Simply put, if your iPhone starts behaving obnoxiously or doesn’t respond to your commands as expected, many people will ask you to reset your iPhone. Yes, resetting it usually fixes such issues and puts the phone back on track. But you may want to know “what does resetting iPhone do”? The answer to the question depends on what type of reset you initiate.
That said, here you will learn which type of reset should you perform according to the problem you’re experiencing, and what the reset actually does.
- What Does Resetting iPhone Do?
- What Does Factory Reset Do to iPhone?
- What Does Reset All Settings Do on iPhone?
- What Does Resetting Network Settings Do on iPhone?
- What Does Hard Reset Do on iPhone?
- What Does Soft Reset Do to iPhone?
What Does Resetting iPhone Do?
Generally, resetting, as the term suggests, erases all your iPhone settings, and your personal data as well, and puts everything back to default. When this happens, any issue (except for hardware problems) that your device may have gets fixed, thus giving you an error-free and flawless user experience.
When we talk about resetting iPhone, we usually mean erasing all content and settings on your iPhone or restoring iPhone to factory settings using iTunes.
Erasing All Content and Settings
iPhone has a built-in reset feature called ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ which removes all the settings, user files, and apps from your iPhone, and allows you to set up the phone as a new device after it restarts.
You can find this option by going to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone and tapping Erase All Content and Settings.
When Do You Need It?
You should choose this approach when:
- You want to recycle, sell, or dispose of your iPhone.
- Your iPhone has encountered some issues that cannot be fixed.
- All other troubleshooting methods have failed to resolve the issue.
- You have installed or configured some app that is causing conflicts with the other settings, and your iPhone is behaving abnormally.
Note: Before you tap ‘Erase All Content and Settings’, you must turn off ‘Find My iPhone’ on your phone.
Although this reset type is a panacea for every problem that your smartphone has (as long as the hardware is not faulty), you should avoid using it as much as you possibly can, unless one or more conditions discussed above are true.
What Does Factory Reset Do to iPhone?
Factory resetting iPhone also means erasing everything on iPhone and making it like a new iPhone. Erasing all content and settings can be considered as one type of ‘Factory Reset’. However, there is another method to factory reset your iPhone.
When you connect your phone to iTunes and click ‘Restore iPhone’ from the ‘Summary’ screen, iTunes downloads a fresh instance of the latest version of iOS and installs it on your device. Because this method performs a clean installation, all custom settings, configurations, files, and apps that your iPhone has are permanently erased, and your phone restarts. After a successful reboot, you must set up your iPhone as if it’s new and you recently unboxed it.
Simply put, performing a factory reset is almost similar to what is explained in the previous section. The only difference is that when you tap ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ on your iPhone, the installed iOS is reset to factory defaults. On the other hand, when you click ‘Restore iPhone’ on iTunes, the existing iOS is removed from your device and a clean copy of the latest iOS is downloaded and installed.
When Do You Need It?
You should use this method when:
- You cannot update iOS from your iPhone.
- The currently installed iOS got corrupt.
- The iPhone no longer responds to your touches.
- All other troubleshooting methods have failed to resolve the problem.
- The ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ option didn’t help either.
What Does Reset All Settings Do on iPhone?
Now that you know the answer to “what does resetting iPhone do”, it would be easier for you to understand what happens in the background when you reset all settings on your iPhone.
As mentioned above, you can perform different types of resets depending on the type of problem your iPhone has, so sometimes you just need to reset all settings instead of resetting iPhone to factory settings. This eliminates the need of setting up your smartphone from scratch every time the iPhone encounters merely a minor glitch such as network connectivity, Bluetooth, or higher battery consumption.
When you tap ‘Reset All Settings’, all the custom settings on your iPhone are reverted to their factory defaults. However, this method doesn’t remove your personal files, apps, or data from the phone. So, what resetting all settings does is:
- Resets all network settings and removes all the trusted wireless networks and their saved passwords.
- Resets keyboard dictionary.
- Resets the Home screen layout.
