iPhone Settings > General > Reset Options

miles · Jan 31, 2013

Under the Reset Option, there are:

Reset All Settings
Erase All Content and Settings

What's the difference between the two? Would "Reset All Settings" delete added Apps (non default apps) or not? Would this also kill Cydia / jailbreak? Thanks.

willerz2 · Jan 31, 2013

The first resets all settings, meaning your preferences and such. The second clears your phone. I recommend just ignoring that button as if it never existed, especially if you're jailbroken. The best way to clean your phone out is to restore through iTunes.

miles · Jan 31, 2013

If I'll do restore in iTunes, what would it clear / delete? Wouldn't it kill the jailbreak? I'm eyeing to give my old iPhone to someone but I need to clean it up first. I want to leave most of the apps but remove the settings in those apps.

I want to clear the mailbox, contacts, logins accounts in apps, etc. Again, thanks.

willerz2 · Jan 31, 2013

Restoring and using the Erase all content will mess up a jailbreak. The only way to cleanly wipe a jailbreak is to put it into DFU mode and restore. Resetting all settings will clear out some of what you want to clear out.... Manually remove/delete your accounts and flush out your contacts.

Thomasjtsi · Jan 31, 2013

willerz is right. Unfortunately, the only way to purge a Jailbroken iDevice of personal information is to manually delete the info in question. Running a restore via iTunes will clear everything and install a fresh iOS w/o your Jailbreak.

miles · Feb 1, 2013

Is there any other application (like a file manager) I could use in my PC to manually delete contacts, photos, videos, instead of manually deleting them in the iphone screen?

Willerz2 mentioned - The only way to cleanly wipe a jailbreak is to put it into DFU mode and restore <- Is this to rejailbreak it again using redsn0w? Thanks.

willerz2 · Feb 1, 2013

Well if you want to rejailbreak, you can rejailbreak of course. This is also what you would have to do if you want to convert your jailbroken iPhone back to a clean iPhone. Reason being is that when you jailbreak a device, you open and close certain security protocols to do so, which allows you to do things on your device that the iOS core would not normally allow you to do. In some cases, users have said that a regular restore works, but there are many cases where normal restores were done, and the device ended up bricking or having a much longer cleanup after. So my advice would be to take the extra minute to put the device into DFU to make sure that everything goes well.

miles · Feb 1, 2013

The only way to cleanly wipe a jailbreak is to put it into DFU mode and restore. <- If I understand it correctly, put the iPhone in DFU mode. Then restore through iTunes or Redsn0w?

willerz2 · Feb 1, 2013

Either will work, as long as it's in DFU mode. RedSn0w actually requires you to put your phone into DFU mode if you use the Restore feature.

miles · Feb 1, 2013

If I'll restore it with the IPSW, then I will need to re-jailbreak it again. Similar procedure in upgrading an iOS and jailbreaking it afterwards. Please confirm.