Restoring an iPhone or iPad to it’s default factory settings is easy whether you are restoring as a troubleshooting step or just preparing to transfer ownership of the hardware. You can reset the iPhone on the the device itself, but if the device is unresponsive, stuck on a boot loop, or otherwise needs to be restored directly, the next choice is to connect the iOS hardware to a computer and use iTunes.

Using iTunes is also typically faster than resetting through the iPhone or iPad itself, so keep this in mind if you tried the on-device method but it took forever.

How to Restore an iPhone or iPad with iTunes

If you want to restore to factory settings, do not restore from a backup during this process:

1. Launch iTunes
2. Connect the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to the computer and select it within iTunes, if it’s not visible check the “Show” button
3. Click on the “Summary” tab and click on the “Restore” button



4. iTunes will prompt you to back up the device, this is recommended but if you want factory settings only click “Don’t Back Up”
5. At the confirmation screen, click on “Restore” to begin restoring the device to factory settings

When finished, iTunes will alert you the device has been restored, but restoring may take a while. When the device is done, the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch will boot up and be reset completely to factory settings. This means that pre-iOS 5 will require the device to be connected to iTunes to finish, or after iOS 5 you will be presented with the familiar set up screens.

As mentioned before, to maintain the factory settings do not select to restore from a backup when this process is finished, otherwise you’ll simply be left with a device that has a freshly installed iOS but with the same data as when you started.

If you encounter error 3194 during this process, you probably jailbroke your device at some point and need to change the the hosts file.

If you have tried to repair the boot volume before in Mac OS X before, you’ll undoubtedly have found the “Repair Disk” option is grey and unavailable within the Disk Utility tool. While this is still the case while booted in OS X Lion, you can repair the Mac OS X boot disk thanks to Lion’s Recovery Partition, preventing the need from using an external boot drive to repair the disk.

Once booted into Recovery mode you’ll find the limitations on Disk Utility’s repair function has been removed, here’s how to do that.

Repairing a Mac Boot Disk with Disk Utility & OS X Lion

• Reboot the Mac and hold down Command+R to boot into Recovery
• Select “Recovery HD” at the boot menu
• At the Mac OS X Utilities screen, select “Disk Utility”
• Select the boot volume or partition from the left menu and click on the “Repair” tab
• Repair Disk is now possible, click on “Repair Disk” to repair the boot volume

While you’re in Recovery mode, you may also want to verify disk permissions and repair them, repair user permissions, and verify and repair other disks as well.

Need to re-enable or disable Javascript in Safari, Chrome, or Firefox? Most modern web browsers make it very easy to toggle on or off, and while it’s almost always recommended to keep javascript enabled, there are cases where developers and other users need to turn it off.

Safari:

• Open Safari Preferences
• Click on “Advanced” and check the box next to “Show Develop menu in menu bar”
• Pull down the “Develop” menu and select “Disable Javascript”, a check signifies it’s disabled

Google Chrome:

• Open Google Chrome’s Preferences
• Click on “Under the Hood” and then “Content Settings”
• Find Javascript then click “Do not allow any site to run JavaScript” to disable, or “Allow all sites” to enable

Firefox:

• Open Preferences and click on “Content”
• Check or uncheck the box next to “Enable Javascript”

Mobile Safari for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch:

• Tap on Settings, then tap on “Safari”
• Switch Javascript to “ON” or “OFF” depending on your needs

Remember to reenable Javascript to have a full web experience if you have disabled it temporarily.

The iPhone is connected to a computer with it’s USB cable, you launch iTunes and… the iPhone isn’t shown in iTunes. What gives? Fixing this problem is probably a lot easier than you think, and after fielding a call about this I found the simplest explanation was the solution as to why someones iPhone wasn’t appearing in iTunes:

• Ensure the iPhone is connected to the computer with a functioning USB cable
• Launch iTunes
• Hover over the “DEVICES” item in the sidebar until the “Show” button appears and click on it

The iPhone will now be visible, as technically it was always in iTunes it was just hidden. It seems like the “Hide” button can be clicked accidentally, which can lead users to believe they have a more serious problem than there is. Save yourself some work and try this first the next time the iPhone isn’t in iTunes devices list.

If you attempted this and the iPhone (or iPad or iPod touch) still isn’t showing up in iTunes, you may need to reinstall iTunes itself.

