How to restore iPad without iTunes or iCloud

There are various reasons that you may want to reset and restore your iPad — the tablet may have become unbearably slow, maybe it’s filled with apps that you want to clean out with a single action, or maybe you just want the feeling of a brand new iPad once again. Contrary to what many people believe, it’s not mandatory to have iTunes on your computer to restore your iPad. If you want to know how to restore iPad without iTunes, keep reading!

There are a few methods to reset or restore your iPad without iTunes. You can factory reset your iPad from the Settings menu, and you can also do it via the Find My app on your iPhone or Mac. Restoring your iPad to factory settings is also possible from your iCloud account, which you can log on to from your browser. You can try out multiple options to reset your iPad without iTunes.

How to Restore iPad Without iTunes: All methods

While iTunes was critical to resetting iPhones and iPads back in the day, that is no longer the case. This works well for users as many people may not have a laptop or PC available to them when they want to reset or restore their devices. Let’s look at how you can restore your iPad without iTunes.

Direct factory reset

This is a great method to use and perhaps the most obvious one if you’re trying to reset your iPad. Since you may or may not want to back up your data first, we broke it into two sections.

With backup

If you wish to take a backup and then reset your iPad, here’s how you go about it.

1. Turn on your iPad and open the Settings app.
2. Here, tap on your Apple ID and look for iCloud in the list below. Select it.
3. In the new menu that opens up, you will see all storage related information. Here, look for iCloud Backup, and press it.
4. You should see a toggle button for iCloud Backup in the next window. You can turn this on, and if it’s already on, that means your data has already been backed up.
5. Let’s ensure that the backup happened recently and that it contained everything you wanted. To do this, go back one step, and tap Manage Storage at the top.
6. On the next window, tap Backups. You will now see a window that tells you how much space has been taken up by the backup on your iCloud account. 
7. Once you tap your iPad’s name, it will then show you the details of everything that has been backed up. You can verify if all your data is safe and exit this section.
8. Now you’re ready to reset your iPad. To do this, open up Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPad.
9. Here, you will see an option that says ‘Erase All Content and Settings.’ Tap this, and confirm that you want to do so over the next few screens and pop-ups, and soon, the factory reset process will begin. You will be asked to enter your iPad passcode to reset your iPad.
10. Once the process is complete (and it can take some time, so be patient), the iPad will then boot to the setup window. Here, you can begin entering your information, and at one point, you will be asked if you wish to restore from an iCloud backup. You can simply confirm the action, and your data will be restored. You can also do it later from your Apple ID in the Settings menu.

You can read more about restoring backups on Apple’s website.

Without backup

If you’re not too concerned about backing up your data, then the process is a lot simpler for you. Here are the steps to reset your iPad back to its factory settings.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPad, and tap on General.
2. In this sub-menu, scroll down to the bottom until you see Transfer or Reset iPad and tap it.
3. Here you will see two options — Reset and ‘Erase All Content and Settings.’ It is the second option you must choose, not Reset.
4. Once you tap this, you will be asked to confirm the operation and enter your passcode to verify that you do wish to reset the iPad.
5. Now you can sit back and relax while your iPad nukes all your data. Pretty soon, the screen will power off and then power back on, and this time, you will see the screen you saw when you first bought the device. Now you can set up your iPad as brand new!

Through a hard reset

A hard reset will not delete your data, but a factory reset definitely can. You can either back up your data before you begin a factory reset or directly skip to the data wipe if you don’t care for what you have stored on your iPad. Here are the steps:

1. There is no button combination to factory reset your iPad, so you will have to do this via the Settings menu.
2. In the Settings menu, navigate to General > Transfer or Reset iPad > Erase All Content and Settings.
3. You will receive a summary of all the data that you will lose. Keep following the on-screen instructions until you are asked to provide your passcode. Once you input it, the factory wipe will begin, and the process should take a few minutes.
4. Once the iPad is done cleaning out your data, it will then show you the setup window, where you can then proceed to set up your iPad.

While we’re on the topic, we’ve written extensively about resetting your iPad in this article!

As we’ve already demonstrated, the Settings menu is the most straightforward way to reset your iPad and backup your data before you do so.

1. Open up the Settings menu and scroll down to General.
2. Inside the General menu, look for Transfer or Reset iPad. Tap this, and on the next screen, look for Erase All Content and Settings.
3. When you press this, it will completely wipe your iPad, which is why it asks you to confirm your intentions by entering your passcode.
4. Once you enter your passcode, the iPad will be wiped clean, and after a few minutes, you will find your iPad on the setup screen, where you can then set up the iPad.

