iPhone SE?

[demarpaint]

Mods if this is in the wrong place please move it. I have an iPhone SE in very good condition. I recently did a factory reset in hopes of restoring the phone to it's out of the box configuration, and then planned on installing only the apps I use frequently like Waze, Google maps, and a few others. I deleted the apps and data, then checked only my contacts to be saved to my iCloud backup. The iPhone won't allow me to save my contacts to the sim card, or I would have done that and started a new Apple account. I did a reset telling the phone to erase all content and settings. After doing so I went to my Apple account to restore the contacts and then installed Waze, Google Maps and Outlook mail, all of which were deleted along with data before doing the restore. After the restore all my settings were back in the phone including my Bluetooth settings for my Jeeps. Why? I was hoping to have the phone in an out of the box condition with just the OS update and my contacts. Thanks.

 

[bullwinkle]

You restored it using your iCloud account, which had all those apps and data on it. The way I do it is to start a NEW iCloud account, with only the apps you want, then use that one to restart the phone after your factory reset. You'll get rid of all the excess junk that way, I've had to do it with a couple old iPads that only had 8GB of memory, to make them somewhat useful.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by bullwinkle
You restored it using your iCloud account, which had all those apps and data on it. The way I do it is to start a NEW iCloud account, with only the apps you want, then use that one to restart the phone after your factory reset. You'll get rid of all the excess junk that way, I've had to do it with a couple old iPads that only had 8GB of memory, to make them somewhat useful.

Thanks!!! What I'm not understanding is this. If I start a new iCloud account, check only contacts to be backed up like I did with the old iCloud account, will the garbage from the old apps still reappear when I reinstall them? I guess the only way to be sure is to try, but it seems the iPhone does whatever it wants when I back it up.

 

[WhyMe]

when you back up from an icloud or gmail account all that info is just redownloaded to the phone. this helps in when people buy a new phone and they want to move the info from the old to new. if you want to start out new with clean phone i would just reinput all your contacts . or you can see if you can find the file where the contacts are stored and copy it to the phone again.

 

[bullwinkle]

It's important to use a new iCloud ID, though, even if you just sign up for a free email (Gmail, Yahoo, even an iCloud one)-otherwise yur phone will eventually just backup itself with one of your old backups. Backups can be turned off, but if you use a different account it'll automatically save what's on your new iPhone or iPad. I actually have 3 different iCloud IDs, one for the work iPhone, one for the work iPad, and one for my personal devices (SE, old iPhone 4, old iPad). Another nice benefit is-you won't go over your (free) storage limit as easily, and you can still use one iTunes account on all of them. I had heard some disturbing reports about co-workers looking at fellow co-workers NSFW photos (not me)-I set a speed record disconnecting from the company iTunes & iCloud accounts!!

 

[KrisZ]

I don't think you need a new apple ID account. Reset your phone, when the systems firsts asks you to input your apple ID, use your current one, but there should be an option to either restore or set up as a new phone or device. Use "Set up as new phone" option. this will get your phone to the original factory settings.
Now go to Settings--->iCloud. You should get a list of Apps Using iCloud. Enable Contacts and whatever else you wish to sync with iCloud.

our kids have my wife's old iPhones set up this way under her account, but this method simply links these to her account as new devices.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by KrisZ
I don't think you need a new apple ID account. Reset your phone, when the systems firsts asks you to input your apple ID, use your current one, but there should be an option to either restore or set up as a new phone or device. Use "Set up as new phone" option. this will get your phone to the original factory settings.
Now go to Settings--->iCloud. You should get a list of Apps Using iCloud. Enable Contacts and whatever else you wish to sync with iCloud.

our kids have my wife's old iPhones set up this way under her account, but this method simply links these to her account as new devices.

There are two options: Reset all settings, and Erase all content and settings. Using the second choice, then reinstalling all the apps one by one restores them with their settings, even if I delete the app prior to reinstalling the OS. I was hoping to be able to store the contacts to the Sim card, no cigar with an iPhone.

Manually restoring contacts is an option, but a PITA at that. I guess I could set up a gmail account, but I don't want gmail on the phone, and I have a feeling I will have to install it to get the contacts back. I might try a new iPhone account, after deleting all the apps and data associated with them and see what happens.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted by demarpaint

There are two options: Reset all settings, and Erase all content and settings. Using the second choice, then reinstalling all the apps one by one restores them with their settings, even if I delete the app prior to reinstalling the OS. I was hoping to be able to store the contacts to the Sim card, no cigar with an iPhone.

Manually restoring contacts is an option, but a PITA at that. I guess I could set up a gmail account, but I don't want gmail on the phone, and I have a feeling I will have to install it to get the contacts back. I might try a new iPhone account, after deleting all the apps and data associated with them and see what happens.

Thanks for all the replies.


Ahh, I see. You have to disable that feature. It's under Settings--->Passwords & Accounts---> iCloud---> Turn off iCloud Drive. That's where all your settings and app preferences are stored.

If you create a totally new account, it will not allow you to get your contacts from the old account anyways.

As an alternate solution, I think deleting the icloud backup totally would also solve this issue, as contacts are stored separately. You can log in to your iCloud account though a computer web browser and see how you can manage it there.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by KrisZ
Originally Posted by demarpaint

There are two options: Reset all settings, and Erase all content and settings. Using the second choice, then reinstalling all the apps one by one restores them with their settings, even if I delete the app prior to reinstalling the OS. I was hoping to be able to store the contacts to the Sim card, no cigar with an iPhone.

Manually restoring contacts is an option, but a PITA at that. I guess I could set up a gmail account, but I don't want gmail on the phone, and I have a feeling I will have to install it to get the contacts back. I might try a new iPhone account, after deleting all the apps and data associated with them and see what happens.

Thanks for all the replies.


Ahh, I see. You have to disable that feature. It's under Settings--->Passwords & Accounts---> iCloud---> Turn off iCloud Drive. That's where all your settings and app preferences are stored.

If you create a totally new account, it will not allow you to get your contacts from the old account anyways.

As an alternate solution, I think deleting the icloud backup totally would also solve this issue, as contacts are stored separately. You can log in to your iCloud account though a computer web browser and see how you can manage it there.

Yo nailed it Kris. What I ended up doing was deleting all apps that I had installed along with their data. Unchecked all the boxes of what I wanted backed up except my contacts. Deleted all the iCloud back ups, then backed up the phone. When I did the reset I wiped everything, and then saw an option I hadn't seen when it came time to restore it, something like set up as a new phone. That's what I used, then I configured the phone the way I wanted it, instatted apps one at a time, and made the settings the way I wanted them. The phone is working great again. It appears the iPhone like Windows gets loaded up with crap too from use. Thanks for all the help!!

 

[KrisZ]

Great to hear you got it working

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by KrisZ
Great to hear you got it working

Yes, it's working well again. Thanks for all the replies.