Picture of the Apple iPod Touch Player, displaying the Reset All Settings confirmation screen.

Restoring iPod Touch to Factory Settings

When restoring the iPod Touch to factory settings, you reset all audio, video, and system settings on this Apple portable media player to factory default values.  You can accomplish this even without a computer.

Note that doing so this way, does not erase any music from this player right away. But, restoring does schedule a media file deletion for the next time this iPod  is connected to a computer running iTunes.

Restoring iPod Touch to Factory Settings Step-by-Step Instructions

1 Turn on your iPod Touch.

Press and hold the Power button until you see activity on the screen (usually the Apple logo).  At that time, release the button.

2. Press the Home Button

First, press the Home button (button underneath the touch screen).

This brings up the Home screen, as pictured next.

Picture of the iPod Touch portable media player, displaying its home screen.
Apple iPod Touch portable media player, displaying its home screen.

3. Touch the Settings Icon

We find the Settings icon on the left edge of screen, second row up from bottom on our iPod.





The Settings menu screen then displays, as shown next.

Picture of the Apple iPod Touch portable media player, displaying the Settings menu.
Apple iPod Touch portable media player, displaying the Settings menu.

4. Tap the General Menu Item to Continue with Restoring iPod Touch to Factory Settings

Next, touch the General menu item on the Settings screen.  We find it at the top of the third group in the Settings menu.

The iPod then shows the General Settings screen, pictured next.

Picture of the Apple iPod Touch portable media player, displaying the General Settings screen.
Apple iPod Touch portable media player, displaying the General Settings screen.

5. Find the Reset Menu Item

Then, single-flick upward with your index finger on the touch screen, to reveal the Reset menu item, as shown next.  We see it on our iPod at the bottom of the General menu.

Picture of the Apple iPod Touch Portable Media Player, displaying the Reset menu item on its General Settings menu.
Apple iPod Touch Portable Media Player, displaying the Reset menu item on its General Settings menu.

6. Touch the Reset Item

Then, tap the Reset menu item.

The Reset screen then appears, as pictured next.

Picture of the Apple iPod Touch Portable Media Player, displaying the Reset menu.
Apple iPod Touch Portable Media Player, displaying the Reset menu.

7. Tap the Reset All Settings Item to Continue with Restoring iPod Touch to Factory Settings

On the iPod Touch player, you can choose how extensively the unit resets itself to factory defaults.  You may choose either to:

  • 1 Reset All Settings,
  • 2 Erase All Content and Settings,
  • 3 Reset Network Settings,
  • 4 Reset Keyboard Dictionary,
  • 5 Reset Home Screen Layout, or
  • 6 Reset Location Warnings

In our case here, we wish to reset all settings on the iPod, but not erase the music.  So to do that, we touch the “Reset All Settings” option; the first option on the Reset menu.  This displays the Reset All Settings confirmation screen, as pictured next.

Picture of the Apple iPod Touch Player, displaying the Reset All Settings confirmation screen.
Apple iPod Touch Player, displaying the Reset All Settings confirmation screen.

8. Touch the Reset All Settings Button

If you’re certain that you wish to proceed with the factory default restoration,  press the red Reset All Settings button on this screen.  If not, touch Cancel.





But assuming you went ahead and chose to perform the restoration, the factory settings restore process begins.  Note that this can take several seconds to complete.

The iPod Touch then displays a progress bar showing how far along in the restore process it is, as shown next.

Picture of the Apple iPod Touch Player, displaying the Reset All Settings progress bar screen.
Apple iPod Touch Player, displaying the Reset All Settings progress bar screen.

Once done successfully, the Lock screen displays, as shown next.

Picture of the iPod Touch portable player, displaying the Lock screen.
iPod Touch portable player, displaying the Lock screen.

9. Unlock the Screen After iPod Reboot Finishes

Then, move your finger from left to right, across the bottom of the screen where it says, “Slide to unlock.”  The Location Services option screen then appears as follows.

Picture of the Apple iPod Touch Player, displaying the Location Services option screen.
Apple iPod Touch Player, displaying the Location Services option screen.

10. Answer the Location Services Prompt to Continue with Restoring the iPod Touch to Factory Settings

Choose whether or not you want to enable or disable Location Services here, by tapping the appropriate button.  When you do, the iPod prompts you to connect to an in-range WiFi network, as shown next.

Picture of the Apple iPod Touch player, showing the WiFi Networks selection screen.
Apple iPod Touch player, showing the WiFi Networks selection screen.

11. Connect your iPod Touch to your Preferred WiFi Network

To connect to a displayed in-range WiFi network, tap on the desired network in the shown list.  Otherwise, tap the blue Next button.

However, we opted not to connect to a WiFi network at this time, and so just pressed Next.  The Terms and Conditions acceptance prompt appears next, as follows.

Picture of the Apple iPod Touch portable player, displaying the Terms and Conditions screen.
Apple iPod Touch portable player, displaying the Terms and Conditions screen.

12. Accept Apple’s Terms and Conditions

Assuming that you agree with Apple’s terms and conditions of use for this iPod, tap the blue Agree button.





The Touch then prompts for how to handle diagnostics messages, that it sends back to Apple for evaluation and analysis, as follows.

Picture of the iPod Touch portable media player, displaying the Diagnostics handling option screen.
iPod Touch portable media player, displaying the Diagnostics handling option screen.

13. Choose Whether to Automatically Send Diagnostic Data to Apple

We choose the “Automatically Send” option.  Press this button, and you then see the  Thank You screen, indicating that Setup was successfully completed.

Picture of the Apple iPod Touch player, displaying the Setup Complete screen.
Apple iPod Touch player, displaying the Setup Complete screen.

14. Tap the Start Using iPod Touch Button to Continue with Restoring iPod Touch to Factory Settings

Finally, touch the “Start Using iPod Touch” button.

Doing so takes you once more to the Home screen, as shown next.  Note that this restoration reverts any any customization you have made (if any) back to original factory default values.

Picture of the iPod Touch portable media player, displaying its home screen.
iPod Touch portable media player, displaying its home screen.

15. Restoring iPod Touch to Factory Settings Done !

You have now successfully restored all the settings in your iPod Touch music player to factory default values, without deleting the media files on it. You may remove those files later if you wish. Delete the music files on the iPod by running through a similar routine to the above.  But the one different thing you would do, is when prompted for which type of reset you want to perform on the Reset screen, choose the “Erase all content and settings” option.

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References for Restoring iPod Touch to Factory Settings

  1. Where to Buy the iPod Touch Media Player

Revision History

  • 2019-05-04: Added tags.
  • 2019-01-13: First posted.