Via Find My iPad

Using the Find My app is another way of wiping data off your iPad. Of course, this method is possible only if you have the Find My service active on your iPad. Here’s how you can go about it:

1. If you own a Mac or an iPhone, you can use the Find My apps on these devices to wipe your iPad. 
2. Once you open the app, all devices connected to your iCloud will pop up on a map, where you can see the current location as well.
3. You should tap on your iPad icon on the map or choose it from the list.
4. When you select the iPad, you should see a box appear with details of your iPad and three options — Play Sound, Mark as Lost, or Erase This Device.
5. Once you click on Erase This Device, you will be asked to confirm, and once you do, your iPad will be wiped clean. You can then set up your iPad from scratch!

Via a third-party tool

There are third-party tools that you can use to reset your iPad, but we would ask you to be cautious as you never know how risky the app itself may be. There is always a chance that you may add some malware to your iPad, and we also think it’s unnecessary as the iPad provides enough methods to reset it. Typically, third-party apps are useful if you’ve forgotten your iPad passcode, but they don’t always work well.

If you want to learn about these options, you can look at apps like Dr.Fone, TenorShare 4U, or MobileTrans. All these apps are available for download online and work on both Macs and PCs. Once you download these apps to your computer, you will have to install them and then connect your iPad to your computer with a cable. Once the software recognizes it, you can back up your data or restore it and back up specific data like app data and WhatsApp data.

These apps also feature a factory reset option, and using them is pretty straightforward — all you have to do is follow the on-screen instructions, and you will be able to factory-wipe your iPad.

Using iCloud

We’ve already shown you how to erase your iPad via the Find My app. The iCloud method is pretty much exactly the same, except you can do it from a browser on any Mac or PC, which is really convenient if you don’t have your iPhone or your Mac around. Here are the steps.

1. Open up a browser and log on to www.icloud.com/find
2. On this page, enter your Apple ID and password to log in.
3. The window will show you a map, and all the devices that are linked to your iCloud account will be shown here.
4. Click on your iPad, or choose your iPad from the dropdown list at the top of the web page.
5. You will then see an option that says ‘Erase this iPad.’ Choose this option.
6. You will be asked to confirm, and once you do, your iPad will be wiped clean, and all the data that was on it will be gone. 
7. You can then set up the iPad clean!

Here’s a video that lists a few methods of erasing your iPad if you wish to sell it:

How to Unlock My iPad if it’s Disabled

If you forget your iPad password or it’s been disabled, you can restore it with iTunes. The sad part is that there is no way to save the data that is on your iPad, as the passcode is absolute — it refuses entry to anyone who does not know the password. You can use the Find My app methods listed above to reset your iPad or try the iTunes method. Once you get back into your freshly-reset iPad, you can then look up the last backup and hope that it was done recently.

If you own a PC, you can also reset and restore your iPad via iTunes. Here’s how you do it:

1. Connect your iPad to the PC. 
2. Click on the iPad icon in the upper left corner.
3. Look for the Restore iPad option — it should be right at the top.
4. iTunes will now ask you to back up your iPad, and you should go for it. 
5. After this, you will have to confirm if you want to wipe your iPad, so go ahead and agree by clicking Restore and Update.
6. After the process is complete, your iPad will restart and on your screen, you will see the setup screen. You can now set up your iPad as new.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I restore my iPad without a computer?

It’s pretty easy to restore your iPad without a computer — all you have to do is navigate to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPad. Here, choose ‘Erase All Content and Settings.’ You will be asked to confirm the operation a couple of times and enter your passcode. Remember to back up your iPad first from the iCloud settings!

How do I manually restore my iPad?

To manually restore your iPad, you can either connect to a Mac or a PC with a USB cable and save a backup. On a Mac, you will see your iPad under Devices and on your PC, you will have to use iTunes. After this, you can reset your iPad on Mac by clicking on your device on the Finder window and choosing ‘Restore iPad.’ If you’re using iTunes, first connect the iPad, let iTunes detect it, click on the iPad icon on the home screen, and then choose ‘Restore iPad.’

Conclusion

We hope one of the various methods we showed you on how to restore iPad without iTunes helped you solve your issue. As you can see, the iTunes method is not required anymore, and you can manage your iPad without the help of a computer. If you have any more questions regarding this issue, make sure you leave us a note below!