How to Restore iPad With iTunes

One of the greatest highlights of using an Apple device is the high level of security and privacy it offers. Meaning, there are several security measures undertaken to account for this high-level security. For example, let us consider the basic passcode unlock system. If you enter a wrong passcode three straight times, your device will automatically get locked. You cannot try unlocking your device for a certain period of time. If you still fail to enter the right password, you have no other way than to erase all data on your iPad, deleting all settings, personal information, and your passcode. You may have also reset your iPad for some other reason, and want all your data back. If this happens, then you need to restore your iPad with an iTunes backup. But how can you do it?

So, whatever may be the reason, you want to restore your iPad with an iTunes backup now. Don’t worry. We will walk you through the entire process. Also, if you are planning to reset your iPad to factory settings for some reason and to backup your data later, we will also help you out. We will explain everything you need to do to make a perfect backup of your data and restore your iPad with iTunes later. Keep reading this article to find how everything works!

Before Resetting Your iPad

Now that you have decided to reset your iPad to factory settings, you need to carry out a few steps before actually beginning the process. Whatever may be the reason, these are the basic things you need to do if you want to restore your data later. However, if you want to start from scratch, you can ignore these steps. If you have already reset your iPad and you are now looking for a method to restore your data back, just check whether you have performed these steps earlier. We have discussed the restoration process later in this article.

Step 1 – Backing Up All Your Data to iCloud

First of all, you need to make a backup of all the data that you want to retain. Since you are using an iPad, the ideal way to make a backup is to use the iCloud backup feature. You may have enabled a scheduled backup on iCloud. So you first need to check whether the latest backup contains all the important data. If not, you should create a backup manually to include all recent data, before you reset your iPad. This is how you can do this –

1. Click open the Settings app on your iPad (Denoted by the Gear icon).
2. Once in there, you will find your name (your apple ID) as the first option. Click on it to access your Apple ID, iTunes, iCloud, and the App Store.
3. From this menu, click on iCloud.
4. You will find all the storage that you have used. Also, you will find all the iCloud options there. Find and click on iCloud Backup.
5. Check below the last option on this screen. The date and time of the last backup will be displayed there. If it is greater than one day since the last backup, click on Back Up Now.
6. Your iPad will now start backing up all your important data to iCloud.

That’s it. You have now successfully created a recent backup of all your data, and your device is ready to reset. Proceed with the next method to find the proper steps.

Step 2 – Turning Off “Find My iPad”

Before you proceed with resetting your iPad, there is one more important thing that you need to do – turning off the “Find my iPad” feature. This cool feature keeps track of your device location and lets you lock your device from a remote location, and also play a particular sound to locate it. All these features are designed to help you find your iPad in case it gets lost or stolen. However, we don’t want that data to stay on our device, and hence we will clear it out first. If you don’t have “Find my iPad” enabled on your device, then you can ignore this step and move on to the next step. But if you have it enabled, here is what you do –

1. Travel to the iCloud option on your Settings app (Follow steps 1, 2 and 3 of the previous step).
2. From the list of options, click on Find My iPad. (If you are using iPadOS13 or higher versions, this option is located right on the Apple ID screen, before you enter into iCloud)
3. If the particular feature is turned on, tap on the toggle switch to turn it off.

You have thus successfully turned off the Find My iPad feature, and you can now continue with the rest of the process.

Restore iPad to Factory Settings With iTunes

Now that you have performed all the basic steps before resetting your iPad, let us move on to the process of actually restoring your iPad to Factory Settings. Remember that this will completely erase all your data on the device, and puts up a fresh copy of the operating system. This is a great method if you are troubleshooting your iPad. So make sure that you have a recent backup if you want to restore your data later. Here is how you can restore your iPad to factory settings –

1. Grab the cable that came along with your iPad, and connect it with a PC or Mac (Make sure that the Mac is running on macOS Mojave (10.4) or an earlier version). If you are using a device running on macOS Catalina (10.15) or higher versions, you can directly erase contents from your iPad settings.
2. Launch the iTunes application on your computer.
3. Make sure that you are signed in to your Apple account and then click on the iPad icon on the top-left corner of your window.
4. All information about your device is displayed here. Read through them if you want, and then click on Restore iPad (right below the operating system information).
5. You will now be prompted to make a recent backup. Since you have done this already, you no need to worry about it. If not, you can also make a backup from here.
6. Before erasing out your data, iTunes confirms whether you want to restore your device. Click on Restore and Update.

This process may take a little time. After that, all of your data – personal information, files, photos, videos, audio, documents, logs, and everything else will be permanently erased from your iPad. Shortly speaking, it will feel as if it was a brand new piece.

Restore Data With iTunes Backup

Once you have reset your device to factory settings, the next and final thing you need to do is to restore all your previous data. You can do this by using the backup file that you just created. You can make use of iCloud backups, and iTunes backups to complete this process. In this method, we will cover the process of restoring your iTunes backup. The process is very simpler. Let us walk you through the entire procedure –

1. Switch on your computer and launch iTunes. Make sure that you are signed in to your Apple acccount.
2. After this, connect your iPad to this computer with a data cable (USB cable). Sometimes, iTunes asks you to confirm yoour PC. If it asks so, follow all the on-screen instructions.
3. Select your device from the iTunes dashboard. If you cannot find your device on the screen try reconnecting it to the computer.
4. After this, click on Restore Backup. A list of all the backups available will be listed here. At times, iTunes may ask you to upgrade your iOS if you want to proceed. If prompted, follow all the instructions.
5. Select the most recent backup file from the list. If you want to recover data from some other backup, select that particular backup file.
6. Finally, click on Restore. If you are using an encrypted backup file, you must enter your password to continue.

That’s it. Your device will start downloading all your data from the backup file. After some time, all data will be imported, and you are free to use your device! Just disconnect it from the computer and start using it!