A Complete Guide to Unjailbreaking an iPhone

Restore your iPhone to its pre-jailbreak status with this simple tutorial

Co-authored by Luigi Oppido

Last Updated: March 29, 2024 References

If you’ve decided to “unjailbreak” your jailbroken iPhone and want to return the device back to its original state, you can do so at any time using the Backup and Restore feature within iTunes. Note: It's highly advisable to back up your iPhone before restoring as this process erases everything on the device. Using this method will restore your device to its factory settings and installs the latest version of iOS.

Unjailbreaking Any iPhone

You can unjailbreak an iPhone by placing it into recovery mode, connecting it to your computer, and restoring in Finder or iTunes.
Unjailbreaking will delete everything on your iPhone, so back up anything you want to keep.
Do not unplug your iPhone from your computer throughout the unjailbreaking process.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Putting your Device in Recovery Mode

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Use a lightning USB cable to plug it in.^{[1]
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Luigi Oppido
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Expert Interview. 24 March 2021}
Release the Power button after 10 seconds.

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You should see a "Connect to iTunes" screen appear.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Using iTunes Backup and Restore

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Doing so will confirm that you want to restore a device that's in recovery mode.^{[2]
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Click Restore and Update. iTunes will begin restoring your device.^{[3]
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Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist

Expert Interview. 24 March 2021}
- This process may take several minutes to complete.
- Do not unplug the device during the restore process.
5
Click "Restore from this backup:"
- Click "Set up as new iPhone" to start fresh.
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Click Continue. iTunes will set up your device.
- This process may take a few minutes.
Tap to follow the on-screen prompts.Your iPhone will be restored to its "unjailbroken" state, and all the content and files you had on your jailbroken iPhone will be removed.

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What happens if I unjailbreak my iPhone?

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist
Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.

Luigi Oppido

Computer & Tech Specialist

Expert Answer

You're just putting the stock firmware back into the phone. To do this, simply plug your phone into your computer and factory restore it with iTunes.

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Question

Is it hard to unjailbreak a phone?

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist
Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.

Luigi Oppido

Computer & Tech Specialist

Expert Answer

Unjailbreaking your phone is very straightforward. In fact, it's harder to jailbreak a phone than it is to unjailbreak it.

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Will they be able to find out what caused the virus on my iPhone if I take it to the Apple store?

PacmanEater123 :D

Community Answer

No, they won't be able to find out, as long as you followed the instructions on this post correctly.

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Tips

Do not unplug your iPhone during the restore process.

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Restoring is currently the only way to remove the iOS 9.3.3 jailbreak.

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Cydia Eraser, a common tool used for unjailbreaking devices on previous iOS versions, does not support iOS 9.3.3.

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Warnings

Using this method will restore your device to its factory settings and installs the latest version of iOS.

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Apple does not support devices that have been jailbroken. If you plan on taking your device into the store for repair, you will want to restore it to factory settings.

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