How to Factory Reset iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus- 3 Easy methods

Apple made some pretty significant changes to the looks of the iPhone after the release of the iPhone 8 in 2017. Some changes made affect the way you’d factory reset iPhone 8, enter recovery mode, and DFU mode.

If you’ve used an iPhone that predates 2017, the changes can be annoying if you don’t know how to quickly reset your iPhone 8, especially when you’ve got minor issues such as a stuck spinning wheel on the screen of your iPhone or a frozen page that won’t go back to the home screen.

Apple made these changes because pressing and holding the Sleep/Wake button and any of the volume buttons activates the Emergency SOS call on the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.

It can be quite annoying to have your phone freeze on you, especially when you’re in the middle of an important Zoom meeting, or even doing something really cool like a Duet in TikTok. In this article, I will show you several ways to factory reset iPhone 8.

How to Hard Reset iPhone 8 and 8 Plus

To reset the iPhone 7, you had to press and hold both the Sleep/Wake and Volume Down buttons for about 10 seconds until the Apple logo appears to reset/restart your iPhone.

Restarting your iPhone 8 or 8 Plus requires a different method of button combinations, It’s really simple, it just needs getting used to.

1. Press once and release the Volume Up button (don’t hold it down).

2. Press once and release the Volume Down button (don’t hold it down).

 3. Press and hold the button at the right side of your iPhone 8 or 8 Plus (the sleep/wake button) until the Apple logo appears.

4. Release the button when the Apple logo appears and your iPhone 8/8 Plus will restart itself.

Doing this hard reset for your iPhone 8 should fix minor software issues.

How to get into Recovery Mode on iPhone 8

Recovery mode can be used to Factory reset iPhone 8

1. Connect your iPhone 8 to your Mac or PC with the original Lightning to USB cable.

2. Press once and release the Volume Up button.

3. Press once and release the Volume Down button.

4. Press and hold the button at the right side of your iPhone 8 or 8 Plus ( the sleep/wake button) until the Apple logo appears.

5. Continue holding the Side button, even after you see the Apple logo appear.

6. Release the Side button once you see the Connect to iTunes logo appear on the iPhone’s display.

7. Tap on Launch iTunes, you’ll see a pop-up message stating that “There is a problem with the iPhone that requires it to be updated or restored.” 

8. You can then choose to Update or Restore the software on your iPhone 8/ iPhone 8 Plus by following the instructions on-screen.

How to get into DFU mode on iPhone 8

DFU simple means Device Firmware Update, This is a state that allows your iPhone to reload the software and the firmware of your iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus. This is an alternative way to factory reset iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus.

You should only use the DFU method if your iPhone software issues can’t be resolved with a hard reset.

1. Connect your iPhone 8 to your Mac or PC with the original Lightning to USB cable.

2. Press once and release the Volume Up button.

3. Press once and release the Volume Down button.

4. Press and hold the Side( Sleep/Wake) button for a few seconds until the screen turns black.

5. Keep holding the Side button, then press and hold the Volume Down button for about 5 seconds.

6. Whilst the iPhone 8 screen is still black, release the side button and continue holding the Volume Down button for 10 more seconds.

7. Click on Launch iTunes, and you should see a pop-up on your Mac or PC that says “iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes.”

8. Close the iTunes recovery prompt, then go ahead and restore your ‌iPhone‌ back to factory settings by choosing Restore iPhone on the ‌iPhone‌ Recovery Mode screen. Once restored, your ‌iPhone‌ will automatically exit out of DFU mode and boot up to its activation screen.

If it doesn’t boot up automatically, follow the instructions below to exit DFU mode.

How to Exit Recovery Mode or DFU Mode on iPhone 8/8 Plus

If you have no issues with your iPhone 8/ 8 Plus, exiting recovery mode should be really easy and straightforward if you follow these steps.

Exit iPhone 8 Recovery Mode

You’ll need to do a soft restart to exit your iPhone 8 from Recovery Mode;

1. Hold down the Volume down and right side button until the Slide to Power Off option appears on the phone screen.

2. Slide the Power off option in order to turn off your iPhone 8.

3. When you’ve turned off your iPhone, do a reboot by restarting your phone.

Exit iPhone 8 DFU Mode

You need to do a force restart to exit out of DFU mode on your iPhone 8, Just follow the instructions above on how to hard reset your iPhone 8.