You're standing there holding your iPhone 14 and you just want it gone. Not literally thrown in the trash—though after a week of glitchy software or a frozen screen, maybe you've thought about it—but you need it wiped clean. Maybe you’re selling it on Swappa. Maybe it’s a hand-me-down for your kid who’s finally old enough to stop using an iPad mini. Or maybe, honestly, iOS 17 or 18 just got so bogged down with "System Data" that the only way to make the phone feel fast again is to nuke the whole thing and start over.
It’s a big move.
Learning how to factory reset iPhone 14 isn't just about tapping a button and watching a loading bar. It’s about the preparation. If you do this wrong, you’re looking at a locked device that nobody can use because of Activation Lock, or worse, you realize three days later that your photos from that trip to Sedona weren't actually in the cloud. They were only on the phone. And now they're gone forever.
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The "Oh No" Prevention Checklist
Before you even touch that "Transfer or Reset" option in your settings, you have to talk about iCloud. Most people think their phone is backing up constantly. It usually isn't. If you haven't plugged your phone into a charger and connected to Wi-Fi overnight recently, your last backup might be from three weeks ago.
Go to Settings. Tap your name at the top. Hit iCloud, then iCloud Backup. See that "Back Up Now" button? Press it. Wait. Do not leave your house and lose Wi-Fi halfway through.
Then there’s the Apple Watch. People forget this every single time. If you have an Apple Watch paired to your iPhone 14, you need to unpair it before you wipe the phone. Unpairing actually triggers a fresh backup of the watch data to the phone, which then goes to the cloud. If you skip this, setting up your watch with your next phone is a nightmare of "resetting to factory defaults" on the wearable itself.
Also, turn off Find My. Apple’s security is aggressive. If you reset the phone without signing out of Find My/iCloud, the phone remains "locked" to your Apple ID. This is great if someone steals it. It’s terrible if you sell it to a guy on Facebook Marketplace and he calls you two hours later complaining that he can't get past the activation screen.
How to factory reset iPhone 14: The direct route
Okay, let's get into the actual buttons. Apple changed the menu names a few versions back, so it’s not just "Reset" anymore.
First, open Settings. Scroll down to General. Swipe all the way to the bottom. You’ll see Transfer or Reset iPhone. Tap that.
Now, you’ll see two main choices: "Reset" and "Erase All Content and Settings."
"Reset" is the soft version. It’s what you do when your Wi-Fi keeps dropping or your keyboard is acting weird. It doesn't delete your photos. "Erase All Content and Settings" is the one we’re looking for. That’s the factory reset. It’s the "nuclear option" that returns the iPhone 14 to the state it was in when it was sitting inside that white box at the Apple Store.
Once you tap Erase All Content and Settings, a screen will pop up showing you exactly what’s about to be deleted. It’ll list your Apple ID, your Find My status, and your Wallet data. If you have an eSIM—which the iPhone 14 famously moved to exclusively in the US—pay attention here. The phone will ask if you want to keep or delete your eSIM.
If you’re keeping the phone and just want a fresh start, keep the eSIM.
If you’re selling the phone, delete the eSIM.
Simple.
You’ll enter your passcode. Then you might have to enter your Apple ID password to turn off the Find My lock. Once you confirm, the screen goes black. The Apple logo appears. A progress bar slowly crawls across the screen. This can take anywhere from two minutes to ten, depending on how much "junk" the file system has to scrub.
What if the screen is frozen?
Sometimes you want to know how to factory reset iPhone 14 because the phone won't even let you into the Settings menu. Maybe it’s stuck on a boot loop or the touch screen is completely unresponsive.
In this case, you have to use a computer.
If you’re on a Mac with macOS Catalina or later, you use Finder. If you’re on a PC or an older Mac, you’re still using iTunes (yes, it still exists for this purpose).
- Connect the iPhone 14 to your computer with a lightning cable.
- Press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
- Press and quickly release the Volume Down button.
- Press and hold the Side button (the power button) and keep holding it even when the Apple logo pops up. Keep holding until you see a screen with a cable pointing toward a computer. This is "Recovery Mode."
Once the computer recognizes the phone, it’ll give you a pop-up: Restore or Update. Choose Restore. This will download the latest version of iOS and wipe the phone completely. It’s the cleanest way to reset a device, but it takes longer because your computer has to download a massive firmware file from Apple’s servers first.
Common Myths about Resetting
I hear people say that factory resetting "wears out" the flash storage. Honestly? Technically, writing data wears out storage, but a factory reset is a drop in the bucket. You’d have to reset your phone every hour for years to actually damage the hardware.
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Another big one: "Does this delete my iCloud photos?" No.
A factory reset only deletes what is on the physical device. If your photos are synced to iCloud, they stay in the cloud. When you sign into your next iPhone, they’ll start trickling back down. The only way you lose them is if you never synced them in the first place.
Then there's the "Security Wipe" myth. Some people think you need special software to overwrite the data 10 times so hackers can't find your old bank info. This isn't 2005. The iPhone 14 uses hardware-based encryption. When you hit "Erase All Content and Settings," the phone essentially "throws away the key" to that encryption. The data is still there, technically, but it’s scrambled into gibberish that even a supercomputer couldn't put back together. It’s safe.
The eSIM Headache
Since the iPhone 14 was the first "eSIM only" phone in the US, the reset process got a little more confusing for people used to just popping out a SIM card with a paperclip.
If you’re switching to a new iPhone, use the "Quick Start" transfer method before you reset the old one. This will move your eSIM "over the air" from the 14 to your new device. Once the new phone is making calls and sending texts, then—and only then—should you go back to the iPhone 14 and perform the factory reset.
If you erase the 14 before you’ve moved the eSIM, you’ll have to call your carrier. Nobody wants to spend their Tuesday afternoon on hold with carrier tech support. Trust me on that.
Troubleshooting a failed reset
Is your iPhone 14 stuck on the "Hello" screen but won't let you past it? Or maybe it’s asking for a passcode you don't remember?
If you’re stuck on a passcode you’ve forgotten, the "Find My" app on another device is your best friend. Log into iCloud.com on a laptop, go to "Find Devices," select your iPhone 14, and hit "Erase iPhone." As long as the phone has a Wi-Fi or cellular connection, it will receive the "kill" signal and start the factory reset remotely.
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If the phone is just hanging on the Apple logo during the reset, don't panic. Sometimes the file system is just checking for errors. Give it at least 30 minutes. If it’s been an hour and nothing has moved, perform a "Force Restart" (Volume Up, Volume Down, hold Power) to see if it kicks the process back into gear.
Final Steps for Sellers
If you’re selling this phone, there’s one final thing to do after the reset is finished. When the phone reboots and says "Hello" in fifteen different languages, turn it off. Don't go through the setup process. Don't connect it to your Wi-Fi. Leave it right there. The new owner wants to see that "Hello" screen. It proves the phone isn't Activation Locked and is ready for their own Apple ID.
If you really want to be a pro, take a microfiber cloth and some 70% isopropyl alcohol and wipe the screen down. A clean, factory-reset iPhone 14 sells for way more than one covered in fingerprints and "ghost" data.
Moving forward with your device:
- Verify your iCloud backup timestamp in Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup.
- Unpair your Apple Watch via the Watch app on your iPhone.
- Sign out of Find My iPhone to ensure Activation Lock is disabled for the next user.
- Execute the "Erase All Content and Settings" command under General > Transfer or Reset iPhone.
- Choose "Delete All" for eSIM data only if you are not planning to use the same cellular plan on this specific hardware again.