Does Apple Wipe Out Data Before Sending For Repair

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Depending on the problem your device has, y'all may have to get out it with the Genius Bar — and they may take to ship information technology off to Apple. Brand the process easier for yourself and for them plus protect your sensitive information by taking a few steps in advance.

Apple is withal unrivalled at how easily you can bring devices in to a Genius Bar and have them repaired. Yet it's difficult enough getting one Genius Bar engagement and then make sure you cut down the risk of having to book a 2d. Prepare your devices and take a few steps earlier you caput into the Apple Store and you lot'll brand the whole process go as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Zippo will prepare y'all if the respond to your upshot turns out to be an expensive repair. All the same, at least you volition be able to mitt over your device and know that you have all of your data safety. Y'all'll be able to know that even if Apple ends up completely replacing the device, you lot'll be back up and working speedily.

You do have to go through a lot of steps before you can book a Genius Bar appointment.

Plus you may have a serious problem but the poor Apple Genius has been dealing with hundreds of them. Make their job easier, as well.

Devices

Some of what you lot should practise varies depending on whether it'southward a Mac, an iOS device or an Apple Picket that you're having trouble with. However, several steps are the aforementioned.

Regardless of what device you have, make sure you know your Apple tree ID before yous caput to the store. That does hateful knowing the countersign merely too the email address. This sounds obvious but if you're a longtime Apple user then you are likely to have several Apple IDs and we have spent a confused few minutes entering the right countersign for the incorrect ID earlier.

Plus your Mac will have a different login password to your Apple ID and your iOS device will have a passcode. So go all of these ready. Y'all may non know until yous talk to the Genius whether the problem is something they can fix right in front end of you or whether information technology's going to take some fourth dimension. If yous have to leave the device with them, they will absolutely require the passwords to log in to it.

It's called Find My iPhone but it actually locates all of your Apple devices

It'southward called Find My iPhone just information technology really locates all of your Apple devices

If it's an iOS device that they're going to send away or have apart, yous likewise need to disable the Find My iPhone feature, if you already have it switched on. To do that, get into Settings and then tap on your name at the superlative of the screen. Then choose iCloud and in the screen that appears, scroll down to Find My iPhone. Tap to switch it off and you lot'll exist prompted to enter your Apple ID password. Type that and tap Turn Off.

Apple as well asks that y'all bring a sales receipt with you. We wouldn't be bothered if we know the device is out of AppleCare or even if we just bought it at an Apple Store. If you lot got your device from anywhere else, though, bring the receipt but in case.

Adjacent, you have to back up your data and the way you practise that is slightly different depending on your device.

Mac specific

Don't look for a problem earlier you backup your Mac. If you haven't already washed so, though, cross your fingers that your Mac will piece of work enough to let you back it up now.

You lot're probably using a cloud service such as iCloud or Dropbox and that will mean some of your data is saved off the machine, just information technology won't be anywhere near everything. So use something similar Carbon Re-create Cloner to make a clone copy of your hard drive.

It's possible that the Mac you go back from an Apple repair won't be the same Mac. If the problem wasn't quite then serious, information technology's still quite possible that the bulldoze in the Mac won't be the same ane. And even if it even so is, office of the repair process may take meant Apple tree had to wipe the drive.

Do create a clone backup of your drive using something like Carbon Copy Cloner but do it before you have problems

Do create a clone fill-in of your bulldoze using something similar Carbon Copy Cloner but practice it earlier yous have problems

So if y'all have a clone re-create on an external bulldoze, yous can plug that into your Mac when you get it back. You could be up and running again in no longer time than it takes to boot the Mac. Or you could use the same backup software to clone that external drive back on to the Mac's own internal one.

Apple tree Scout and iOS

If y'all have an Apple Sentinel then whether the trouble is with that or your iOS device, unpair them.

