Bug in iOS 8's 'Reset All Settings' Option Also Erases iCloud Drive Documents

It appears that there may be a serious bug with the "Reset All Settings" option in iOS 8, causing users who activate the feature to lose all of their iWork documents stored in iCloud Drive. According to multiple posters on the MacRumors forums, using the "Reset All Settings" option under General --> Reset has caused documents to be permanently deleted from iCloud Drive.

resetallsettings

Because iOS 8 was so sluggish on my iPad 3 I reset all settings (No data or media will be deleted) and sped it up BUT deleted my iWork data! Then promptly synced and deleted it in iCloud.I have public beta of Yosemite so can't roll back via time machine. I have no pre iOS 8 backups in iTunes or iCloud to revert to (well iCloud device backups don't contain cloud documents and I should have iOS 7 backups in iTunes but can't find any. iCloud has no trash like dropbox. They seem gone forever.

The "Reset All Settings" option explicitly says that "No data or media will be deleted," and it is meant to reset all user preferences to the default out-of-the-box settings. That the option is deleting iCloud Drive documents appears to be a serious bug, though it may be limited to Apple's own iWork apps like Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. One user had all of his iWork documents wiped by using "Reset All Settings," while other app information remained in iCloud.

In our own testing, using "Reset All Settings" deleted all iWork documents stored in iCloud Drive on the iPhone and on iCloud.com. After allowing time for syncing to a Mac running OS X Yosemite, all of the documents disappeared from that machine as well. Preview and TextEdit documents, which cannot be accessed on the iPhone, remained untouched on the Mac.

There appears to be no simple way to recover iCloud Drive documents that have been erased by "Reset All Settings" in Yosemite, and several people who have been affected by the bug are now in contact with Apple support in an effort to retrieve their documents. A Mavericks user was, however, able to recover his files from a backup folder, and OS X Yosemite users may also have luck with recovering files via Time Machine.

One user said that Apple was waiting on engineers to investigate the issue, while another said his account had been placed in troubleshooting mode to attempt to recover the data.

Introduced with iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, iCloud Drive is Apple's answer to cloud-based storage services like Dropbox. iCloud Drive allows users to store a variety of documents like spreadsheets, PDFs, images, and more, accessing them on any device. Currently OS X Mavericks users can access iCloud Drive documents via iCloud.com, but iCloud Drive will be fully functional in October, after OS X Yosemite is released.

Users who have iCloud Drive enabled may want to refrain from using the "Reset All Settings" option on their devices for the time being, in order to avoid accidentally erasing important documents stored in iCloud Drive.

Related Forum: iOS 8

Popular Stories

Apple 2025 Thumb 1

10 Products Still Coming From Apple in 2025

Friday April 11, 2025 4:14 pm PDT by
Apple may have updated several iPads and Macs late last year and early this year, but there are still multiple new devices that we're looking forward to seeing in 2025. Most will come in September or October, but there could be a few surprises before then. We've rounded up a list of everything that we're still waiting to see from Apple in 2025. iPhone 17, 17 Air, and 17 Pro - We get...
iOS 18 Siri Personal Context

Report Reveals Internal Chaos Behind Apple's Siri Failure

Thursday April 10, 2025 7:15 am PDT by
A new report from The Information today reveals much of the internal turmoil behind Apple Intelligence's revamped version of Siri. Apple apparently weighed up multiple options for the backend of Apple Intelligence. One initial idea was to build both small and large language models, dubbed "Mini Mouse" and "Mighty Mouse," to run locally on iPhones and in the cloud, respectively. Siri's...
M6 MacBook Pro Feature 1

Waiting for the Perfect MacBook Pro? 2026 Might Be the Year

Thursday April 10, 2025 4:19 am PDT by
Apple in October 2024 overhauled its 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, adding M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips, Thunderbolt 5 ports on higher-end models, display changes, and more. That's quite a lot of updates in one go, but if you think this means a further major refresh for the MacBook Pro is now several years away, think again. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said he expects only a small...
iPhone 17 Pro 3 4ths Perspective Aluminum Camera Module 1

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: New iOS 19, iPhone 17, and Apple Watch Ultra 3 Leaks

Friday April 11, 2025 7:13 am PDT by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we catch up on the latest iOS 19 and watchOS 12 rumors, upcoming devices, and more. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Detailed new renders from leaker Jon Prosser claim to provide the best look yet at the complete redesign rumored to arrive in iOS 19, showing more rounded elements, lighting effects, translucency, and...
Alleged iOS 19 Icons Front Page Tech

iOS 19 Leak Reveals Alleged New Design With Rounder App Icons, Floating Tab Bar, and More

Monday April 7, 2025 3:13 pm PDT by
YouTube channel Front Page Tech is back today with another video that provides a closer look at iOS 19's alleged design changes. The video contains re-created renders of iOS 19, which are allegedly based on real footage of the software update, provided by sources within Apple. Overall, iOS 19 is expected to have a more glass-like, visionOS-inspired design, with added translucency for user...
Apple Northbrook

Apple Store in Chicago Area Permanently Closing Later This Month

Wednesday April 9, 2025 9:56 am PDT by
Apple will be permanently closing its store at the Northbrook Court shopping mall in the Chicago suburb of Northbrook on April 26, the company has announced. Apple has added the following notice to the store's web page:Thank you Northbook. Apple Northbrook is closing on April 26 at 7pm. We're still here for you. Please visit apple.com/retail to find your nearest store.Apple Northbrook opened ...
iOS 18

iOS 18.5 Includes Two Changes So Far

Wednesday April 9, 2025 9:09 am PDT by
Apple released the first beta of iOS 18.5 last week, and so far the software update includes only two minor changes. The changes are in the Mail and Settings apps. In the Mail app, you can now easily turn off contact photos directly within the app, by tapping on the circle with three dots in the top-right corner. In the Settings app, there is some new AppleCare+ information. For ...
apple intelligence black

NYT: Apple's AI Struggles Began with 2023 Chip Budget Dispute

Friday April 11, 2025 4:33 am PDT by
Apple's current struggles with Apple Intelligence and Siri began in early 2023 when AI head John Giannandrea sought approval from CEO Tim Cook to purchase more AI chips for development, according to a new report from The New York Times. Cook initially approved doubling the team's chip budget, but CFO Luca Maestri reportedly reduced the increase to less than half that amount, and instead...

Top Rated Comments

MacLawyer Avatar
138 months ago
Quality Control???

What's going on with Apple lately?
Score: 100 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Medic311 Avatar
138 months ago
Wow, iOS 8 just keeps getting worse and worse
Score: 71 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jrath1 Avatar
138 months ago
Your erasing it wrong
Score: 54 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Orlandoech Avatar
138 months ago
Lovely, just lovely.

I would be screwed if I didn't read these forums so frequently.
Score: 49 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Orlandoech Avatar
138 months ago
Your deleting it wrong

It's "you're" for "you are" not "your" for being possessive.
Score: 45 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FSMBP Avatar
138 months ago
What the hell happened to waiting to release stuff because "Details matter"? I know Apple wasn't perfect under Jobs but it wasn't this bad. The company seems too lax.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)