Gone are the days when jailbreaking iOS devices was a really complicated matter and required users to be tech-savvy. The last two jailbreaks have been almost one-click solutions; evasi0n is so easy to use that it even beats the iOS 5 jailbreak Corona in simplicity. Having said that, anyone who has a carrier-locked device, or wants to preserve their phone’s baseband for some other reason, isn’t likely to risk losing their jailbreak unless it becomes absolutely necessary. Thanks to the staggeringly fast pace of development these days, more and more tweaks and apps are coming in regularly and even if you download a fraction of them, your iPhone is bound to become cluttered within a few months. If you are experiencing lag on a jailbroken iDevice, or just want to sell it to someone, reverting back to factory state is no mean feat. You can’t just use the ‘Factory Reset’ option on a jailbroken device, and hence using some desktop tools becomes a necessity. There are, however, two easy ways of resetting your iPhone to almost stock configuration, and one of them doesn’t even require access to a computer.
ILEX RAT
iLEX RAT is a complete on-device solution for any jailbreak user wishing to wipe almost all data from their iPhone. It is basically a command line tool, which can be downloaded from the Cydia store. It has been around for quite a while in the Cydia store. Here is what you need to do in order to remove all but stock apps and data from your jailbroken iPhone (of course, your jailbreak is preserved, too).
- Head to the Cydia store, and enter the ‘Sources’ tab.
- Initiate edit mode and tap the ‘Add’ button located in the top-left corner. In the resulting box, enter the following URL:http://cydia.myrepospace.com/iLEXiNFO/
- Once the iLEX source has been added, the iLEX RAT tweak shows up in the ‘Changes’ section. Install it.
- Use the Cydia’s search feature to find and install MobileTerminal.
- Respring your device, and run MobileTerminal.
- Type rat in the command area.
- A long list of options is presented, highlighting everything iLEX RAT is capable of doing. Since you want to wipe your iPhone, choose option 12.
- Confirm your choice by going for ‘Yes’ when the tool asks for verification.
- Wait for the process to finish, and reboot your device when prompted to do so.
You now have to perform the configuration steps that come up after every restore, and when the Home screen shows up, only Cydia and stock apps will be available there.
Semi-Restore
Semi-Restore is a brand new release and doesn’t require users to do anything on their device. The whole process is one-click, and works through a desktop tool that has versions for both PC and Mac.
- If your iDevice is running iOS versions between 5.0 and 6.1.2, Semi-Restore can handle it. Head to the link provided at the end of this post, and download Semi-Restore for your iPhone or iPod touch.
- Unzip the archive you just downloaded and run the EXE file present in it.
- Connect your device to the computer via USB and wait for Semi-Restore to detect it.
- Hit the button provided to the right of the progress bar.
- Wait for the tool to work its magic. During the entire process, your iPhone might reboot several times.
The end results in both Semi-Restore and iLEX RAT are not any different, and the choice between the two depends upon your personal preferences.
