Before I risk connecting my iPhone back to iCloud Photos, and having any
repeats of the misbehaviour previously encountered as it tries to reconcile
the databases, I'd like to delete everything on the phone, so that it can
start as a blank slate.

What is the best way to do that?

Daniele

On 16/02/2022 09:33, D.M. Procida wrote:
> Before I risk connecting my iPhone back to iCloud Photos, and having any
> repeats of the misbehaviour previously encountered as it tries to reconcile
> the databases, I'd like to delete everything on the phone, so that it can
> start as a blank slate.
>
> What is the best way to do that?

Perhaps understandably, I'm wary of replying now. However, I'll try.

If you only want to start again with Photos:
* Turn off iCloud Photos on the phone.
* Be patient and wait for it to do any routines it needs to run.
* It might be beneficial to log our of you iCloud account altogether,
and allow that to do any routines it needs.
(it may warn about non-downloaded images being deleted at some point -
that's OK, it's only removing them from the phone).
* Select all remaining images in Photos and Delete them, and clear
from the 'Recently Deleted' album/folder).
* Restart the phone.
* log into iCloud again, and set up.

If you actually want to clear the entire iPhone and start again:
* Make sure the iCloud Backup is up to date.
* turn off iCloud photos on the iPhone.
* log out of iCloud.
* go to Settings - General - Transfer or Reset iPhone (at the bottom
of the screen) - Erase All Content and Settings.
* The phone will restart, and you'll set it up from scratch again.
* Turn back on any settings you want to use - such as iCloud Photos,
Find My, etc.
* Any apps installed before will reinstall from the App Store.
* Be patient, it will take a while to download stuff from the cloud,
and rebuild libraries and such like. It could be a couple of days for it
to fully reset itself if you're also re-syncing Photos. As I've
mentioned before, more than once, it's not all about download speed,
it's doing a lot more in the background.

It's a bit more messing about afterwards, but the full reset is probably
the most efficient and safest way to start again.

--
Andy H

On 16 Feb 2022 at 16:10:56 GMT, "Andy Hewitt" <thewildrover@icloud.com> wrote:

> On 16/02/2022 09:33, D.M. Procida wrote:
>> Before I risk connecting my iPhone back to iCloud Photos, and having any
>> repeats of the misbehaviour previously encountered as it tries to reconcile
>> the databases, I'd like to delete everything on the phone, so that it can
>> start as a blank slate.
>>
>> What is the best way to do that?
>
> Perhaps understandably, I'm wary of replying now. However, I'll try.
>
> If you only want to start again with Photos:
> * Turn off iCloud Photos on the phone.
> * Be patient and wait for it to do any routines it needs to run.
> * It might be beneficial to log our of you iCloud account altogether,
> and allow that to do any routines it needs.
> (it may warn about non-downloaded images being deleted at some point -
> that's OK, it's only removing them from the phone).
> * Select all remaining images in Photos and Delete them, and clear
> from the 'Recently Deleted' album/folder).
> * Restart the phone.
> * log into iCloud again, and set up.

Yeah, that's more or less what I had in mind.

I was fairly lucky, with only ~250 photos still on the phone, it was easy
enough to do the special multiple selection dance. I don't think there's a
Select All.

It's now pulling down the photos, fingers crossed.

Daniele

On 16/02/2022 09:33, D.M. Procida wrote:
> Before I risk connecting my iPhone back to iCloud Photos, and having any
> repeats of the misbehaviour previously encountered as it tries to reconcile
> the databases, I'd like to delete everything on the phone, so that it can
> start as a blank slate.
>
> What is the best way to do that?

Apple tells you how:-

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iph7a2a9399b/ios

HTH

On 16/02/2022 16:10, Andy Hewitt wrote:
> On 16/02/2022 09:33, D.M. Procida wrote:
>> Before I risk connecting my iPhone back to iCloud Photos, and having any
>> repeats of the misbehaviour previously encountered as it tries to
>> reconcile
>> the databases, I'd like to delete everything on the phone, so that it can
>> start as a blank slate.
>>
>> What is the best way to do that?
>
> Perhaps understandably, I'm wary of replying now. However, I'll try.
>
> If you only want to start again with Photos:
>  * Turn off iCloud Photos on the phone.
>  * Be patient and wait for it to do any routines it needs to run.
>  * It might be beneficial to log our of you iCloud account altogether,
> and allow that to do any routines it needs.
>  (it may warn about non-downloaded images being deleted at some point -
> that's OK, it's only removing them from the phone).
>  * Select all remaining images in Photos and Delete them, and clear
> from the 'Recently Deleted' album/folder).
>  * Restart the phone.
>  * log into iCloud again, and set up.
>
>
> If you actually want to clear the entire iPhone and start again:
>  * Make sure the iCloud Backup is up to date.
>  * turn off iCloud photos on the iPhone.
>  * log out of iCloud.
>  * go to Settings - General - Transfer or Reset iPhone (at the bottom
> of the screen) - Erase All Content and Settings.
>  * The phone will restart, and you'll set it up from scratch again.
>  * Turn back on any settings you want to use - such as iCloud Photos,
> Find My, etc.
>  * Any apps installed before will reinstall from the App Store.
>  * Be patient, it will take a while to download stuff from the cloud,
> and rebuild libraries and such like. It could be a couple of days for it
> to fully reset itself if you're also re-syncing Photos. As I've
> mentioned before, more than once, it's not all about download speed,
> it's doing a lot more in the background.
>
> It's a bit more messing about afterwards, but the full reset is probably
> the most efficient and safest way to start again.

Thank you for trying to help, Andy.

I agree with what you have suggested.

D.M. Procida <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:
> On 16 Feb 2022 at 16:10:56 GMT, "Andy Hewitt" <thewildrover@icloud.com> wrote:
>
>> On 16/02/2022 09:33, D.M. Procida wrote:
>>> Before I risk connecting my iPhone back to iCloud Photos, and having any
>>> repeats of the misbehaviour previously encountered as it tries to reconcile
>>> the databases, I'd like to delete everything on the phone, so that it can
>>> start as a blank slate.
>>>
>>> What is the best way to do that?
>>
>> Perhaps understandably, I'm wary of replying now. However, I'll try.
>>
>> If you only want to start again with Photos:
>> * Turn off iCloud Photos on the phone.
>> * Be patient and wait for it to do any routines it needs to run.
>> * It might be beneficial to log our of you iCloud account altogether,
>> and allow that to do any routines it needs.
>> (it may warn about non-downloaded images being deleted at some point -
>> that's OK, it's only removing them from the phone).
>> * Select all remaining images in Photos and Delete them, and clear
>> from the 'Recently Deleted' album/folder).
>> * Restart the phone.
>> * log into iCloud again, and set up.
>
> Yeah, that's more or less what I had in mind.
>
> I was fairly lucky, with only ~250 photos still on the phone, it was easy
> enough to do the special multiple selection dance. I don't think there's a
> Select All.

So there isn’t, hadn’t noticed that before. But then usually I only use
that function in an album. It wouldn’t be usual to want to select all on an
entire library (in case of accidental deletion I suppose). Of course that
would also affect the entire cloud system if accidentally applied when
iCloud library is active.

At least they have a safe lack of function there :-).

> It's now pulling down the photos, fingers crossed.

Good luck!

--
Andy H