Keeping a backup of your data is always advisable. So, you definitely need to have a backup of your iPhone, in case things go haywire. In this article, we will assume that you already know how to fully backup your iPhone with iTunes, and we will help you through the process of restoring the backup using iTunes.
Details
This article was written using iOS 10.1.1 and iTunes 12.5.3, but the same step should remain similar for other versions that have been released previously or shortly after. We will update the article if/when the steps change.
Steps To Restore iPhone Backup From iTunes
Note: First of all, you will have to download the iTunes software and successfully install it. And, then follow the steps mentioned below.
- Launch iTunes on your Windows / Mac system.
- Plug in your iPhone to the system.
Note: Make sure you have “Find My iPhone” turned off by navigating your way through Settings->iCloud->Find My iPhone. And, then disable it. If you will not turn off this feature, you will encounter an error message while you try to restore which would again ask you to turn off the same. - Immediately after plugging in the device, you will be prompted to “Trust” or “Do Not Trust” the computer you are connected to on your iPhone. Now, tap on “Trust this Computer”
- And, then head back to the iTunes window on your system and look for the device icon as highlighted in the image below.
- After you click on the specified icon, you’ll be greeted with the summary window as shown in the image below.
- Scroll down and you would observe the restore option. Now, tap on “Restore Backup”
- Now, carefully look at the date and size of the backup from the drop-down list to ensure that you will be restoring the latest backup or the desired backup file.
- If you had chosen to encrypt your iPhone backup, you will need to enter the password to successfully proceed to restore the backup.
- Finally, wait for your iPhone to restart and successfully sync with iTunes and then proceed to disconnect your iPhone. The restoration process would take a lot of time (a couple of hours maybe) if you have a lot of data to be restored. Nevertheless, if you only have a couple of applications installed with less number of additional files and documents, it will take a few minutes to restore the backup.
If you want to follow the different steps in video form, we have embedded a video that shows the same steps:
Wrapping Up
Finally, now you know how to restore your iPhone using iTunes which would help you restore your device if you accidentally lose some of your files or simply if you want to head back to a previous restore state.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Do you have any problem following the steps mentioned above? Feel free to let us know in the comments below.
If for some reason there were recent changes to how iTunes work, you can always check this official page from Apple