We recently showed you how to delete Safari, Mail, and other default apps installed with Mac OS X, and procedurally iTunes is not much different. Unlike uninstalling applications from third parties, if you attempt to drag the iTunes app into the Trash can, you’ll see a dialog box warning that ‘“iTunes.app” can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by Mac OS X.’

Nonetheless iTunes can be deleted from the Mac, but without a very good reason it should not be done. iTunes is integral to supporting other Apple features and hardware, ranging from the App Store to the iTunes Store, and without iTunes installed you won’t be able to sync apps, music, books, movies, and anything else with an iPad, iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV. Assuming you understand that and you still want to remove iTunes from your Mac, we will show you how to do it.

Delete iTunes

Deleting iTunes is not recommended unless you know what you’re doing.

• Launch Terminal from the Utilities folder within Applications
• Type the following commands:

cd /Applications/
This brings you into the Applications directory, the next command deletes iTunes itself:
sudo rm -rf iTunes.app/

• Enter the Administrator password to confirm

There is no warning or confirmation other than entering the admin password, iTunes will immediately be deleted, effectively uninstalling it from the Mac.

Deleting the iTunes application will not delete the iTunes library or music, and any purchases bought through iTunes will still remain tied to the Apple ID used to originally buy them.

I Accidentally Deleted iTunes, Help!
If you find yourself somehow accidentally deleting iTunes, don’t fret too much because it’s always easy to reinstall. You can download the newest version directly from Apple, and running their installer will bring iTunes back to life on your computer.

Apple looks to have quietly updated the troubled Mac OS X 10.7.3 Updater, first noticed by several of our readers and confirmed by OSXDaily. No official change was announced and there is no revised version number provided by Apple’s Support page, but presumably the new build addresses any potential installation problems or CUI errors that occurred for some users with the original release of OS X 10.7.3 earlier this week.

The original OS X 10.7.3 Combo Updater .dmg has the SHA1 checksum of: 07dfce300f6801eb63d9ac13e0bec84e1862a16c

The revised OS X 10.7.3 Combo Updater .dmg has a SHA1 checksum of: b8322dbd1f7b55bf35aac4122ad2204c51307793

Apple has updated the SHA1 on the combo updaters support page to reflect the change, and they are also now redirecting download links from the original OS X 10.7.3 Client Updater to the revised OS X 10.7.3 Combo Updater.

The file size of the new update is also slightly larger, as shown by apprentice who compared the two in our comments (old version first, revised version second):

SHA1= 07dfce300f6801eb63d9ac13e0bec84e1862a16c
Version: 10.7.3
Post Date: February 01, 2012
Download ID: DL1484
License: Update
File Size: 1.2 GB

SHA1= b8322dbd1f7b55bf35aac4122ad2204c51307793
Version: 10.7.3
Post Date: February 01, 2012
Download ID: DL1484
License: Update
File Size: 1.26 GB

OS X 10.7.3 Build 11D50b vs 11D50
There are also mixed reports that installing from the new Combo Updater changes the OS X 10.7.3 build number fro 11D50 to 11D50b on some Macs. This does not appear to be the case on all Macs though, and some retain the 11D50 build even when the new update has been used, suggesting the original installation issues and CUI errors may have only impacted certain Mac models to begin with.

If you updated to 10.7.3 without any problems, you likely do not need to download the new version. If you held off on the OS X 10.7.3 Update due to the reported problems, you are probably safe to update now, although you should perform a Time Machine backup before proceeding just in case.

Thanks to all who sent this in

All Macs with OS X Lion have a bootable Recovery partition that can be accessed in case of system problems, allowing you to troubleshoot, restore from Time Machine backups, and even reinstall Mac OS X.

Hold down Command+R keys during boot to access the Recovery HD partition.

You’ll know you’re in recovery mode because the standard desktop won’t be displayed, replaced with a limited Mac OS X Utilities window and a simple Mac OS X menu bar. Here you can use Disk Utility, Time Machine, and restore the OS.

From the Utilities menu you can access Network Utility, use the Firmware Password Utility, and launch the Terminal, which lets you repair user home permissions, launch other apps, and perform other diagnostic tests.

To reinstall Mac OS X Lion from the Recovery partition, you will need an active internet connection, although this isn’t necessary if you booted with a full Lion USB installer rather than the built-in Recovery HD partition or a disk made with the Lion Recovery Assistant tool.

Note that if you deleted the Recovery HD partition, you can not access these features.

