Erase Everything that’s on Your iPhone
In most cases, you’ll want to make sure that you delete everything from your iPhone. Depending on what you’re doing with your iPhone, this should be one of the first things you do.
Here’s how to completely erase your iPhone:
- Open the Settings app.
- Scroll down and go to General.
- Scroll down again and tap on Transfer or Reset iPhone.
- Tap on Erase All Content and Settings.
- Follow the instructions on the screen to erase your iPhone.
This will delete everything that’s on your iPhone, so be sure to create a backup before you do this, or you might lose everything.
Erasing your iPhone will also disable Find My and Activation Lock, sign you out of your Apple ID, remove all credit and debit cards from Apple Pay, and offer to erase your eSIM. This means you can skip doing those things individually if you’re planning to wipe your iPhone entirely — and we strongly recommend you do that, even if you’re going to give your iPhone to a close family member.