Erase All Content and Settings

[Nermal]

Hi,

I know that variations on this question have been asked a few times but many of the existing threads are for older iOS versions or involve jailbreaking.

I'm running iOS 5.1.1 on my 4S and I'm stuck with very little free space and 2.4 GB of "Other" (was 3.5 GB and I managed to whittle it down a bit, but not enough!). Restoring seems to be the easiest way to clear out Other completely, but the problem is that I don't want iOS 6. I'm therefore looking at Erase All Content and Settings but I'm finding conflicting information about how it works.

1. If I erase, will I be forced to restore? It seems that older devices would erase the OS and force a restore (and therefore an upgrade to iOS 6) but I've found a single reference saying that connecting to iTunes is optional with iOS 5.
2. If it doesn't force a restore, would it still clean up Other?
3. Anything else I should know?

Thanks

 

[r2shyyou]

Hi,

I know that variations on this question have been asked a few times but many of the existing threads are for older iOS versions or involve jailbreaking.

I'm running iOS 5.1.1 on my 4S and I'm stuck with very little free space and 2.4 GB of "Other" (was 3.5 GB and I managed to whittle it down a bit, but not enough!). Restoring seems to be the easiest way to clear out Other completely, but the problem is that I don't want iOS 6. I'm therefore looking at Erase All Content and Settings but I'm finding conflicting information about how it works.

1. If I erase, will I be forced to restore? It seems that older devices would erase the OS and force a restore (and therefore an upgrade to iOS 6) but I've found a single reference saying that connecting to iTunes is optional with iOS 5.
2. If it doesn't force a restore, would it still clean up Other?
3. Anything else I should know?

Thanks

Regarding #1, no, at least not in the sense that you'll need iTunes for this and, consequently, that you'll end up with iOS 6.

I erased my phone a couple of times when on iOS 5 and never plugged in to iTunes. I always restored from an iCloud backup and all went well, as far as I was concerned.

Here's some info from Apple about the "Erase All Content and Settings" option: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2110

Regarding #2, I haven't heard that it does or doesn't but I'd reckon that it will clean up 'Other' (see below).

Regarding #3, I'd say just to make sure you back up before erasing and to also check out the below for a little more info on 'Other' taking up space:

http://osxdaily.com/2011/10/18/itunes-other-capacity-taking-up-tons-of-space-fix/

 

[Applejuiced]

Im sorry I didnt read carefully. Are you on stock 5.1.1 4S or jailbroken?

 

[Nermal]

My phone is not and never has been jailbroken; it's running stock 5.1.1 from Apple.

I erased my phone a couple of times when on iOS 5 and never plugged in to iTunes. I always restored from an iCloud backup and all went well, as far as I was concerned.

Sounds good. Thanks for that

Regarding #3, I'd say just to make sure you back up before erasing and to also check out the below for a little more info on 'Other' taking up space:

http://osxdaily.com/2011/10/18/itunes-other-capacity-taking-up-tons-of-space-fix/

And that explains how I "mysteriously" managed to free up close to 1 GB accidentally yesterday!

 

[r2shyyou]

And that explains how I "mysteriously" managed to free up close to 1 GB accidentally yesterday!

One major culprit for 'Other' that I've found was Messages. I generally don't delete Messages.app conversations however, before Shared Photo Streams, my wife and I used to send each other many, many photos & videos of our little now-one-and-a-half year old son via text and I was able to free up multiple gigs by deleting just that one conversation.

 

[Nermal]

OK, I've had a chance to try this and I can confirm that it remained on iOS 5.1.1, and cleared out Other. Thanks for your help

 

[Nermal]

And it's still on 5.1.1 after two more erases (first time I didn't turn wi-fi off so it went and downloaded iOS 6 automatically and took me back up to 2.2 GB of Other, second time because after turning wi-fi off it automatically turned back on again when I connected to the computer).

Now I'm worried that if I turn wi-fi back on it'll just fill every byte of remaining space by trying to download iOS 6 again. How can I stop it from auto-downloading?

 

[r2shyyou]

And it's still on 5.1.1 after two more erases (first time I didn't turn wi-fi off so it went and downloaded iOS 6 automatically and took me back up to 2.2 GB of Other, second time because after turning wi-fi off it automatically turned back on again when I connected to the computer).