Thanks for the tip idea @oldrobots

The problems updating to Mac OS X 10.7.3 aren’t the only issues with Apple’s recently released Mac OS X updates, as MacRumors reports that SecurityUpdate 2012-001 aimed at Mac OS X 10.6.8 has caused significant problems with Rosetta apps in Snow Leopard.

Applications effected seem to be anything that relies on Rosetta PowerPC support to run on Intel Macs, including Microsoft Office 2004 and X, Adobe Photoshop, Quicken, FileMaker Pro, AppleWorks, and others.

If you use Mac OS X 10.6 and you have not yet installed Security Update 2012-001, you may wish to avoid doing so until the problems have been resolved. If you already updated and you now have apps crashing left and right, read on…

Fixing the Rosetta Problems in Snow Leopard
Restoring to a pre-Security Update 2012-001 Time Machine backup is ideal, but if you can’t do that the next best thing is to use a bandaid patch created by an Apple Discussion Board user that restores Rosetta app functionality:

Download the RosettaFix Patch Here

Use the patch at your own discretion, and be sure to follow the instructions:

This fix MAY NOT resolve your issue… This is the installer that we are most confident in. It replaces all of the files that were replaced by the Security Update 2012-001 and should be similar to a “reversioner”. Once you have installed the Package, please make sure to repair permissions and restart your computer in order for the changes to take effect.

Presumably Apple will release an update in the near future to resolve these issues, although there is no time frame on when that could happen.

Update: Apple has apparently released Security Update 2012-001 version 1.1 to address the Rosetta issues. It’s available through Software Update.

Update 2: Security Update 2012-001 version 1.1 is now available to download directly from Apple support here. You can install this over existing Snow Leopard installations.

Mac OS X 10.7.3 update was just released, and for the vast majority of users the update installed trouble free. But not everyone was so lucky, and a series of problems have cropped up for some users, ranging from being stuck on an endless spinning loop progress indicator, to apps crashing nonstop, to a very bizarre “CUI CUI CUI” error screen filled with question marks (seen below), to other strange behavior.

The good news is these problems are relatively easy to fix. Basically all you need to do is install the OS X 10.7.3 Combo Updater over the existing messed up installation of 10.7.3.

The bad news is that if you already updated to Mac OS X 10.7.3 and you’re having problems, you’re going to have to find a way to use the Combo Updater over the troubled installation. If you’re just encountering the CUI errors, this is relatively simple, but if you’re stuck on a boot loop you need to get a bit more creative.

Fixing the OS X 10.7.3 Installation Problems
The simple formula is this:

• Download Mac OS X 10.7.3 Combo Updater (direct link)
• Run the 10.7.3 Combo Updater on top of the existing 10.7.3 installation
• Reboot

If you can’t get to the desktop of the Mac in question, you can boot it with Target Disk Mode (Firewire or Thunderbolt required), and then point the 10.7.3 Combo Update at the troubled Mac and install it that way. If your OS X installation is totally screwed up and you can’t use target disk mode, you have a few choices:

1. Restore from a recent pre-10.7.3 Time Machine backup, then install the Combo Updater
2. Boot from Recovery HD, a Recovery Drive, or Lion USB drive, and reinstall everything

Not the best situation, but hopefully you have recent Time Machine backups.

Finally, if you’re reading this and haven’t had any problems but you’re now paranoid about the OS X 10.7.3 update, here’s all you need to do to be safe: Backup your Mac with Time Machine, download the Combo Updater and install the update manually. You’ll almost certainly be fine.

Thanks to Erik, Martin, and Apple Discussion Boards for the tips. Chime in if you have any additional info.

We’ve been made aware of some ongoing issues with apps crashing constantly on iPads running iOS 5, both iPad and iPad 2 are impacted with Safari being particularly sensitive and seemingly crashing anytime javascript or a video loads and sometimes with just general web browsing. At worst, Safari won’t even launch and crashes immediately, and often the application instability goes beyond Safari and impacts nearly all applications as well. First we’ll focus on resolving the Safari crashes, but if you’re having issues with multiple apps crashing you may want to jump down and go straight for a clean reinstallation of iOS 5.

