If you’re looking for a guide on how to un-jailbreak your iPhone, you may have a form of “buyer’s remorse,” or “jailbreak remorse,” in this case, because you didn’t actually pay anything to jailbreak it. Maybe it just didn’t turn out to be the haven you expected it to be, or you’re concerned about leaving it open to malware or viruses. Whatever the case, if you have managed to perform the jailbreak, then you should have no problem following this guide to un-jailbreak your iPhone.
Why might you want to un-jailbreak your iPhone?
Many Apple fans enjoy their iPhones but want to do things beyond what Apple allows them to do, so they jailbreak their device. By jailbreaking, you get access to Cydia and the many tweaks that allow you to do all sorts of things you can’t do if it’s tethered to Apple. However, there are a few reasons you need to reverse it.
For example, you’ll have to un-jailbreak your iPhone before you can take it to an Apple Store for servicing because the Genius Bar techs may not even touch it if it has been jailbroken. Also jailbreaking the device tends to void the warranty, so reversing the process might keep them from finding out about it. For example, if you own an iPhone 6s, your device could be eligible for a free battery replacement if you’ve been having the 30% battery bug, which involves the iPhone suddenly going dead when it reaches a 30% charge. However, if it’s jailbroken when you bring it in, Apple won’t replace it.
Hopefully you were aware that jailbreaking your iPhone places you at risk for losing the warranty on it, so be prepared if the techs are able to see that it was jailbroken at one time. This is a key risk inherent when jailbreaking an iPhone.
Another reason you might want to jailbreak your iPhone is to download the latest version of iOS. Some of the viruses that are out there are downright scary because they can incapacitate your device, and having the latest version of iOS is the only way to have full protection against them. However, jailbreaks tend to run a version or two behind, which means you can’t keep your device up to date if you wish to have it jailbroken.
How to un-jailbreak your iPhone
So if any of these cases describe you, it would be a good idea to un-jailbreak your iPhone. Here’s a fast and easy way to do it.
- Download and install the latest version of iTunes on your computer. You probably already have done this previously. If you have, check to make sure it is the latest version and update if it isn’t.
- Connect your iPhone using a USB cable and then open iTunes if it isn’t already open.
- Upon connecting to the computer, your iPhone will ask whether you should trust the computer, so choose Trust.
- Click on the icon for the device located toward the top of iTunes just under the Play and Search bar. It looks like a little phone and is located to the right of the dropdown menu and left of the Library tab.
- Clicking on the icon will open a window with information on your device. iTunes might start backing it up, so let it finish because you might need that backup after you un-jailbreak your iPhone. It will back up only the default data on the iPhone, which doesn’t include Cydia or any tweaks you might have installed. If you remembered to back it up before the jailbreak and nothing has really changed since then, you could still use that backup after you finish the process.
- Turn off the Find my iPhone option, which is located in the Settings under iCloud.
- On the device summary window, you will see a list of backups that have been performed in the past. Scroll through them to find the newest one and then choose Restore Backup. Your iPhone will reboot and ask whether you actually want to perform the restore, so of course you want to tap the correction option to move forward with it.
