How to Clean Install iOS 11 on iPhone or iPad.
If you plan on updating your Apple device to iOS 11, you have the option of performing a regular update or performing a clean install. If you’re updating a relatively new device like the 6S or iPhone 7, a regular update will probably do the trick.
However, on older devices, a clean install can help the device run faster and smoother. Even on my iPhone 6S Plus, things were much faster when I did a clean install. There are two paths you can take for a clean install.
Both methods involve wiping data from your phone and restoring to the latest version of iOS, which in this case will be 11. After that, you can either set up your phone as a new iPhone or restore from a backup. If you really want to start from scratch, you manually download all your apps again and set it up all over again. The main point here is that you will lose all your old messages and health data, so if you want them the choice is obvious.
If you restore the backup, you will get all your old messages, health data, apps, downloaded music, photos, if you are not using iCloud Photo Library, etc. It is worth noting that you will only get your health data if in case you restore them from from an iCloud backup or from an encrypted iTunes backup.
Clean install iOS 11
The first thing you need to do is open iTunes on your PC or Mac. You cannot do a clean install directly from an iPhone or iPad. From the device itself, you can only update to the latest iOS version.
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With iTunes open, connect your device and click the phone or tablet icon that appears at the top.
This screen will give you basic information about your phone like model, serial number, phone number and more. On the right, you will see the current version of iOS installed.
In my case, this is version 10.3.3, which was the latest version before 11. If you connect it for the first time, the message will indicate that your iPhone has the latest software. Go ahead and click the “Check for Updates” button.
A message should appear stating that a new version of iPhone software is available (11). Here you want to click on “Download only”. Don’t click Download and Update as this will just update your phone to iOS 11 without formatting it.
Wait for the download to complete and click the “Restore iPhone” button. Another button should have been changed to “Update” and not to “Check for Updates”.
If you haven’t backed up your phone yet, you will be asked if you want to back up your phone settings before restoring the software. If you plan to restore your phone afterwards, be sure to select “Backup”.
After backing up, or if you click on the “Do not back up” button, another message appears asking you to confirm if you want to restore and update. This means that the factory settings will be restored and the latest version of iOS will be installed.
When you click on Restore & Update, the iPhone Software Update dialog box appears, showing all the new features in iOS 11. Feel free to read or save if you like. Click Next and iTunes will either start downloading the update if you clicked Cancel instead of Download Only in one of the previous steps, or the restore process will begin.
You should also see a “Recovery in progress” message on your phone. This will take a while, so feel free to leave this and come back later. After the restore is complete, the iTunes screen should change to the Welcome to Your New iPhone page.
This is where you can choose one of the two paths I mentioned above. If you want the fastest device possible in the smallest size, you should choose Install as New iPhone, download only the apps you need, and set everything up from scratch. If you don’t want to waste all this time setting up again, simply select “Restore from this backup” and select the backup you created just before restoring.
That’s all. Both of these methods are clean installs because you wipe your phone and install a fresh copy of iOS 11. Even if you restore a backup after a fresh install, your phone will still perform better than if you simply updated to iOS 11 directly. your device. If you have any questions or problems, feel free to leave your comments here! Enjoy!
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