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A friend has an iPhone and they need to wipe it and remove the jailbreak on it. They don't need a backup.

The problem is they don't have access to a computer with iTunes on it to do this.

Can this be done without iTunes? Will doing an 'erase all content and settings' lock the phone? Some posts I have read suggest if you do this the phone will get bricked.

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What are you intentions with the iPhone? If you have to bring it to an Apple Store, you don't have to worry because they will wipe and clean the iPhone without questioning. – Michiel Jun 1 '12 at 7:15

2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

I believe all of the current jailbreak solutions work by modifying an IPSW file for the device, and flashing that back on to it. To remove it, you would need a clean IPSW and to do that you need to restore it through iTunes. If you don't back it up first (wether that be on iCloud or iTunes), then obviously you'll lose all of the settings, apps, and app data on the phone as well.

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You've heard correctly - tapping "Erase All Content and Settings" on a jailbroken device will just cause it to get stuck on the Apple logo while booting until you restore it with iTunes (because the filesystems of jailbroken devices are slightly rearranged).

The only way to remove the jailbreak from a jailbroken device is to restore it with iTunes on a computer.

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protected by Community Jan 24 at 20:32

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