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When restoring to factory settings in Itunes, does a new copy of the updated iOS get downloaded and then installed onto the iPhone the same way it happens when you restore and update when the device is in recovery mode? How about when you do 'Erase a

When restoring to factory settings in Itunes, does a new copy of the updated iOS get downloaded and then installed onto the iPhone the same way it happens when you restore and update when the device is in recovery mode? How about when you do 'Erase all contents and settings from within the phone?

Posted on Apr 14, 2017 9:45 PM

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Posted on Apr 16, 2017 1:36 PM

Hi Jfalconebmop,

When you restore to factory setting using iTunes, either by recovery mode or through simply clicking 'Restore' on the summary screen, iTunes downloads a new copy of the latest iOS version compatible with your iPhone. However if you simply choose to 'Erase all content and settings' through the Settings app on the iPhone, it will simply remove all of your data associated with the device, but will not affect the iOS version currently installed (It will neither upgrade, redownload or downgrade the iOS version).


Hopefully that helps clear things up!

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Question marked as Best reply

Apr 16, 2017 1:36 PM in response to Jfalconebmop

Hi Jfalconebmop,

When you restore to factory setting using iTunes, either by recovery mode or through simply clicking 'Restore' on the summary screen, iTunes downloads a new copy of the latest iOS version compatible with your iPhone. However if you simply choose to 'Erase all content and settings' through the Settings app on the iPhone, it will simply remove all of your data associated with the device, but will not affect the iOS version currently installed (It will neither upgrade, redownload or downgrade the iOS version).


Hopefully that helps clear things up!

Apr 14, 2017 10:22 PM in response to Jfalconebmop

Jfalconebmop wrote:


When restoring to factory settings in Itunes, does a new copy of the updated iOS get downloaded and then installed onto the iPhone the same way it happens when you restore and update when the device is in recovery mode?

This explains what happens. I'm not sure what detail(s) you would like (or not like) to occur.

Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to factory settings - Apple Support


Jfalconebmop wrote:


How about when you do 'Erase all contents and settings from within the phone?

Erasing the iPhone (which, by the way, has prerequisites, such as turning off Find My iPhone) leaves the iPhone in a state where software-wise, it is just as if you took it out of the box for the first time.

Apr 16, 2017 1:36 PM in response to Jfalconebmop

Choosing the update option definitely can resolve software issues in some circumstances, and much like the recovery mode 'restore' it does download and install a new copy of iOS onto the device. And as you said it can also speed up the process as it shouldn't effect the data on the device.


My recommendation would be to backup the device even if you are performing this step, because if the process is interrupted or something doesn't go exactly to plan, there is the small chance it could effect user data.

To make things quicker you can use iTunes to backup the device as listed in this article.


If you are still experiencing the issue after going through the recovery mode 'Update' option, then a full factory restore may be necessary, as it could indicate that the software glitch lies within the user data, as opposed to the operating system.


Let me know how you go, hopefully this resolves it for you!

Apr 15, 2017 8:10 AM in response to ThenoblePianist

Thank you so much! Your answer does clear up things in my mind. One more question, what happens if you choose the update option in recovery mode, could that solve software glitches? That was the whole reason for me asking these questions, I was trying to help someone fix a software glitch on their phone. If the update way works it would save me a lot of time since it wouldn't delete the data from the phone and so I wouldn't need to do a backup before necessarily which could double the process time.

When restoring to factory settings in Itunes, does a new copy of the updated iOS get downloaded and then installed onto the iPhone the same way it happens when you restore and update when the device is in recovery mode? How about when you do 'Erase a

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