How to Wipe iPhone Data Permanently?

Summary: Do you want to erase everything on your iPhone? But fear that it could be recovered. Learn about the best tool that wipes iPhone data permanently and makes it unrecoverable by any recovery software.

Your iPhone is a trove of personal data — photos, videos, passwords, ID proofs, bank details, chats, messages, contacts, and a lot more— which, naturally, you don’t want to fall into other hands. That’s why you prefer to delete all the information on your iPhone before selling it to others.

But several iPhone recovery software can easily restore deleted data from an old or discarded iPhone. So there’s always a fear that someone could recover your iPhone’s data and misuse it.

Here’s a solution — permanently wipe iPhone data beyond the scope of recovery by any software.

How do you permanently erase data from your iPhone?

Manual deletion is one of the ways to remove data. But it can be easily recovered by iPhone features like restoring ‘Recently Deleted’ or recovery software.

Then, Apple suggests resetting the content and settings of the iOS device. It’s effective as the deleted data is not accessible directly on your iPhone. But this also does not completely erase your data from iPhone storage.

So to wipe iPhones permanently, specialized erasure software should be used. The iPhone data erasure tool destroys all information on your storage by overwriting, thus rendering it unrecoverable.

Methods to erase everything on iPhone

1. Reset content and settings on iPhone (data gets inaccessible but recoverable)
2. Use iPhone data erasure software – Stellar Toolkit for iPhone (permanently wipes iPhone’s data, unrecoverable)

Method 1: Reset content and settings on iPhone

Apple provides a factory reset feature in iPhone with the ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ option. This method lets you bring your device to default settings by erasing iPhone data.

Apple’s factory reset will delete all settings, passcodes, photos, videos, notes, contacts, call history, messages, search history, app history, and other data on your iPhone.

However, erasing your iPhone with the ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ option does not delete your data permanently. All the personal data on iPhone is still recoverable with the help of advanced iPhone data recovery software.

Steps to Factory Reset iPhone:

1. Open Settings on your iPhone.
2. Tap and follow General > Reset.
3. Tap on Erase All Content and Settings.
4. A dialog box appears; click Erase Now.
5. Enter your Passcode and your Apple ID password when prompted. This will wipe iPhone completely and turn off the device.

Now your device is ready to use as new without any personal photos, videos, or other information.

Note: Back up your iPhone data on iCloud or iTunes before performing a factory reset. Even when you want to sell the iPhone, the old data remains in iCloud and iTunes. And you can access it anytime on your computer or new iPhone.

Method 2: Erase data permanently using Stellar Toolkit for iPhone

When you want to delete iPhone data permanently beyond the scope of any recovery software, use an iPhone erasure tool – Stellar Toolkit for iPhone.

The factory reset option by Apple does leave a chance of iPhone data recovery by using the software. But, Stellar Toolkit for iPhone software permanently resets iPhone. The software erases iPhone data from the storage drive by overwriting and setting it to the original default settings. The software leaves no possibility of recovering data by any means.

You can quickly remove iPhone’s settings, photos, videos, audio, music, contacts, messages, chats, installed apps, call history, reminders, search history, and other data.

The software works with all iPhones and iPads. It can wipe off data from iPhone 15, 14, 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max, 13, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max, 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max, 11 Pro, 11, XS MAX, XS, XR, X, 8, 7, 7s, 6s, 6 Plus, 6, 5s, 5c, 5, 4s, and 4. It supports iOS 6.0 and up to iOS 16.x.

Stellar iPhone erasure lets you completely wipe data from an unlimited number of iPhones with the software.

Additionally, the Toolkit can also recover lost, or deleted data from iPhone, iCloud, and iTunes in various data lost cases such as water-damaged iPhones , broken iPhones , stuck at Apple logos , and so on.

Key benefits

• Wipes complete iPhone data permanently
• Erases data from multiple unique iPhones
• Easy-to-use
• Compatible with all iPhones and iPads

Steps to erase iPhone data permanently with software:

Step 1: Download and run Stellar Toolkit for iPhone on your computer.

Step 2: Select Erase Data.

Step 3: Erase the iPhone Data screen appears. Click Next.

Step 4: Plug your iPhone into the computer when prompted.

Step 5: Click Erase.

Step 6: An Erase Process dialog box appears. Select Yes to start the erasing process on iPhone. Next, you can view the process progress bar.

Step 7: Once the process finishes, the ‘Data Erase Completes’ message box appears. Click OK.

Your iPhone is now reset as new without any personal information, passwords, or settings.

When should you erase iPhone data with software?

Your data is sensitive and can be easily exploited by someone. So before giving away your iOS device to its next owner, it is better to wipe it off completely so that no one can recover it.

