When your iPod works erratically, you might need to troubleshoot the problem. After troubleshooting, if it seems impossible to solve the problem, there is one last resort: factory reset.
A factory reset removes all the files and settings from your iPod, leaving it in a clean state just as it was when you first got the device.
In this article, you’ll learn how to factory reset iPod 5th generation. Before that, however, you’ll learn why you might want to factory reset your iPod and how to know whether or not to reset your device.
Why Should You Reset Your iPod 5th Generation?
You shouldn’t just factory reset your iPod on impulse. The device contains almost all of your music if you’re Apple-centric. You don’t just want to wake up one morning and decide to get rid of your entire playlist.
If your 5th gen iPod misbehaves, you might want to try restarting it first. Restarting your iPod 5th generation is simple and doesn’t remove your files and preferences.
You can restart your 5th generation iPod touch by holding down the top power button and the volume down button for a couple of seconds until it shows the Apple logo.
If the problem doesn’t vanish after this step, you can proceed to reset your iPod to factory settings.
What To Do Before Factory Resetting iPod 5th Generation
Before factory resetting your 5th Generation iPod, you should back up all the important files in the device. While an iCloud backup is generally recommended, you can also back up your files to your computer using Finder or iTunes.
If your macOS version is over macOS 10.5, you can back up your iPod using Finder. Otherwise, you only have the option to back up the device via iTunes.
To back up your iPod via iTunes (Windows or Mac);
- Connect the 5th Generation iPod to your computer using a supported cable.
- Navigate to the File menu on the iTunes interface. Click on Files and proceed to select ‘Devices’ and ‘Backup.’
The backup will start. You’ll have to wait for a while for the backup to complete, especially if you have an iPod with a lot of music on it.
When you’ve successfully restored your iPod to factory settings, you can restore your backup to have all your files on your 5th Generation iPod again.
To restore a backup from iTunes, you’ll have to select the iPod from ‘Devices’ and then select ‘Restore from Backup.’
While backing up via iTunes is free and doesn’t require you to have a working internet connection, you have other options.
Your best bet is backing up your device through Apple’s iCloud. You can set your iPod to automatically back up to iCloud every day and forget about it. This gives you the confidence to factory reset the machine at any time without worrying about your files.
To back up your 5th generation iPod to iCloud, you have to make sure that you’re signed in to your device via iCloud.
If that’s the case, you can navigate to Settings and select iCloud. From the options, select Storage and Backup and touch the toggle if it isn’t activated already.
If you’ve previously backed up your device to iCloud, you can restore it when setting up a new device.
You only have to connect to Wi-Fi, sign in to your iCloud account, and specify that you want to restore from an iCloud backup.
Once you’ve backed up your iPod, you can safely proceed with the factory reset process; rest assured that you won’t lose your songs.
How To Factory Reset iPod 5th Generation
Before proceeding, you should be aware that this process wipes everything from your 5th generation iPod. If this process is successful, you’ll permanently lose any file that you haven’t backed up.
Before proceeding with any of the steps here, I highly recommend reading through the previous section. If you already have a recent backup of your iPod, it might be unnecessary.
If everything seems set, here are the steps you need to follow to factory reset a 5th Generation iPod.
- Unlock your iPod and navigate to the Settings app.
The Settings app is represented with a gear icon in iOS, and it contains all the tools required to do most system tasks on your iPod, including a factory reset.
- Find the Reset option.
The reset option isn’t easy to find, and that’s for good reason. You may never need to reset any iOS device if you’re not planning to sell it.
However, since you’ve verified that a factory reset is the best solution to your iPod’s problem, you need to find the Reset option.
To do this, click on ‘General‘ and scroll to the bottom of the resulting menu. Reset should be the second last option, only above Shut Down.
- Confirm the factory reset
Once you tap Reset, your iPod doesn’t just reset right away. There are a couple of Reset options from which you can choose.
Reset All Settings lets you reset the preference settings on your iPod without deleting any files off the iPod’s storage. If you’re not sure what can solve your iPod’s problems, you should try this first.
However, ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ is what you’re looking for if you want to reset your iPod to factory settings.
When you tap this option and confirm that you agree to lose all your data that is not backed up, the iPod will go into self-destruct mode, deleting all your files and preferences.
Conclusion
Once you’ve completed all the steps in this article, you would learn how to factory iPod 5th generation. When the factory reset process is complete, you will need to restore the files to your iCloud. You can refer to the first section to learn how to do that.
If you backed up your iPod to iCloud, you can connect to Wi-Fi when setting up your device and choose to restore from a backup.