Need to restore my iPad

[MoneyGuy]

My iPad has become as slow as ****. I think restoring it to factory settings is pretty easy but can't lose my photos and apps.

Once I've restored it to factory settings and sync it again in iTunes will it automatically restore all of my data or is there another step I need to take? Will my purchased apps be automatically restored also?

Can anyone point me toward a tutorial to do all this from start to finish?

 

[twerppoet]

I recommend making both an iTunes (computer) backup and an iCloud backup. That way if one fails you can try the other. Most things will restore through either backup. iTunes is usually faster, but more complicated in that there are more steps in the process, and if you interrupt that process some content won't be restored {at which point you can just try again}

iCloud is slower, but seems more thorough. It also tends to recover from interruptions when restoring apps. A few device restarts are commonly needed to kickstart paused app that have failed to download; but that's it.

It is always best to copy any important files, photos, or documents to another place before doing a restore. They will probably come back with the backup, but nothing is ever guaranteed. There are lots of online places you can copy your photos to, or just copy them to the computer.

Go through all your apps and make sure you know where any documents (if any) are stored, and make copies if necessary.

Here are apple's instructions on how to do a restore. Note that the bottom has links to how a backup is done as well.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204184

No restore is 100%. Some games just don't backup their progress. Some apps just don't backup their settings. For iCloud backups you can turn on/off backups for most apps. It would be a good idea to check these setting out before the backup.

Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage > This iPad (under BACKUPS).

 

[MoneyGuy]

Thank you, Twerppoet. That's very helpful.

 

[MoneyGuy]

My emails are copied to my iPad. If I reset my iPad to factory settings it will obviously delete all of my email. Will those emails also then also be deleted from iPhone and laptop computer?

 

[twerppoet]

If your email server uses IMAP or Exchange, then all email will be restored when you put the account back on the iPad. These account types store and sync everything on the server.

If it is POP3, then nothing you do on the iPad will affect email that is already on another device or computer. POP3 downloads your email, and either leaves it on the server or deletes it (after the download). There is no way for a device or the server to affect email that has already been downloaded.

So, no, it shouldn't be a problem.

Except, a POP3 account, if the emails haven't been deleted, might end up downloading all your email as new on the iPad. The server has no way of knowing what emails are new or old, and it's fairly typical for the iPad to forget when it gets restored.

 

[MoneyGuy]

OK, I have another question. I need to know if my apps are all backed up. When I go into iTunes on my laptop computer all of my apps show up along with pictures of each screen on my iPad. Does this mean that they're all properly backed up?

If so, then I should be good to do a system reset and, following that, a restore.

 

[twerppoet]

When using iTunes on the computer, every app that can be backed up is backed up. Not all developers provide for backups, but most do. Those that store documents darn well better (unless the documents are stored in the cloud).

For iCloud backups you turn on/off backups in Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage; then select your device from the list of backups. All backups are on by default (if memory serves). This lets you manage the size of backups in iCloud, where space is usually more limited than hard drive space on your computer.

Hold in mind that an app's backup is not the same thing as the app itself. All you are backing up (by either method) is the data the app contains. The actual app will either be re-synced from the library (iTunes), or downloaded from the App Store again (iCloud). This is why you don't need 32 GB to backup a (full) 32 GB iPad.