure why you keep writing.

It's hard to be familiar with something that doesn't exist. I've been trying to help you by offering the best suggestions available based on your vague posts about why you're trying to do this and some half-remembered thing you read about somewhere you can't remember at some undetermined time in the past. Something that apparently Apple has successfully hidden from a lot of people.

You can't do what you want.

There has never been such a feature. The closest is if you reinstall iOS using a computer, the first step will automatically back up your iPhone to your computer, then give an option to restore the backup after the reinstall completes.

Hello~ Aware of what crowd? The crowd I see here are intelligent people that volunteer their time here to help people like you. Your original post said nothing about beta …which by the way can’t be discussed here.

~Katana-San~

If you chose to install a beta (and you do have to choose, it never happens automatically) if you remove the beta you can only reinstall a backup made before the beta was installed. So unless you have such a backup your only option is to set up the phone as new. It cannot be updated to any backup made while on a beta.

Then you need to do what Lawrence has said. Erase the phone and restore from a backup. But it looks like you'll be setting up the phone as new as you installed the beta 2 years ago.

Your call.

Good luck.

Take a screenshot of every screen with the apps, so as you do not forget which ones you have. Take a screenshot of settings on each apps. You can use this as a guide when reinstalling the apps.

I, myself find that I do not reinstall all my apps because it find that I do not use all of them.

Synch documents, notes, photos, etc with iCloud.

Allocate a lot of free time to do this.

It's my suggestion.

When you reinstall iOS from scratch it will erase your phone. Thus, if you want the phone as before, you will need to restore from a backup.

There is no way to do what you are asking.

Hello~ Most assuredly….

~Katana-San~