Every bit well every bit making it easier for both you and Apple tree when your Sentinel or your iOS device is replaced, at that place's an extra benefit. Unpairing your Apple tree Scout automatically backs information technology up. Y'all tin can't backup your Apple tree Scout data as easily equally you can your Mac or iOS device merely if you unpair one, that starts backing it upwards automatically.

Unpair your Apple Watch whether the problem is with that or with your iPhone

Unpair your Apple Picket whether the problem is with that or with your iPhone

It's not as if you shop a lot of data on your Apple Watch, and it's not as if irresolute to a new one means losing even all that activeness information y'all've accrued. It does mean that swapping to a new one is faster, and with a few taps y'all'll end up back with the same Faces and complications you like.

In comparison, your iOS device is already far more backed upwardly than your Watch is. While yous're using that device, it's beingness regularly backed up to iCloud. It's still the instance that an iCloud backup doesn't save absolutely everything, but information technology'due south no longer the example that yous have to back it upwards to iTunes to get the residuum.

The existent benefit of that, though, is to save infinite on your Mac's internal hard drive. Then if you're not bankroll up to your Mac, this is an unnecessary extra step. Just make sure that you do backups to iCloud or iTunes.

Data is central

Some of your data is irreplaceable. Some of information technology is a imperial pain to reinstall or redownload. And the some of it is sensitive.

We're not paranoid about Apple service centers, we don't remove 1Password or other password managers earlier we send something in for repair. Yet we volition remove visitor documents, financial statements, and medical information.

Not simply practise we trust Apple's service people, nosotros besides know they're swamped and the last thing they intendance well-nigh is digging into your holiday snaps. Nonetheless, we also know that drives get replaced and when they are, the old 1 has to go somewhere. Rather than examining the entire chain of companies that may be involved in disposing or repurposing drives, nosotros remove sensitive information beginning.

That's easy to do if yous can beginning up your Mac or iOS device. Simply copy the files off to somewhere else safe and erase the device.

If your Mac or iOS device is in such a bad state that you can't even kickoff it, though, you can look equally if you're stuck. Even so, there is even so something you can do. You can wipe the unabridged device — and you tin do it remotely.

This is a piffling bit of overkill if you lot've only taken your iPhone in to the Genius Bar considering you couldn't get it to set the clock to the correct time zone. For more serious issues, though, get to iCloud.com, sign in with your Apple ID and wipe the whole device.

Use iCloud.com and you can remote-wipe your Macs and iOS devices

Use iCloud.com and y'all tin remote-wipe your Macs and iOS devices

Whether it'south a Mac or an iOS device, you lot do it in the same way. On iCloud.com, you click on Notice My iPhone. Despite the name, this actually finds all your Apple devices of any kind. Y'all demand to take turned on the Find My iPhone (or Mac or iPad) characteristic earlier but equally long as you have, you will now meet a map with the devices shown on it.

If the device is powered on and connected to the internet right at present and so you'll run across a dot for it with a clarification proverb the location was updated "Less than a minute agone."

When your device is in such need of repair that it can't even switch on, you'll nevertheless see it shown on Observe My iPhone, just with the date it was last seen.

Whatever that date is, there will always exist an I for Data button. Click on that and you can choose to erase the device.

Once again, if the device is on and connected to the internet so this will happen right abroad. If it isn't, then the adjacent time the device powers up and gets online, information technology will be wiped.

Genius

Yous're hopefully merely going into the Store with one problem and the Geniuses are dealing with hundreds or even thousands. They know all of these steps, they know why you need to practice it — and they too know that about people won't take done whatsoever of them.

Consequently they will ask you whether yous've got backups, whether you lot take your Apple ID details, whether you lot've unpaired the Scout and then on. All the way through they are hoping you lot'll say yep because otherwise this is going to take a long time.

Exist the person who has done everything. Equally well as making their chore easier, y'all'll get out of there faster. You'll go out of in that location knowing that no affair what happens, your data is both safe and is going to be immediately available for y'all to go back to work.