Now I'm worried that if I turn wi-fi back on it'll just fill every byte of remaining space by trying to download iOS 6 again. How can I stop it from auto-downloading?

Hm..that's curious that it's auto-downloading.

I've never personally experienced this but one solution may be to manually restore via iTunes, meaning using iTunes but selecting the iOS 5.1.1 IPSW yourself.

If you haven't done this before, you'll need to first download the appropriate IPSW. Direct links to iOS 5.1.1 files are below:

http://osxdaily.com/2012/05/07/ios-5-1-1-download-links/

Once you've downloaded the file, you'll just plug in your phone to your computer, select it in iTunes, and then hold down the following key before clicking on "Restore":

Mac: Alt key
Windows: Shift key

That should open a dialog box from which you can locate and select the appropriate IPSW.

However, apparently Apple has stopped signing 5.1.1 so doing the above may be more involved than I've described it, in which case further research (or responses from others) before trying would be a good idea.

The additional steps may be similar to those for downgrading from iOS 6 but I don't really know, to be honest. In any case, you might find some helpful info at the links below:

http://www.idownloadblog.com/tag/ios-5-1-1/
http://www.idownloadblog.com/tag/downgrade/

I'm guessing there are other resources out there that may be more helpful but these should give you a start.

 

[viperGTS]

If you have your iOS 5.1.1 SHSH blobs, you can re-resore to 5.1.1.

 

[Nermal]

I heard that SHSH blobs don't work with a 4S. Despite that, I saved them anyway.

Having said that, I'm not sure what restoring would accomplish; the phone will still automatically try to download the OTA update unless there's some hidden setting to prevent this. Apple's documentation (which I can't find now) says that it'll automatically download (but not install) updates when plugged in and on wi-fi, and that's the exact behaviour that I'm experiencing.

 

[r2shyyou]

I heard that SHSH blobs don't work with a 4S. Despite that, I saved them anyway.

Having said that, I'm not sure what restoring would accomplish; the phone will still automatically try to download the OTA update unless there's some hidden setting to prevent this. Apple's documentation (which I can't find now) says that it'll automatically download (but not install) updates when plugged in and on wi-fi, and that's the exact behaviour that I'm experiencing.

In that case, I don't know what you can do.

My recommendation for trying to restore from a "fresh" IPSW was in the event that there was a setting of some type that alerted Apple that you/your phone had previously accepted to download iOS 6 and that restoring from said "fresh" IPSW might clear that (whatever that imaginary (or real) thing might've been).

If that's not happening, then, as I mentioned above, I can't think of any way out of this.

I guess I'll bite, then: since you're not jailbroken, what is it that makes you not want to update to iOS 6? I'm not implying that it's without faults, merely curious about what your reservations are.

 

[Applejuiced]

I heard that SHSH blobs don't work with a 4S. Despite that, I saved them anyway.

Having said that, I'm not sure what restoring would accomplish; the phone will still automatically try to download the OTA update unless there's some hidden setting to prevent this. Apple's documentation (which I can't find now) says that it'll automatically download (but not install) updates when plugged in and on wi-fi, and that's the exact behaviour that I'm experiencing.

Yes, when it comes to shsh blobs for the 4S its more complicated since there is no bootrom exploit to utilize them.
So what JB and other hack tools do is upgrade and then downgrade the phone with new and old blobs while JB it but no need to go that far if you're not interested in JB.
And like you said it does download the OTA on the phone but its up to the user to install it or not. The phone wont automatically do it on its own.

 

[Nermal]

I guess I'll bite, then: since you're not jailbroken, what is it that makes you not want to update to iOS 6? I'm not implying that it's without faults, merely curious about what your reservations are.

I've previously had 6 on my phone but reverted to 5.1.1* after running into failed app installs, the phone using 3G data whenever I opened the Music app (Match turned off), Maps was horrendous in my area, the new App Store is buggy and there's no "list view" option, and I think there were a couple of other things but I don't remember them all now.

And like you said it does download the OTA on the phone but its up to the user to install it or not. The phone wont automatically do it on its own.

