How to Reset or Erase iPhone without Apple ID Password

For many reasons, you want to erase all content and settings from your iPhone device. You may plan to wipe your iPhone before selling or trading it, or you just cannot stand the slow iPhone and want to completely reset the iPhone to speed it up as well as free up iPhone storage space.

But sometimes you may forget your Apple ID password of your old iPhone or you get a second iPhone that is linked to an old Apple ID but you don’t know the password. So How to factory reset an iPhone without Apple ID password?

Then how to make it? In this guide, we will show you the detailed steps on how to erase iPhone without Apple ID. Let’s get it on.

Note: For resetting or erasing your iPhone will wipe all data and settings on your iPhone, in case you may need the iPhone data in the future, you are highly encouraged to backup your iPhone in advance.

Before We Start: Which Way to Choose?

As we know, if we know the Apple ID and password of an iPhone we can easily factory reset or erase our iPhone. However, sometimes we forget the Apple ID or passcode, this becomes a tough thing. That’s because when we factory reset an iPhone, it will ask for the Apple ID password if we’ve enabled Find My iPhone on the device. So, choose the way that you need when:

• You don’t know the Apple ID password and the Find My iPhone is ON, you have no way to do this unless you can present a proof of purchase at an Apple Store, and they will unlock it for you, which will essentially turn off Find My iPhone and erase your iPhone.
• You don’t know the Apple ID password and the Find My iPhone is OFF, try Method 1,  Method 2 and Method 3. You can do this with iTunes or third-party tools.
• You know the Apple ID password, no matter the Find My iPhone is ON or OFF, try Method 4. You can easily erase your iPhone with an Apple ID password.
• You don’t know the iPhone screen passcode and want to factory reset the iPhone, try Method 5. You can unlock your iPhone and erase it in this part.

How to Reset iPhone without Apple ID Password via iTunes

Try this method if Find My iPhone is off:

When the Find My iPhone feature is turned off, you can also reset your iPhone without entering your Apple ID password by entering Recovery Mode. This allows you to completely reset your iPhone without entering the Apple ID, and the iCloud activation lock will not show up.

Step 1. Put your iPhone into Recovery Mode

Open iTunes or Finder on your Mac or Windows, keep your iPhone connected to the computer, and then put iPhone into Recovery Mode:

• iPhone 8 or later: Press and release the volume up button and then press and release the volume down button. Press and hold the power button until the recovery screen appears.
• For iPhone 7/7 Plus: Press and hold the power button and the volume down buttons at the same time. Keep holding the buttons until the recovery mode screen appears.
• For iPhone 6s and earlier: Press and hold the power and home buttons at the same time until the recovery mode screen appears.

Step 2. Restore your iPhone with iTunes

After entering the recovery mode in iTunes or Finder, click on Restore instead of Update.

Step 3. iTunes will start to restore your iPhone

Follow the instructions to restore your iPhone, and this will erase all your settings without Apple ID Password and content after it’s finished. Your iPhone will restart and just set up it.

Please Note:

As we mentioned, if Find My iPhone is enabled on your iPhone, and you don’t know the password, when you factory reset your iPhone in Settings you will need to enter the Apple ID password and the iCloud activation lock show up after erasing your iPhone. 

If you see the activation lock screen when you set up your iPhone, that’s maybe because you didn’t disable Find My iPhone, you need to bypass the activation lock if you don’t have the Apple ID and password. You can now use AnyUnlock – iPhone Password Unlocker to bypass the iCloud lock screen without Apple ID. With its AnyUnlock – iCloud Activation Unlocker feature, you can easily and quickly bypass iCloud Activation Lock screen without the previous owner.

Reset iPhone without Apple ID Password with AnyFix

With AnyFix – iOS System Recovery, you can reset your iPhone in simple steps. And your iPhone will be upgraded to the latest version it supports. Besides, you can hard reset your iPhone if you don’t know the passcode.

You can download AnyFix on your computer and choose Reset Device from the homepage > Tap on the Reset option and click Reset Now button > It will wipe your device immediately. For a detailed tutorial, you can refer to how to erase iPhone without the passcode.

Please Note:

1. Your device will be updated to the latest version it supports after Hard Reset.

2. If Find my iPhone is enabled, it requires iCloud activation lock verification, you can try the tool AnyUnlock – iPhone Password Unlocker we mentioned in Method 1 to bypass it without Apple ID and password.

Erase iPhone without Apple ID Password via PhoneClean

Try this Method if Find My iPhone is off:

Besides, you can also use PhoneClean to erase iPhone. It is an iOS cleaning tool that can help users clean all kinds of junk files and free up space on iDevice. Now in the latest version, it adds a new function called “Erase Clean”, which can help you erase an iOS Device (like iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch) without Apple ID. It will completely delete all of your data on your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch.

Step 1. Download PhoneClean and open it > Connect your iPhone to a computer with a USB cable > Click Erase Clean tab.

Step 2. Click Erase Now button.

Step 3. PhoneClean will load the data on your iPhone firstly and then erase your iPhone.

How to Erase iPhone with Apple ID and Password

Try the methods below if you know the Apple ID and Password:

Method 1. Erase an iPhone Directly

Step 1. Settings > Tap on General > Transfer or Reset [Device] > Tap on Erase All Content and Settings.

Step 2. Tap on Erase iPhone > Tap on Erase iPhone to confirm > Enter your screen passcode.

Step 3. You may need to enter your Apple ID and password to turn off Activate Look and delete the device from Find my iPhone.

Method 2. Erase an iPhone Using iTunes

Step 1. Turn off Find My iPhone: on your device go to Settings > iCloud to make it.

Step 2. Open iTunes > Connect your iPhone to Computer > Trust the computer.

Step 3. Select your iPhone > Click on Summary > Click Restore iPhone…

Bonus Tip: How to Reset iPhone without Screen Passcode?

What’s more, if you forget your screen password, you may want to erase an iPhone without a screen passcode. In this situation, we highly recommend you AnyUnlock – iPhone Password Unlocker.  As a complete iOS unlocking software, it is able to unlock iPhone screen passcode, bypass MDM lock, remove Apple ID from iPhone, unlock Screen Time pssscode, bypass iCloud Activation Lock, unlock SIM lock, etc.

With its feature of Unlock Screen Passcode, you can reset your iPhone without a screen passcode, for a detailed tutorial, you can refer to how to erase iPhone without the passcode >

The Bottom Line

That’s all for how to erase an iPhone with or without an Apple ID password. If you have any issues or ideas about this post, please leave a comment.