Troubleshooting Tips for Safari Crashes on iPad & iOS 5

If the majority of crashes are centered around Safari, use these troubleshooting tips and see if the problem is resolved:

• Update to iOS 5.0.1 either manually, through iTunes, or using OTA
• Disable iCloud Bookmark Syncing: Tap on Settings > General > iCloud > switch Bookmark syncing to OFF
• Clear & Disable Autofill: Settings > Safari > Autofill > Clear All and then turn everything to “OFF”
• Clear Safari history and cookies: Tap on Settings > Safari > Clear History, Clear Cookies and Data
• Clear Safari stored data: Tap Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data > Remova All Website Data

Try using Safari again, for many users the above solutions help to prevent the crashing. If not, these secondary options may work as well:

• Disable iCloud Completely: Tap on Settings > General > iCloud > switch all to OFF
• Disable Javascript: Tap on Settings > Safari > Javascript > OFF

Yes, it’s annoying to not have iCloud or Javascript, but it’s more annoying to not be able to use Safari. If the above tips aren’t working, or if you need javascript, then the next idea is to manually erase and reinstall iOS 5.0.1 on the iPad, but not restore from a backup.

Performing a Clean iOS 5 Install on iPad

This is the most drastic approach because it will remove all data from the iPad, and the key for this to work is to not restore from a backup. In other words, you will lose all data on the device and have to manually setup things like iMessage again and then re-download apps and content from the iOS App Store.

Update to iOS 5.0.1 before continuing, but you already did this in the first troubleshooting step though, right?

1. Connect the iPad to a computer and launch iTunes
2. Find the iPad in iTunes device list and click on the “Summary” tab
3. Click on “Restore” under the Version section, and click “Don’t Back Up” when asked



4. Let iTunes restore the iPad, this will wipe all content and reinstall iOS 5.0.1
5. When finished, you will see the familiar ‘Connect to iTunes’ screen, do not restore from a backup, instead choose to “Set Up As New”

Note: Some Apple Store Geniuses are performing the clean install of iOS 5 from DFU mode. You are welcome to try that, although after reading through several threads on Apple’s Discussion Boards it does not seem to make a difference whether the device is restored from DFU or not, it’s more important to avoid the prior backup as it may contain corrupted data causing the crashes.

If you continue to have issues, there’s a slim chance of a hardware problem and contacting Apple may be the best bet. It’s also possible there are some lingering bugs in iOS 5 that impact only the iPad, and an update will resolve them with iOS 5.0.2 or iOS 5.1 whenever they come out. iOS 5.1 is currently available to developers as a beta, and is expected to be released to the public alongside iPad 3 in March.

iPhone serial numbers aren’t just randomly generated, they actually contain some interesting information about the device and it’s history, including what factory it was made in and when, the color of the iPhone, and it’s storage capacity.

If you want to follow along here with an iPhone, you can get the serial number by tapping on Settings > General > About and scrolling down alongside other info like model, IMEI, and baseband firmware version. If the device is connected to a computer you can also look under the “Summary” tab of iTunes to find the serial number.

Reading an iPhone Serial Number

Serial numbers come in the form AABCCDDDEEF which can be read as follows:

• AA = Factory and machine ID
• B = Year manufactured (simplified to final digit, 2010 is 0, 2011 is 1, etc)
• CC = Week of production
• DDD = Unique identifier (but unrelated to UDID)
• EE = Color of device
• F = Size of storage, S is 16GB and T is 32GB

For example, the serial 79049XXXA4S is from factory 79 (presumably Foxconn), was manufactured in 2010 in the 49th week, and is a black 16GB iPhone 4. Some older phones have slightly different labeling, like the iPhone 3G and 3GS may refer to 16GB as “K” rather than S, but for newer hardware this should continue to be accurate unless Apple changes something.

This was discovered a while back by iFixIt during the whole iPhone 4 Antennagate thing as they were trying to figure out what devices were impacted, and if Apple was quietly making changes to the hardware. At this point it’s just a fun way to learn more about your iPhone, so thanks to Tim R. for sending in the tip.

On the much less technical side, you can also use the serial number to check warranty information for the phone, including eligibility for an extended AppleCare plan.

Update: The serial numbers of iPhone 4 CDMA and iPhone 4S are a bit different and don’t follow the same structure. Here are the three digit suffixes for iPhones that do fall into the readability list (thanks Michael):

VR0 (iPhone 2G Silver 4GB)
WH8 (iPhone 2G Silver 8GB)
0KH (iPhone 2G Silver 16GB)
Y7H (iPhone 3G Black 8GB)
Y7K (iPhone 3G Black 16GB)
3NP (iPhone 3GS Black 16GB)
3NR (iPhone 3GS Black 32GB)
3NQ (iPhone 3Gs White 16GB)
3NS (iPhone 3Gs White 32GB)
A4S (iPhone 4 Black 16GB)
A4T (iPhone 4 Black 32GB)

Some users with the new Greenpois0n Absinthe jailbreak for A5 hardware are encountering a database error when they are at the end of their jailbreak and trying to launch Absinthe on the device itself. If you see the “Error establishing a database connection” at this stage in the process, it’s easy to fix:

• Launch “Settings” and tap on “Network”
• Tap on VPN and turn to “ON” and ignore the error
• Reboot the device
• Launch Absinthe again

Alternatively, you can just wait it out. The error is due to a massive amount of users trying to access the Greenpois0n server.

