"Restore iPhone" vs "Restore backup"

[gcoghill]

So I understand that "Restore iPhone" will wipe the iPhone clean and install a fresh version of the operating system. But I am not clear on whether or not using "Restore Backup" will also install a fresh copy of iOS.

I have also seen suggestions to first use "Restore iPhone", and then do a "Restore Backup" to restore your settings etc.

I haven't seen it explained clearly anywhere if "Restore Backup" installs a fresh copy of iOS, and then restores settings to the new installation. Or if those backups contain not only the user data, but the system files too.

I recently upgraded to iOS 17 and a lot of the Apple apps are freezing upon launch. Apple support suggested I do a restore, but then when I got into the process I discovered there were two types.

Ideally I would get a clean install of iOS *and* restore all my settings from the backup. But if that is not possible, I need to get a clean install of iOS as it seems something went wrong with the upgrade process.

 

[Apple_Robert]

1) Try doing a restore all settings first. If that doesn't fix your problems,

2) I would wipe the phone and set up as new. A lot of people don't like going through all the work of setting up apps again etc. However, you can also wipe the phone, and pick the restore from backup option, which would allow you to pick the date of the backup to use for the restore.

Restore phone typically fixes the OS and you set up again.

 

[Nermal]

There is no need to reinstall iOS itself: the OS is identical for everyone (with that version running on that model of phone). Issues are undoubtedly related to "user" files, whether they're things you directly interact with or hidden ones used by the system.

Restoring a backup will likely restore the problematic files and then you'll be back at square one.

 

[gcoghill]

1) Try doing a restore all settings first. If that doesn't fix your problems,

2) I would wipe the phone and set up as new. A lot of people don't like going through all the work of setting up apps again etc. However, you can also wipe the phone, and pick the restore from backup option, which would allow you to pick the date of the backup to use for the restore.

Restore phone typically fixes the OS and you set up again.

Where do I find the "restore all settings" option? Is that on the phone itself?

 

[gcoghill]

There is no need to reinstall iOS itself: the OS is identical for everyone (with that version running on that model of phone). Issues are undoubtedly related to "user" files, whether they're things you directly interact with or hidden ones used by the system.

Restoring a backup will likely restore the problematic files and then you'll be back at square one.

It's actually more likely that there is a system error, as I am able to browse and open the same files on iPad and Mac without issue. Only the iPhone is having problems.

After upgrading to iOS17, I am seeing a few Apple apps that freeze up on launch: Notes, Numbers, Files, sometimes Safari.

Notes will open up to a blank empty main folder, but sometimes after a force reboot it will let me see the files but still not interact with them. I even see iCloud Drive modifications in the notes list when this happens. Same for Files and Numbers. On some reboots I was even able to scroll the file browsers in each app, but not open files.

No issues on the iPad Pro with the exact same files.

I'd like to first try to force iOS to reinstall, and then add user data to it. If that doesn't work, then I do a clean install.

My thought was to do "Restore iPhone", wipe the phone, but then do a Restore from an iCloud backup instead of a local backup. There is no way Apple is backing up iOS system files with every user's iCloud backups.

That said, the error could still be in the user data files of course. But I'd like to try to avoid starting from scratch. Most of my files are synced via iCD so it's not a huge issue, but would still like to not have to start over if I can avoid it.

I chatted with Apple Support, and they told me doing a "Restore Backup" in the Finder would indeed restore system files. Was told the only way to get a fresh install of iOS was to do "Restore iPhone".

I am going to try "Restore iPhone", and then restore an iCloud backup and see if it works. I'm suspecting whatever is the least convenient and the most amount of work will end up being the solution, as it usually is with technology issues. So this is probably not going to work, but I have to try.

 

[gcoghill]

The Apple Support people did a screen share and had me send diagnostics. They suggested something was wrong with the system files, and that the upgrade just didn't happen properly. This is why I am leaning towards iOS being the culprit, and not my user data.

 

[gcoghill]

So I just initiated the "Restore iPhone" process (factory reset, iOS downloaded and installed fresh), and once it began it had a pop-up that told me my settings and data would be restored after the phone was reset to factory settings. So the process is doing exactly what I was going to attempt manually.

Great job by the Apple chat support staff, giving out erroneous information.

