If you encounter a problem with your iPad that ordinary troubleshooting can’t solve, you can perform a factory reset, which deletes all apps and data from the device.

Before performing a factory reset, be sure you have a recent backup or all of your data will be lost. After the reset, you can easily restore your last backup automatically using the iPad’s setup assistant, but you will need your Apple ID and password.

While the iPhone and iPad suffer far fewer routine problems than traditional computers, sometimes the unexpected happens.

If your iPad is giving you serious problems, one way to get things back to normal is to perform a factory reset. This erases all the data and apps from your iPad and restores it to its original condition when it arrived from the factory.

After resetting your iPad, you can restore all of your apps and data from a recent backup, or if you suspect that something in the backup is what caused your iPad to have problems to begin with reinstall all of the apps you want manually from the App Store and ignore your backups.

A word of caution: restoring your iPad is the “nuclear option” when it comes to troubleshooting your device. It’s time-consuming and whenever you erase a device, there’s always some risk, however small, that restoring from a backup will fail. If possible, see if there’s a particular misbehaving app and uninstall it first. You might also try some of the troubleshooting tips found in our article ” Can iPads get viruses? “

Backup your iPad first

1. Before you reset your iPad, make sure you have a current backup of your data especially if you plan to restore the iPad with your apps and data after the reset is complete.

2. Open the Settings app.

3. Tap your Apple ID at the top of the screen and then tap “iCloud.”

4. Tap “iCloud Backup.”

5. Check when the last successful backup occurred; if it’s in the last few hours, that might be good enough. Otherwise, tap “Back Up Now” and wait for the backup to complete.

Reset and restore your iPad

You are about to lose all of your apps and data, so don’t proceed past this sentence without making sure you have a recent backup and that you really want to reset the iPad to its factory settings. Also, be sure that you have your Apple ID and password available, since you will need it to sign in and retrieve your backup.

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Tap “General,” and then tap “Reset.”

3. On the Reset page, tap “Erase all Content and Settings,” and choose “Erase Now.” If, for some reason, you haven’t already backed up your iPad, you can choose “Backup then Erase.”

Your iPad will spend a few minutes resetting itself to factory conditions. After a few minutes, you’ll be greeted with the iPad’s initial welcome screen.

At this point, follow the instructions of the setup assistant to sign in with your Apple ID and restore the iPad from the most recent backup on your iCloud account.

• You can reset your Apple Watch and unpair it from your iPhone through either the Watch app, or from the Watch’s settings menu.
• You should unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone if you’ve sold or lost your Watch, or if you’ve encountered an issue that requires a full reset.
• If you reset your Apple Watch without your iPhone, you’ll still need to disable the “Activation Lock” feature before you can sell or give it away.

Whether you’ve sold or are giving away your old Apple Watch , hit an issue that requires a full reset, or just want to wipe your watch and start again, you’ll need to reset and unpair your watch.

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You can do so from your iPhone’sWatch app or from the Apple Watch itself in a few simple steps.

Below are instructions on how to do both, along with a quick breakdown on how to disable your watch’s Activation Lock for use on another iCloud account.

Reset and unpair an Apple Watch from your iPhone’s Watch app (recommended)

The easiest and fastest way to unpair and reset your Apple Watch is by using the Watch app on its paired iPhone.

1. Open the Watch app on your iPhone. If you don’t know where it is, you can swipe right on your Home screen and Search for “Watch.”

2. Select the Apple Watch you’re unpairing. The Apple Watches paired with your iPhone will be displayed on the watch app home screen at the top. Select the one you want to unpair and reset.

Select the watch you’re looking to unpair

3. Press the orange “i” button on the right. This will open the menu for the Apple Watch.

Tap the “i” next to your watch.

4. Tap “Unpair Apple Watch.” A warning will pop up at the bottom of the screen to double check that you want to unpair this Apple Watch. Select “Unpair X’s Apple Watch.”

Tap “Unpair Apple Watch” and confirm it when prompted.

5. Wait for the Apple Watch to unpair and reset. Your iPhone will display the following message.

Wait for your watch to unpair.

6. The Apple Watch will show the two screens below, as it deletes all the old data and resets, ready to be paired with a new iPhone.

Your Apple Watch is unpairing.

