How to Restore Your iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV to Factory Condition

1 of 10 in Series: The Essentials of Troubleshooting Your iPod or iPhone

You can restore any iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV to the way it was when you bought it (factory condition). This erases the hard drive (or flash memory in the case of an iPod nano or shuffle) and returns the device to its original settings. If you intend to change the computer you’re using for synchronizing your iPod or iPhone, you have to restore the device, especially if you’re switching from a Mac to a PC as your synchronizing computer.

To replace content that was erased by the restore operation, synchronize your iPod or iPhone from your computer’s iTunes library.

Be sure that you back up any important data that you keep stored on an iPod classic, nano, shuffle, or older iPod model enabled as a hard drive.

Connect the iPod or iPhone to your computer.

iTunes opens automatically.

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Select the iPod or iPhone in the Source pane in the Devices section, and click the Summary tab (Settings tab for an iPod shuffle) if it is not already selected.

The device’s Summary (or Settings) page appears to the right of the Source pane.

Click the Restore button.

An alert dialog appears to confirm that you want to restore the device.

Click the Restore button again to confirm the restore operation.

A progress bar appears, indicating the progress of the restore operation.

For some iPod models, follow the instructions to disconnect your iPod and connect it to an AC power adapter, if required.

You might need to disconnect an iPod temporarily and connect it to an AC power adapter after the restore operation and during the process of updating the software. If you see a message asking you to disconnect the iPod, follow the instructions displayed with the message. You might also need to reconnect the iPod to the computer after this process. iTunes notifies you when the restore is finished.