iTunes: Backing up, updating, and restoring iOS software

Summary

This article explains how to use iTunes to back up, update, or restore your iOS device. 

Products Affected

iPad, iPhone, iPod touch

When possible, back up your data before updating or restoring. To learn how, see iOS: How to back up.

Click one or more of the links below for steps to update or restore:

Updating your iOS device

iTunes can update your device to the latest available iOS software. An update doesn't affect your user content or settings. iTunes creates a backup of your iOS device and then performs the update. Follow these steps to update your device:

  1. Verify that you are using the latest version of iTunes before attempting to update.
  2. Connect your iOS device to your computer.
  3. Select your iOS device when it appears in iTunes under Devices.
  4. Select the Summary tab.
  5. Click "Check for Update":
    version information with check for update and restore options

Restoring your iOS device

Try restoring the iOS device if backing up and erasing all content and settings doesn't resolve the issue. Using iTunes to restore iOS devices is part of standard isolation troubleshooting. Restoring your device will delete all data and content, including songs, videos, contacts, photos, and calendar information, and will restore all settings to their factory condition.

Before restoring your iOS device, Apple recommends that you either sync with iTunes to transfer any purchases you have made, or back up new data (data acquired after your last sync). If you have movie rentals on the device, see iTunes Store movie rental usage rights in the United States before restoring.

Follow these steps to restore your device:

  1. Verify that you are using the latest version of iTunes before attempting to update.
  2. Connect your device to your computer.
  3. Select your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch when it appears in iTunes under Devices.
  4. Select the Summary tab.
  5. Select the Restore option.
  6. When prompted to back up your settings before restoring, select the Back Up option (see in the image below). If you have just backed up the device, it is not necessary to create another.
    Prompt text: "Do you want to back up the settings for the iPod before restoring the sofware?"
  7. Select the Restore option when iTunes prompts you (as long as you've backed up, you should not have to worry about restoring your iOS device).
    Prompt text: "Are you sure you want to restore the iPod to its factory settings? All of your mnedia and other date will be erased."
  8. When the restore process has completed, the device restarts and displays the Apple logo while starting up:
    Prompt text: "Your iPod has been successfully restored to factory settings, and is restarting. Please leave your iPod connected. It will appear in the iTunes window after it restarts."
    After a restore, the iOS device displays the "Connect to iTunes" screen. For updating to iOS 5 or later, follow the steps in the iOS Setup Assistant. For earlier versions of iOS, keep your device connected until the "Connect to iTunes" screen goes away or you see "iPhone is activated."
  9. The final step is to restore your device from a previous backup.

If restoring with the most recent version of iTunes does not work, see iOS: Resolving update and restore alert messages.

Restoring your new iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a previous backup

If you upgrade or otherwise replace your device with a newer device, you may be able to restore the previous backup to the new device. For upgrading from the original iPhone to iPhone 3G, see these instructions. You can upgrade one device with the backup from a different type of device; most settings will transfer to the new device.

Note: During the process of restoring your old backup to a new device, you may see the iTunes progress bar pause. If this occurs, please allow for additional time for the upgrade to complete.

Additional Information

For more information, check out the user guides or the Apple support website.

For more information on iTunes backups, see: iOS: About iTunes backups.

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