You can use iPhone erasure software when you are-

• Selling an old iPhone
• Exchanging an old iPhone with a new one
• Donating an iPhone to someone
• Fixing technical malfunctions in your iPhone

Final Words

Stellar Toolkit for iPhone comes to the rescue when you want to be sure about your iPhone data privacy.

If you have to use your iOS device as new, give it away, donate, or resell, you must use the erasure software to wipe iPhone data permanently. It’s 100% secure and easy to use.

A free trial is available for Stellar Toolkit for iPhone; you may try it yourself.

How to Restore Contacts on iPhone (4 Methods)

Summary: Many of the users have been wondering about the ways to restore deleted contacts. In this post, we shared the best methods to restore deleted contacts from your iPhone series 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, XS, XS Max, XR, X, 8, 7, 6, and 5.

Losing contact names and numbers from the device all of a sudden is not new for iPhone users. Sometimes contact names are missing with only the random numbers visible, or the contact list is altogether empty. Mostly, the incidents occur after updating to a newer version of iOS, a bug in the device, accidental deletion, or else formatting of the iPhone.

You can always restore from iCloud or iTunes backup, but sometimes even those attempts might fail to recover deleted contacts. This can be because of wrong user names, passcodes, or device settings.

In such cases, the best way to restore only the missing contacts is to use iPhone Data Recovery Software by Stellar**.** Read on to know the four solutions to recover deleted contact on iPhone below.

If you have synced your iPhone to iCloud backup, restore missing contact names and numbers with this method.

• Go to your iPhone Settings > iCloud > Contacts (iOS 16 & 15 users follow: Settings > User Name > iCloud)

• Toggle OFF and turn ON Contacts again

• It asks what you would like to do with the previously synced iCloud contacts on your iPhone. Select Delete from My iPhone.

You will get back lost contacts on the iPhone. Those accounts are also displayed in your group lists if you have different Cloud accounts like Gmail linked to your device. You can check and uncheck the group to view or hide, respectively.

This works only when you have backed up your iPhone to iTunes.

• Connect your iPhone to the PC
•  Launch iTunes
• Select your device from the Device list and pick the most recent backup entry date of your iPhone from the Summary page

• Click Restore Backup

You can get back the lost or deleted contacts from your iTunes backup. But the drawback of this method is that with iTunes, you do not have a choice to restore only the lost contacts on your iPhone selectively. This means that complete data from iTunes will be restored on your device, replacing existing iPhone data.

All current media photos, videos, messages, etc., on your iPhone will also be replaced by the iOS backup files. If you want to restore only contacts from iTunes backup, use a safe third-party iPhone data recovery application.

The best way to overcome the iTunes drawback and selectively restore only the missing contacts is to use iPhone Contact Recovery Software by Stellar.

This secure & do-it-yourself software recovers lost or accidentally deleted iPhone contacts, call history, etc., regardless of the cause of the loss.Experience the Free Trial version NOW!

The free demo version of Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone allows you to scan and preview files from iPhone, iCloud, and iTunes backup, and to save them, you need to register the software.

Stellar Data Recovery offers three ways to recover iPhone contacts missing on your device:

1. Recovery from iPhone
2. Recover from iCloud Backup
3. Recover from iTunes Backup

1. Recover from iPhone

There is a possibility that your device has all the contacts, but they are not showing up—select Recovery from iPhone to view the hidden iPhone contacts in this case.

• Connect your iPhone to the computer and launch and launch the software
• On the home screen, choose “Recover from iPhone”, select “Contacts and Call Logs,” and click “Next.”

Click here


• It will show you the iOS devices connected to your system. Select your device and click Scan

• After scanning, select Contacts on your left pane; all the contacts will be displayed in the right pane.
•  Then, Select All or particular items by clicking on the associated checkbox.
• Click on Save and browse the desired location to save the recovered contacts.

2. Restore from iCloud Backup

Recovery from iCloud Backup allows you to selectively recover deleted contacts from your iPhone rather than restoring everything from photos and videos to messages. Follow the below steps:

• Connect your iPhone to the computer via USB cable
•  Launch Stellar Data Recovery from iPhone
• Choose Recover from iCloud Backup, Select Contacts and Call Logs and click Next

• Enter the Apple ID and Password to get the list of available backup files.

• Select the backup file and click Scan

• After scanning, select “Contacts” on your left pane, all the contacts in the selected backup file will be displayed in the right pane.

• Then, Select All or selective items by clicking on the associated checkbox.

• Click on Save and browse the desired location to save the recovered contacts.

3. Restore from iTunes Backup

If your iPhone contacts are synced with iTunes backup, use Recovery from iTunes backup to recover missing iPhone contacts.