The process backed up the phone first, and the actual restore didn't take too long. Much less than an hour. The current step is "Restore from iCloud", and it's estimating 25 minutes. Fingers crossed.

So for anyone else confused about this like I was, it seems that the "Restore iPhone" process does indeed reset to a fresh installation of iOS and the phone to factory defaults, but it also backs up your phone, and will restore settings and data from an iCloud backup.

 

[Iwavvns]

So I understand that "Restore iPhone" will wipe the iPhone clean and install a fresh version of the operating system.

Is there really any need to “wipe” anything? Destroying the encryption keys renders all data are unreadable forever, then you can just repartition and reinstall without having to worry about wiping anything.

 

[gcoghill]

Is there really any need to “wipe” anything? Destroying the encryption keys renders all data are unreadable forever, then you can just repartition and reinstall without having to worry about wiping anything.

I just assumed a restore would be similar to erasing a disk using Disk Utility. The idea being that a fresh iOS installation was being done. I guess "wipe" was the wrong word.

 

[Iwavvns]

I just assumed a restore would be similar to erasing a disk using Disk Utility. The idea being that a fresh iOS installation was being done. I guess "wipe" was the wrong word.

I think macOS is different in that macOS doesn’t require encryption of all volumes - iOS requires encryption. If a volume isn’t encrypted then a wipe/erase is definitely needed. On iOS you can just destroy the encryption keys and not worry about leaving data behind since it can’t be read anyway.

 

[TechnoMonk]

So I understand that "Restore iPhone" will wipe the iPhone clean and install a fresh version of the operating system. But I am not clear on whether or not using "Restore Backup" will also install a fresh copy of iOS.

I have also seen suggestions to first use "Restore iPhone", and then do a "Restore Backup" to restore your settings etc.

I haven't seen it explained clearly anywhere if "Restore Backup" installs a fresh copy of iOS, and then restores settings to the new installation. Or if those backups contain not only the user data, but the system files too.

I recently upgraded to iOS 17 and a lot of the Apple apps are freezing upon launch. Apple support suggested I do a restore, but then when I got into the process I discovered there were two types.

Ideally I would get a clean install of iOS *and* restore all my settings from the backup. But if that is not possible, I need to get a clean install of iOS as it seems something went wrong with the upgrade process.

what do you mean by restore iPhone? Are you referring to reset iPhone?

Typically this is what I do if I have issues.

Reset/erase all settings and contents. It asks if I want to backup.
Restore from iCloud backup/local back up on Mac.

 

[gcoghill]

I think macOS is different in that macOS doesn’t require encryption of all volumes - iOS requires encryption. If a volume isn’t encrypted then a wipe/erase is definitely needed. On iOS you can just destroy the encryption keys and not worry about leaving data behind since it can’t be read anyway.

Yeah I have never worked with the iPhone drives outside of using the restore/backup tools, so I was definitely pulling macOS terminology over to the process.

Ultimately what I wanted to make sure of is that the version of iOS on the iPhone was not "piggybacked" on to the existing installation, as I assume the built-in upgrading process does it. In my mind, you'd "erase" the drive so the installer was starting from an "empty" drive. But I guess what you are saying it basically it just makes the data inaccessible, and the new install just overwrites everything.

 

[gcoghill]

what do you mean by restore iPhone? Are you referring to reset iPhone?

Typically this is what I do if I have issues.

Reset/erase all settings and contents. It asks if I want to backup.
Restore from iCloud backup/local back up on Mac.

When an iPhone is plugged into a Mac, there are two options:

1. Restore iPhone

2. Restore From Backup

I believe the "Reset" is in the iOS Preferences app somewhere. Maybe it's just different terminology for the same process.

Utlimately what I wanted to do was to make sure that if I was restoring from a backup, it wasn't just copying back over whatever broken files were making my iPhone not work properly. My assumption (based on discussions with Apple Support) was that something got corrupted when I did the upgrade.

So I didn't want to "restore from backup" only to find I just reinstalled the buggy version. In particular the iOS system files. I wanted to make sure the "restore" was excluding iOS system files. Only restoring user data.

It does seem that when you do a "restore", Apple is smart enough to know it should just pull from settings and data, and it doesn't restore system files. Those are installed from a clean copy they download from their servers (at least that's what it did when I used the "Restore iPhone" method on the Mac).

It's probably the same thing as the "Reset", based on the way you described it.