Right, but the issue is that I simply don't have the space for it. I often watch TV shows on my phone and I only have enough space for one without the iOS 6 update sitting on there, and with the update I can't even put a single video on there.


*Back when Apple was still signing 5.1.1

 

[Applejuiced]

Right, but the issue is that I simply don't have the space for it. I often watch TV shows on my phone and I only have enough space for one without the iOS 6 update sitting on there, and with the update I can't even put a single video on there.


*Back when Apple was still signing 5.1.1

I hear you, that does suck that its taking space wether you want to download and install it or not.
Its still wasted space sitting there if you dont need it.

 

[r2shyyou]

I've previously had 6 on my phone but reverted to 5.1.1* after running into failed app installs, the phone using 3G data whenever I opened the Music app (Match turned off), Maps was horrendous in my area, the new App Store is buggy and there's no "list view" option, and I think there were a couple of other things but I don't remember them all now.

*Back when Apple was still signing 5.1.1

Well it sounds like you, along with many others, I'm sure, have some legitimate reasons for holding off, then.

I haven't experienced any failed app installs whatsoever despite updating to 6 on day one and I'd like to think that any such bugs have been fixed by now (unless they were directly caused by the new App Store...more on that below).

I can't comment on 3G data and the Music app as I don't use my phone for music (I have an iPod just for that).

I can imagine that maps are terrible in NZ if they're not even right in NYC (sorry it's like that but, well, that's the way it is).

The App Store app is really bad, in my opinion, and I, too, have encountered a number of issues with it so I hear ya about that one too.

Seeing as your phone is automatically downloading iOS 6 no matter what you do, the only suggestion I have (I'm serious) is to try to sell it and buy one with more capacity, assuming yours isn't already 64 GB, in order to "make room" for the iOS 6 update to just sit there.

I have a 16 GB 4S (on iOS 6, of course) and often have to make room on my phone (I take a lot of photos & videos of my toddler). If I had extra cash to put towards either a 32 GB or a 64 GB 4S (or 5), I'd do it in a heartbeat. It would save me time spent on dealing with space constraints and making room and would just generally allow me to put energy towards other things.

 

[Nermal]

Its only 47.6 MB but its still wasted space sitting there if you dont need it.

Hmm. Both times that it went ahead and auto-downloaded it pushed Other out to 2.2 GB. Even now if I manually open Software Update it tells me that I need at least 2.5 GB to install it (and lists the download as being 626 MB), so I wonder whether it's also reserving some space for installation.

I haven't experienced any failed app installs whatsoever despite updating to 6 on day one and I'd like to think that any such bugs have been fixed by now (unless they were directly caused by the new App Store...more on that below).

It's not in the change log for 6.0.1.

I have a 32 GB model at the moment and I'd actually considered buying a 64 GB 4S but was worried about getting iOS 6. As you can tell I'm very hesitant!

 

[Applejuiced]

Hmm. Both times that it went ahead and auto-downloaded it pushed Other out to 2.2 GB. Even now if I manually open Software Update it tells me that I need at least 2.5 GB to install it (and lists the download as being 626 MB), so I wonder whether it's also reserving some space for installation.

Yes, Im sorry, that was the 47.6 MB OTA update I had in mind from 6.0 to 6.0.1
Coming from ios 5.1.1 to 6.0.1 will be a lot more.
And yes like you said, its not only saving the update file but also allocates available space to install it so its taking up more than that amount.

 

[r2shyyou]

Hmm. Both times that it went ahead and auto-downloaded it pushed Other out to 2.2 GB. Even now if I manually open Software Update it tells me that I need at least 2.5 GB to install it (and lists the download as being 626 MB), so I wonder whether it's also reserving some space for installation.

The size depends on what you're updating from, since OTA updates are delta.

If the update to iOS 6.0.1 is from iOS 6, then the majority of new stuff included with 6, from 5.1.1, has already been installed and doesn't need to be included.

Below are screenshots of the OTA update screens for iOS 6 (from 5.1.1) and 6.0.1 (from 6.0):

EDIT: whoops, was too slow. Same story though.

 

[Nermal]

Well, I plugged it in to charge and forgot to turn off wi-fi and it has *not* auto-downloaded anything, presumably because there isn't enough space. Now I just need to keep it full