• Connect your iPhone to your computer and launch the software
• On the home screen, choose Recover from iTunes, select Contacts and Call Logs, and click Next

• The software analyzes your system and lists all the available iTunes backup files, as shown below. If you cannot find the desired backup file, you can click on Add Backup to manually add the backup file from the system. Now, select the file and click Scan

• After scanning, select “Contacts” on your left pane, all the contacts in the selected backup file will be displayed in the right pane.
•  Then, Select All or particular items by clicking on the associated checkbox.
• Click on Save and browse the desired location to save the recovered contacts.

Minor changes in the iPhone Settings can also help restore deleted contacts. Try the below Setting changes and check if they work for you:

• Change Contacts’ Groups Settings
• Reset the Network Connections
• Change Default Account in Settings back to iCloud (works for iPhone 8/7/6s)

1: Change Contacts’ Groups Settings

• Go to your Contacts, tap into Groups
•  Uncheck All iCloud
• Select All on iPhone

• Click on Done (top right)
• Check if you got back all your contacts

2: Reset the Network Connections

• Under Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings

• Enter your passcode
• Choose Reset Network Settings to continue ignoring the message that this action will delete all your network settings.

This action will clear your current saved networks and Wi-Fi passwords, but you can always re-enter your network passwords later. So give this a try to retrieve lost contacts.

3: Change Default Account in Settings back to iCloud (works for iPhone 14, 13, 12, 11, X, 8, 7, 6)

• Go to your iPhone Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Contacts
• Click Default Account
• Select iCloud instead of On my iPhone
• Check if your phone’s missing contacts recovered

To Wrap-up

Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone intelligently restores your missing or accidentally deleted contacts without causing loss of iPhone’s existing data, unlike iTunes or iCloud Backup recovery methods. Changing the iPhone settings can also help you get back missing contacts. So now no need to worry about the contacts list loss. Instead, try the above methods and recover deleted contacts on your iPhone.

Have you ever used any of the above methods for restoring missing iPhone contacts? Then, do share your experience in the comments below.

How To Recover Whatsapp Chat History From iPhone

Summary: Losing the WhatsApp chat history from iPhone can be annoying. It may contain important details, photos, videos, and audio recordings. This post brings easy and quick methods to recover lost or deleted WhatsApp chat on iPhone using Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone.

With social media engulfing our lives, it becomes all the more important to keep track of people close to us through various social media apps, not only personally but professionally as well.

Messaging apps such as WhatsApp gives you total access to chat and share data with your family, friends, and even with your business or work colleagues 24*7. Each day, billions of people all over the globe, chat and share videos, audio, photos, etc. over this one messaging app. Therefore, it contains information that is of great value.
But it is important to know that this app is not fail-safe. Sometimes due to some technical issues, WhatsApp chats and other valuable information gets erased from the phone and chances of recovery are slim. If you are an iPhone user, it is a common scenario that due to tech issues such as jail breaking or when you upgrade your iPhone, your data as well as your WhatsApp chats may get erased from the iPhone.

Losing the chat history which also contains your priceless photos, videos, and audio can be quite frustrating! Hence, recovery becomes imperative! So in order to help you recover the data lost from your iPhone including your WhatsApp chats, we suggest the following steps that can help restore your chat history.

Recover Deleted Messages from WhatsApp Chat iCloud Backup

1- First of all, make sure that you have created a backup of all your WhatsApp chats and data on iCloud. In order to check that, go to the WhatsApp settings and check it on the Chat Backup present in the Chats.
2- Next, uninstall the existing WhatsApp and then reinstall it again from the app store and log in with your number. When you log in, a dialogue box will appear asking you to backup the chats: click on the confirm button to proceed.

Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages Without Backup

1- Download and install iPhone Data Recovery Software  by Stellar on your computer and then register the product using the product key.

2- Now after connecting the iPhone, click on Recover from iPhone option. Select the file type you want to recover and click “Next”. The scan will initiate thereafter.

3- Select Only Show Deleted option on the top to focus only on the deleted data. Then select the conversations you want to save. Then click Save.

4- Choose the desired location on your computer where you want to save the files or you can save it directly to your iPhone. Then click OK.

After a wait of 5-10 minutes, the lost data will be saved within form of a HTML page which can be opened using any browser.

Restore Deleted WhatsApp Messages from iTunes Backup

If you have backed up your WhatsApp chats and files in the iTunes app of the iPhone, then you can easily get back all your chats and files easily from it by following the below steps—

1- Open the iTunes app on your computer and then connect your iPhone into it. Next, click on the iPhone icon and then select restore backup. Then select the backup file that contains the WhatsApp messages and then select the recover option.

If you face any difficulty to recover your data from iTunes backup then use Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone to recover lost or deleted Contacts, Call history, Voice Memo, Messages, Notes, Reminders, Calendar, Safari Bookmarks from iOS device iTunes backup file.