You’ll know Absinthe works because you won’t see the error and instead it will load Cydia, finalizing the jailbreak. Thanks to Rizwan on Facebook and @pod2g for pointing this fix out on Twitter.

If you’re confused, follow our guide on using Absinthe to Jailbreak iPhone 4S & iPad 2

Another tip from @planetbeing:

Toggle VPN only AFTER Absinthe says it’s done, or it will not work. VPN SHOULD error and then reboot soon. If it does not, rerun Absinthe!

SOPA and PIPA are two terrible internet censorship bills that are dangerously close to passage in the USA, and Wikipedia has blacked out their web site in protest.

…but what if you really need to use Wikipedia today? What if you’re a student and your paper was due yesterday and you need to do research? What if you just want to go on a Wikipedia binge?

There are several methods to use and access Wikipedia during the SOPA blackout:

1. Google for a wikipedia page and then quickly hit the “Stop” button to prevent the blackout javascript loading
2. Use Mac OS X’s built-in Dictionary app
3. Disabling Javascript

The first method is self explanatory and is all about speed, just quickly hitting the “X” in any modern browser should cease the javascript from loading at all. The other option is to simply disable javascript for en.wikipedia.org:

For Safari:

• Open Safari Preferences
• Click on “Advanced” and check the box next to “Show Develop menu in menu bar”
• Pull down the “Develop” menu and select “Disable Javascript”
• Load Wikipedia and browse as usual

For Google Chrome:

• Open Google Chrome’s Preferences
• Click on “Under the Hood” and then “Content Settings”
• Find Javascript then click “Manage Exceptions”
• Type “en.wikipedia.org” into the box and pull down the contextual menu, selecting “Block”
• Load Wikipedia as usual

Mac only: Use Dictionary App
Open Dictionary.app, found in /Applications/ folder, and you can use Wikipedia freely. Thanks for pointing this out Karl!

Remember to reenable Javascript when you’re done, and to join the fight against SOPA to stop internet censorship.

If you want an iPhone to appear as new, you need to reset the device to it’s factory settings. This is ideal if you plan on selling an iPhone or are going to transfer ownership of the device to another individual, and can also be a helpful troubleshooting technique.

The reset process will remove all data on the device, you will want to backup the iPhone manually or to iCloud just in case.

Reset iPhone with iPhone Only

Warning: This will removal all data, music, photos, everything, from the iPhone.

• Launch “Settings” and tap on “General”
• Scroll to the bottom of General and tap on “Reset”
• Tap on “Erase All Content and Settings”
• Enter the iPhone passcode, and confirm the reset by tapping on “Erase iPhone”

Resetting the iPhone on device can take a while depending on the model, the warning dialogue will give you a rough estimate but it can range from a few minutes to over an hour to restore the device completely. During this time the phone is otherwise inoperable.

At this point you’ll either want to leave the iPhone in it’s factory state for a new owner, or restore from backup.

Occasionally through the standard iOS upgrade process, but most commonly when jailbreaking, the iPhone can reboot and get stuck on the Apple logo. Turning the phone on and off generally doesn’t help, as you’ll be continuously stopped at the white Apple logo and the iPhone never boots. This is different than being stuck on Recovery Mode, which shows the ‘Connect to iTunes” graphic on the iPhone screen, but can be fixed in a similar manner by using DFU mode and iTunes.

• Connect the iPhone by USB to the computer
• Launch iTunes
• Put the iPhone into DFU mode by holding the Power button for 3 seconds, while continuing to hold the Power button also hold the Home button for 10 seconds, now release the Power button but continue to hold the Home button for another 15 seconds
• iTunes will alert you saying an iPhone has been detected in recovery mode, click “OK”
• Now select the iPhone in iTunes and click on the “Restore” button

Restoring the iPhone will bring it back to working order, although if you like to jailbreak you will have to redo that, here’s how for iOS 5.0.1 with redsn0w.