- Resets the location and privacy settings.
- Resets Apple Pay Card settings and preferences.
- Other settings.
You can get to the ‘Reset All Settings’ option by going to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset and tapping Reset All Settings.
When Do You Need It?
You should choose the ‘Reset All Settings’ approach when:
- The iPhone is not behaving as expected.
- When you have messed up one or more configurations on your phone and don’t know how to get the original settings back.
- When the iPhone cannot update or upgrade to the newer iOS.
- When the iPhone fails to connect to the network and resetting the network settings didn’t work either.
What Does Resetting Network Settings Do on iPhone?
Unlike all the above approaches, resetting network settings affects only the network and Bluetooth configurations on your iPhone and leaves everything else intact. With that said, when you tap ‘Reset Network Settings’, your iPhone:
- Forgets all the saved wireless networks and their passwords.
- Forgets all the paired Bluetooth devices.
- Removes all VPN settings and preferences.
- Erases all cellular network settings and preferences.
After a successful reset, you must reconfigure all the Wi-Fi networks, re-pair Bluetooth devices, and redefine VPN and cellular settings and preferences.
You can get to the ‘Reset Network Settings’ option by going to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset and tapping Reset Network Settings.
When Do You Need It?
You should use the ‘Reset Network Settings’ option when:
- Your iPhone cannot connect to any of the saved Wi-Fi networks even after you have tried to forget and reconnect with them.
- Your iPhone fails to connect to an already paired Bluetooth device(s).
- Your iPhone fails to pair with the new Bluetooth device(s).
- Your iPhone fails to connect to a new Wi-Fi network.
What Does Hard Reset Do on iPhone?
Hard resetting iPhone is also known as force restarting iPhone. When you hard reset your iPhone, the flow of current (power supply) is temporarily pulled off from its motherboard and then released back. This refreshes the phone’s memory and flushes all the junk and unnecessary information from it without erasing your personal data, app, files, or changing any configurations and preferences. This removes the elements that could be preventing your smartphone from working normally.
However, iPhone doesn’t have any option or feature for hard resetting. Instead, you must press the physical buttons on your device in the phone-specific combination to perform this task.
Now, because the availability of buttons on iPhones depends on their model, the process of hard resetting them varies as well. For iPhone 8 and later models which don’t have the Home button, you have to press the volume up button and then the volume down button, and finally hold the side button until your iPhone reboot. For instance, if you own an iPhone 6s or earlier, it has the Home button, and therefore a different approach is needed to hard reset such smartphones.
You can learn how to hard reset different models of iPhones from here.
When You Need It?
You must hard reset your iPhone when:
- It is stuck and fails to detect your touches.
- It is stuck during the iOS update or upgrade process.
- It can’t connect to the network.
- It couldn’t connect to a paired Bluetooth device.
- Apps crash on your iPhone.
- Other abnormal states of iPhone.
Pro Tip
Most issues that your iPhone encounters could be resolved by hard resetting it. Because this approach offers the safest and quickest solution for most problems, you are suggested to go for it before trying any other troubleshooting method.
What Does Soft Reset Do to iPhone?
Soft Reset is a simple restart. What soft reset does to your iPhone is similar to what restarting Windows or macOS does to your computer. When you soft reset your iPhone, it fixes all the temporary inconsistencies and puts everything back to normal.
However, because iPhone doesn’t have the restart option, you must first shut it down, and then power it back on.
You can find the ‘Shut Down’ option by going to Settings > General > Shut Down. After your iPhone is shut down, you can long press the ‘Sleep/Wake’ button to power it on.
When Do You Need It?
You should soft reset your iPhone when:
- You cannot make or receive calls.
- You cannot connect to a Wi-Fi network or Bluetooth device.
- An app or window fails to open.
- Your iPhone lags.
Conclusion
Now that you have fully understood the question “what does resetting iPhone do” and how different types of reset options help you fix which issues, you are suggested to try the solutions accordingly to get your phone back to normal if it has encountered any problem, and you have no clue how to fix it.