Restore Deleted WhatsApp Messages from iCloud Backup

Just like iTunes, you can even back up your files and WhatsApp chats on iCloud present in your iPhone. However, before getting started, make sure that the data and chats are securely backed up in the app from which you have to recover.
1- The first step contains erasing of all the content and settings present in the iPhone. This can be done by going to the general setting present in the iPhone.
2- A setup screen will be displayed. Follow the steps to get to the apps and data, then select on restore from iCloud backup from it.
3- Select the files and data that you wish to backup and then click on the restore button and let the system restore all the backed up data into your phone.

If you face any difficulty to recover your data from iCloud backup then use Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone to recover lost or deleted Contacts, Call history, Voice Memo, Messages, Notes, Reminders, Calendar, Safari Bookmarks from iOS device iCloud backup file.

Conclusion

Losing chats and other data from WhatsApp may lead to a situation of despair. Therefore, to ease you off your worries, the above simple steps will help restore all your chats as well as your lost photos, audio, and videos from your iPhone.

Apple will delete your photos in July. Here’s what you should do

Apple has recently announced that it will permanently delete photos from its users’ ‘My Photo Stream’ this month. This news has come as a surprise to the Apple community, as users struggle to understand the implications of this announcement and what necessary precautions can be taken. In this blog post, we will get into the details of this new move by Apple, explore the reasons behind it, and provide tips on how iPhone/iPad/Mac users can safeguard their precious photos.

The Announcement

_”_My Photo Stream is scheduled to be shut down on July 26, 2023. As part of this transition, new photo uploads to My Photo Stream from your devices will stop one month before, on June 26, 2023.

The photos in My Photo Stream are already stored on at least one of your devices, so as long as you have the device with your originals, you won’t lose any photos as part of this process. If a photo you want isn’t already in your Library on a particular iPhone, iPad, or Mac, make sure that you save it to your Library on that device…” Read more

What is Apple’s My Photo Stream?

My Photo Stream, launched in 2011, was designed to sync photos across multiple Apple devices such as iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

This feature automatically stores your most recent pictures (up to 1000) for approx. 30 days so you can view and download them easily from other Apple devices. After this period, photos are removed from My Photo Stream but remain in your device’s Photos app. However, this only shows photos and not your live images or videos.

How to Protect Your ‘My Photo Stream’ Pictures?

Apple, known for its commitment to user privacy and data security, has recommended several preventive measures to mitigate the risk of losing any important photo due to this update.

1. Move My Photo Stream images to your Library

Even if the pictures in My Photo Stream are already there on at least one of your Apple devices, you must save these pictures to your Photo Library to avoid losing them**.** Here’s how to copy My Photo Stream pictures to your Photo Library:

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch:

• Open the Photos app and tap Albums.
• Tap on My Photo Stream > Select.
• Select all the photos you want to save, then tap the Share button > Save Image.

On your Mac:

• Open the Photos app and then open the My Photo Stream
• Select the photos you want to save which aren’t currently in your photo library.
• Drag and drop them from the My Photo Stream album into your Library.

2. Move to iCloud Photos

To preserve your My Photo Stream images in their original and high-resolution version, you can transfer them to iCloud Photos.

If you already have an iCloud account, just enable iCloud Photos to automatically upload & sync every photo and video you capture on the device, making them accessible from anywhere.

To use the iCloud Photos service, you will require the following:

• iPhone running iOS 8.3 or later version.
• iPad with iPadOS 8.3 or later version.
• Mac running OS X Yosemite or later version.

How to set up iCloud Photos on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch?

• On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings.
• Next, click on [Your Name] > iCloud.
• Tap on Photos and do the following:

For iOS 16, iPadOS 16, or later versions: Toggle on the ‘Sync this [device]‘ option.

For iOS 15, iPadOS 15, or earlier versions: Turn on the iCloud Photos

How to set up iCloud Photos on your Mac?

• On your Mac, go to Apple Menu and click on System Preferences.
• Click Apple ID and then select iCloud in the sidebar.
• Now, select Photos and turn on the switch next to Sync this Mac.

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Don’t want to use iCloud Photos?

While iCloud Photos is a convenient option for many Apple users, it’s important to acknowledge that it is not the best fit for everyone. Limited free storage of 5GB or lack of cross-platform compatibility can compel Apple users to look for other alternatives.

Storage options, such as Google Photos, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, external hard drives, etc., are available to ensure your iPhone Photos are safe and easily accessible.

The Bottom Line

Apple’s announcement of the potential discontinuation of My Photo Stream has understandably caused worry among its users. While a specific reason for this action remains undisclosed, they are actively addressing the issue to prevent data loss. In the meantime, iPhone users must take precautionary measures to safeguard their photos. They can simply move the My Photo Stream images to the Photo Library, iCloud Photos, or other backup folders.