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How to Stop an iCloud Restore That is Stuck

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We will show you how to stop an iCloud restore that is stuck or still going after 24 to 48 hours — or even just all afternoon.

This can happen when an app installation hangs up or another restore problem happens, and it will prevent you from installing an iOS update and may deliver poor battery life as the backup and restore keeps churning through the process.

One of the best features of the iPhone is the ability to backup to iCloud and restore from iCloud to get your iPhone back to the exact same setup it was before you switched phones or ran into trouble.

While this works most of the time, sometimes the iPhone or iPad will say iCloud Restore in Progress days after you started. This may come with apps that refuse to install or you may not see any specific reasons.

This guide will show you how to stop an iCloud Restore that is stuck so you can get better battery life, install updates and stop seeing that message on your lock screen.

How to fix a stuck iCloud restore on iPhone or iPad.

How to fix a stuck iCloud restore on iPhone or iPad.

An iCloud Restore should take an hour or two depending on the content, maybe up to a day on a slow connection and an almost full iPhone, but if it drags on after that you will need to manually stop the iCloud Restore. The downside to this process is that you can’t tell what wasn’t restored with a checklist or error message.

If you need to, you can factory reset the iPhone and then restore from iCloud to start the process over and hope that it works, but you may end up in the same situation.

It is not clear why this happens, but so far it is not a common problem for us. Here is how you can stop the iCloud Restore in less than a minute. This works on the iPhone, iPad and on iOS 7 up through iOS 11.

How to Stop iCloud Restore

You don’t need a computer to do this, and you don’t need to do a new iCloud Restore from backup unless you notice things are missing. Here are the short steps you will need to take.

How to stop a stuck iCloud restore.

How to stop a stuck iCloud restore.

Step 1. Go to Settings on the iPhone.

Step 2. Now go to the iCloud settings.

Step 3. On this screen, you need to go to Backup.

Stop your iCloud Restore.

Stop your iCloud Restore.

Step 4. On the next screen tap on Stop Restoring iPhone.

Step 5. A pop-up will ask if you want to stop the Restore, with a warning. Tap on Stop.

After you finish this step you will no longer see warnings about an iCloud restore in progress and you will be able to use your phone like normal. This is not a process you can reverse, but you can always restore from the old iCloud backup before you make a new one.

If you’re running into other iCloud restore or iCloud backup problems, you can use this video and guide to help solve those problems in minutes.

iOS 12 vs iOS 11: What’s New in iOS 12.4.1

iOS 12.4.1 Features and Fixes

iOS 12.4.1 Features and Fixes

The iOS 12.4.1 update focuses on security fixes for a major bug that Apple fixed once before, but that is back in iOS 12.4. This security issue would allow an app to essentially gain full control over your phone. 

  • Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation
  • Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges
  • Description: A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management

This is what allows people to jailbreak iOS 12.4, which is a plus for some users, but most users will want the security that comes from iOS 12.4.1.

25 Comments

25 Comments

  1. Jose

    08/11/2015 at 6:51 am

    Following the steps above it was easy to stop seeing the message of “Restoring from icloud”. Hoping all will work as it should.

  2. steve

    08/13/2015 at 10:50 am

    Brilliant – all my apps had downloaded and it was stuck saying restoring – this worked perfectly :)

  3. Patrick

    09/23/2015 at 5:48 am

    Thanks! This is just what I needed!

  4. Terryjlayman

    09/28/2015 at 8:23 am

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  5. ajyong

    09/29/2015 at 3:18 am

    thank you very much Josh. Would give you a big hug if you are here.. Ha3. Was stuck for days and your tip was really helpful! Thank you once again.

  6. rich

    10/04/2015 at 1:37 pm

    thanks wish i found this article 2 hours ago, worked a treat

  7. Sandra

    10/05/2015 at 8:15 am

    Thank you so much works like a
    charm!

  8. Itumeleng Mokoko

    11/04/2015 at 11:55 pm

    Thank you so much. This worked

  9. Sacha

    11/11/2015 at 11:02 pm

    Thanks for the tip, it worked!

  10. jayde38

    11/17/2015 at 6:38 am

    Worked a treat. I had been stuck in restore loop for 2 days.

  11. John Smith

    11/21/2015 at 9:15 am

    I was on chat with apple care, they kept wanting me to erase everything and start over. Instead this worked and was way faster thanks

  12. DIANA

    11/25/2015 at 8:10 pm

    thank you :)

  13. Mah

    12/28/2015 at 11:02 pm

    Not working with 4g

  14. D

    02/20/2016 at 4:28 pm

    My IOS is 9.2.1 And i can’t stop the restore process, simply the backup option is greyed out without a chance to stop the restore. Is there any tips for this problem? Help!

  15. T

    02/21/2016 at 6:26 am

    My backup screen doesn’t have the stop iCloud backup choice. It has been restoring for 7 days now.

  16. Charles

    02/28/2016 at 2:01 am

    So does it mean that I will lose anything that has not been backed up

  17. sevan

    03/09/2016 at 2:24 am

    i don’t have Stop Restoring iPhone on backup page.

  18. Brad

    05/24/2016 at 5:50 am

    no option for me to stop restoring with IOS 9.2.1 been restoring from icloud for over a month now. Cannot stop it short of hard reset.

  19. Tomas

    06/03/2016 at 2:10 am

    Hi,
    i had exactly same problem. after restore my iphone 5 SE form iCloud, i cannot sync photos to iCloud, still icloud restore in progress. my post, about how to fix the problem is here…

    https://tomaskalabis.com/wordpress/apple-iphone-icloud-restore-in-progress/

    post is in czech language, but you can use google translator in right sidebar.

  20. Amanda Simpson

    06/03/2016 at 11:02 pm

    i don’t have Stop Restoring iPhone on backup page.

  21. Andrea

    07/01/2016 at 5:44 pm

    It worked! I been on the phone all day with apple support and Verizon and nothing worked until I read this! Huge thank you!!!

  22. Lilly

    09/14/2016 at 5:17 am

    Does this work if all your apps had finished downloading but it was stuck and not downloading your photos?

  23. Dave Hugo

    11/03/2016 at 7:17 pm

    THANK YOU!! I was getting frustrated enough to throw stuff.

  24. Darrell Fritz

    12/27/2016 at 2:38 pm

    Yo dude What a relief These buttons were always there but you’re the first one I found to fully supply the answer to my conundrum Stick around, we need you✌️

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