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Let's assume I'm working/living in a potentially hostile environment and want to minimize the risk that somebody can access the data stored on my iPhone. The recommended way is to force-lock the phone to ensure that it can't be accessed without the password, but this doesn't fully protect against data extractions applied directly on the phone (nor to methods which would force the user to reveal the password). And going through the multi-step approach of resetting the phone via Settings is obviously not feasible under pressure.

So I'm looking for ways to quickly factory reset (wipe all content) on an iPhone. Something like "press one icon, confirm with one button = reset iPhone to factory settings".. with no passwords, no PINs... just quick wipe.

How can I accomplish this?

PS: I'm aware that this may also lead to unexpected data loss in case the function is triggered by mistake. That's a risk I'm willing to take.

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    Not sure about the downvotes on this, it seems to be a legitimate question for situations most/all of us hope to never be in.
    – nohillside ♦
    May 5 at 8:21

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Looks like I found a half-solution:

iOS has a built-in auto-wipe feature "Erase data after 10 failed passcodes"

Using Apple Configurator, I created a MDM profile that specified to use this function with the value "Maximum number of failed attempts" in payload "Passcode" (I set 3 times)

So, in case of emergency data wipe, I have to lock the device and quickly enter the wrong unlock code 3 times. This results in a quick automatic start of the data wipe process

This is not very convenient, because such a situation can happen by accident. Therefore, the solution is temporary, unless a suitable program is found

@Tetsujin Thanks for the tip about MDM!

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