How does one perform a clean reinstall of iOS 6.1.3 on iPhone 4s?

Sorry, there is no supported way to do what you want. If you restore your phone, iOS 7.0.3 will be installed.

lchoisf wrote:

One specialist thought the problem was with hardware, namely the speakers, and pointed out that water had somehow gotten into the phone via the main jack (a white dot turns red when exposed to water, so they tell me.) OK, but why would the hardware be so selective and consistent: to fail for only Siri and only when she's working through Maps? Otherwise the sound is fine.

It could be water damage. I got an iPhone wet. It was completely, albeit briefly, submerged. Everything worked perfectly except text alerts. They just didn't sound. Water damage can be a very funny thing.

I had a similar experience as Meg's after water exposure. The phone was messed up for awhile but functions came back after a few days except for the microphone and camera flash.

lchoisf wrote:

I strongly urge Apple to please reconsider its decision on the availability of iOS 6. Here, in my case,

• I'm not trying to reverse an upgrade,
• Until the issues between the apps and iOS 7 are ironed-out, I still need iOS 6 to run some very important apps
• I am now using Maps a lot and I need to be able to hear voice commands.

You're not talking to Apple.

So here are my questions:

1. 1Can I install iOS 6.0 from an iOS 6.0 install file using iTunes?
2. I I install iOS 6.0, will Apple offer me the OTA update to 6.1.3? (I understand that there were some security issues with 6.0). If not, how can I obtain the update?
3. 3. Where can I find step-by-step instructions for all this?

1. No.

2. You can't do that.

3. No where legitimate. Any instructions you could find to do this would involve an unauthorized modification to the phone, which forfeits all rights to support.

Since you cannot do a reinstall of any version of the iOS prior to the current version supported for your phone, I suggest you just go ahead an restore your phone with iOS 7. If it works correctly again, good. You will become accustomed to iOS 7 quickly and enjoy it's many new and better features.

Well, I do realise I'm a bit late. But better late than never, right?

I had the exact same question and I went to the Apple Store: The Genius explained to me that one can actually do a some kind of 'clean install' of the current version of iOS = the one you have installed at this moment on a device. Namely, an [ERASE all content and settings]. You can find this option in [Settings] - [General] - last option - second option. I'm sorry, I don't have the english version of iOS on my device, so I translated the names haha. I assume the order of options are the same. But it is the one that says ERASE, and not 'restore'.

This way you - obviously - erase everything that is on your device and it goes back to the factory settings, BUT with this same iOS version - so it does not automatically updates to the latest version available in the AppStore.

Then when you go through the first settings; set it as a new device, and don't restore it from your backup.

I hope this helps you - in the future 😉.

Hi Ichoisf,

The Genius didn't mention anything about iCloud, but it seems to me - I'm pretty sure - that it won't hurt to sync back your Contacts, Notes, Agenda etc.

I am not sure about the Apps though. I did redownload/reinstall the apps one by one through iCloud/AppStore (you will see the cloud-sign so you are not buying them again) if that is what you mean? Because if you do it that way - instead of putting back the whole iCloud backup, you simply just redownload the app. I personally didn't put back the iCloud backup including the apps because I had several problems with different apps which caused my whole phone crashing all the time - I haven't jailbraked my phone btw. So I wanted to do this 'clean install' as clean as possible. It takes a lot of time if you have a huge collection of apps. But see it like a one-time job, and an opportunity to review the necessity of every app 😁.

Good luck!