So you’ve done some crazy stuff to your iPhone. You’ve removed the default applications from your iPhone , you’ve changed the wallpaper, jailbroken it, whatever. Well here is how you restore your iPhone or iPod Touch to the original settings.

Luckily the guys at Apple were smart enough to realize that users make mistakes (go figure), so they made the  Restore function for your iPhone or iPod Touch a standard procedure. Fair warning: BEFORE YOU RESTORE YOUR iPhone PLEASE PERFORM A BACKUP. Restoring your device will delete all the data from your iPhone or iPod touch, including songs, videos, contacts, photos, calendar information, and any other data. ALL iPhone or iPod touch settings are restored to their factory condition.

So let’s begin restoring your iPhone or iPod Touch:

1. Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes installed and running before attempting to update.
2. Connect your iPhone or iPod touch to your computer.
3. Select your iPhone or iPod touch when it appears in iTunes under Devices.
4. Select the “Summary” tab.
5. Select the “Restore” option.
6. When prompted to back up your iPhone or iPod touch’s settings before restoring, select the Back Up option.
7. Select the Restore option when iTunes prompts you.
8. Once the restore process has completed the iPhone or iPod touch restarts and displays the Apple logo while starting up:
9. NOTE FOR iPhone ONLY: After a restore, the iPhone displays the “Connect to iTunes” screen. Keep your iPhone connected until the “Connect to iTunes” screen goes away or you see “iPhone is Activated.” If iTunes does not have an Internet connection, this step can’t be complete.
10. Once your iPod touch or iPhone is restored , add the backed up data onto your iPhone or iPod Touch by selecting the correct backup file from the drop down.
11. Select the backup you want for your iPhone or iPod touch and select the Continue button in order to complete your device’s restoration.

Don’t want to restore from backup? Then select “Set up as new…”  If you want to preserve previous backups that iTunes has made, be sure to back up the appropriate directory before choosing to set up as new.

Yea! Now you have just like new iPhone or iPod Touch.

Some other iPhone posts you may enjoy:

• October 21, 2009 -- How-To: Turn AutoFill On in Safari on your iPhone or iPod Touch
• October 19, 2009 -- How-To: Change Default Search Engine on iPhone and iPod Touch
• November 16, 2009 -- Quick Tip: Send Calls to Voicemail using your iPhone Power Button
• October 9, 2009 -- Tip: 5 Reasons to Love your iPhone Home Button
• October 6, 2009 -- How To: 5 Ways to Save Battery Life on your iPhone