Reset and unpair an Apple Watch without your iPhone

If for some reason you have no access to the paired iPhone, you can reset the Apple Watch from the device itself.

1. Swipe through the apps on your Apple Watch to find the Settings app. It looks like a gear, just like the app on your iPhone.

Tap the Settings app icon.

2. Open the Settings app and scroll down to “General.” It also has a gear icon, how convenient!

Tap “General.”

3. Scroll down and select “Reset.” You can find it at the bottom of the list.

Tap “Reset.”

4. Tap on the “Erase All Content and Settings” button. The warning on this page explains that resetting from the Apple Watch will not remove Activation Lock, linking the watch to your iCloud Account. Don’t worry, you can read on to address this issue too.

Tap “Erase All Content and Settings.”

5. Scroll down and tap “Erase All.” The warning on this page explains that you are erasing all data, but that Activation Lock will not be removed.

Tap “Erase All.”

6. The Apple Watch will now erase all data and reset itself, and it’s ready to be paired.

Remove the Activation Lock from your Apple Watch

If you reset your Apple Watch from the watch itself and not from your iPhone, then you may still have Activation Lock set up. Activation Lock is used to link your Apple Watch to your iCloud account for security. Before the Apple Watch can be used by a new iCloud account you must remove Activation Lock. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to iCloud.com on your computer and sign in with your iCloud information.

Sign into iCloud.

2. Go to “Find iPhone.”

3. Select “All Devices” at the top of the map and then choose your Apple Watch.

4. Click “Remove from Account.”

Click “Remove from Account” and then confirm on the next page.

Your Apple Watch should now be unpaired, reset, and ready to for use with a different iCloud account.

You can recover deleted Notes on your iPhone through the Notes app or an iCloud backup, if you’ve accidentally deleted a Note that you need.

You can recover “Recently Deleted” Notes from a folder of the same name within the Notes app, which is a pre-installed iPhone app that functions like a very basic word processor. If a Note is no longer on your iPhone , you might be able to get it back by restoring a backup from iCloud.

I use Notes on my iPhone a lot, for everything from story ideas, to recommended books and movies, to grocery lists. Some of these, like the story ideas and article notes, can stay for a while; others, like the grocery lists, can be deleted quickly.

But occasionally you might delete the important stuff off your iPhone by accident. Luckily, if the Note was deleted in the last 30 days, you can still recover it from a folder on your phone. And if it’s been even longer than that, there’s still a way to get it back.

How to recover deleted notes on an iPhone

Recovering a Note from the Notes apps “Recently Deleted” folder

If it’s been less than 30 days since you deleted the Note, it should still be in your “Recently Deleted” folder.

1. Open the Notes App.

2. Push the left (back) arrow in the top left corner, until you get to the Folders menu.

3. Tap on “Recently Deleted.”

4. Click on “Edit” in the upper right corner.

5. Dots should appear on the left of all items in Recently Deleted.

6. Tap the dot next to the Note you wish to recover.

7. Tap on “Move To” in the lower left corner.

8. Tap on “Notes” to return it to the list with the rest of your Notes.

However, this will only work if the Note was recently deleted (within the last 30 days) and if the Note was not also deleted from the Recently Deleted folder.

If this isn’t the case, there is still one hope for recovering deleted Notes. If you have set up automatic backups to iCloud, there’s a good chance that the deleted note will be in at least one of the backups you’ve saved. Even if you backup on a more spaced out schedule, or even if you don’t, there’s a chance the notes will be in the backup.

For info on how to restore from a backup, check out our article, ” How to restore your iPhone from a backup after taking the ‘nuclear option’ of a factory reset .”

But for any of this to work, you need to make sure that your iPhone is backing up your notes in the first place.

How to ensure your iPhone is backing up Notes to iCloud

The first step is to make sure you’re regularly backing up your iPhone to the Cloud. If you need instructions on how to do a full system restore from your backup .

1. To ensure Notes are being backed up with the rest of your iPhone, tap on Settings.

2. Tap on your profile (this should list “Apple ID, iCloud, iTunes and App Store” under your name), at the top of the Settings page.

3. Tap on iCloud.

4. Tap on Notes. It should be in the first few items. When the toggle goes over to reveal green, your iPhone is officially backing up Notes.