If your iPhone starts acting like a bad PC and seems to be hopelessly fouled up, you may need to reset it to its original factory settings. This will wipe out any private information you've stored on your iPhone, but it will also wipe out any potential conflicts that may be causing your iPhone to crash, freeze, or behave erratically. Sometimes you can fix an erratic iPhone by updating its firmware (see Project 8). Firmware is the program that makes your iPhone actually work. It performs functions such as displaying icons on the screen. Apple constantly updates the iPhone's firmware to fix problems iPhone users may be experiencing.

You can reset your iPhone in several ways, ranging from the mild to the drastic. Sometimes programs may freeze or hang, just as they can on any computer. When that happens, you can often shut down the offending program, restart it, and everything works just fine again. If you run into persistent problems, you can also try updating specific apps on your iPhone that may be causing the problem. One way or another, you can find a way to keep your iPhone working properly.

Project goal: Learn how to reset your iPhone.