How to back up your data and set up as a new device
Summary
You may want to restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and set it up as new to troubleshoot an issue. Take steps to preserve your data before restoring as new by following this article.
Products Affected
iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, iTunes
Transfer your purchased content
Transfer all content purchased or downloaded from iTunes, the App Store, and the iBookstore from the device to your computer before you restore. If you have movie rentals on the device, see iTunes Store movie rental usage rights in the United States before restoring. Purchased content is transferred while syncing, but you can also choose to transfer purchases by following the steps below or going to iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to a computer.
- Launch iTunes.
- Connect the device with an Apple 30-pin Dock Connector Cable.
- Right-click the device from the source list.
- Choose Transfer Purchases.
You may be prompted to authorize the purchases if the computer to which your device is connected is not currently authorized for those purchases. Learn more about authorizing a computer. If you do not authorize, the purchased content will not transfer.
Transfer other content
Pictures and videos
Import your pictures and videos from the Camera Roll. On iOS devices without a camera, saved pictures and videos are in Saved Photos.
- Mac: Select the photos you want and click the Import or Download button in iPhoto or other supported photo application on your computer.
- PC: Follow the instructions that came with your camera or photo application.
You can find screenshots and specific steps in Copying personal photos and videos from iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
POP email
Back up messages you want to keep by:
- Sending them to another device.
- Sending them to an IMAP account, such as MobileMe, Gmail or Yahoo mail.
SMS
- Copy and paste important SMS messages to the Notes app and Sync to your computer using iTunes (this method has limitations for some versions of windows).
- Paste the SMS messages into an email and then email them to yourself.
MMS
Save pictures and movies to the Camera Roll and then transfer them to computer.
File Sharing
Setting up as New (see below) will delete all the documents on the device that are being shared using File Sharing. Follow the steps below to save them. Apps that support File Sharing are shown in the File Sharing Apps list in iTunes on your computer. For each app, the Files list displays the documents that are on the device. (See the app's documentation for how it shares files; not all apps support this feature.)
- Select the device in the iTunes source list.
- Click the Applications tab.
- Scroll down to File Sharing.
- Choose the App from the File Sharing list.
- Select the documents to save to your computer.
- Click the "Save to