Privacy and security
Erase Data
Most people call this wiping the phone after ten wrong passcodes.
After ten failed passcode attempts the iPhone erases itself, making brute force guessing pointless.
This setting is present on your iPhone.
- We have this path on file but have not yet confirmed it against an official source.
Where to find it - iOS 13 and later
- Settings
- Face ID & Passcode
- Erase Data
What it does
Failed attempts already trigger increasing delays. With Erase Data on, the tenth consecutive failure wipes the encryption key, which makes the data unrecoverable.
What changes
When it is on
Ten wrong attempts destroy the data permanently.
When it is off
Wrong attempts only cause longer and longer delays.
Should you turn it on?
Good reasons to turn it on
- Guessing the passcode becomes impossible in practice.
- Appropriate for work phones and anyone handling sensitive material.
Good reasons to turn it off
- A child or a pocket can trigger ten failures.
- Without a recent backup you lose everything.
- The escalating delays already defeat casual guessing.
Battery
No real change
Privacy
Helps
Performance
No real change
Cellular data
No real change
Storage
No real change
Out of the box: Off.
Can cause real problems
Where this setting used to live
Apple moves settings between releases. This is every location we have on file.
-
iOS 13 and later
Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Erase Data
-
iOS 13 and later
Settings > Touch ID & Passcode > Erase Data
Questions people actually ask
- Will my iPhone really erase itself?
- Yes, after ten consecutive failed passcode attempts, if you have turned this on.
- Can I recover the data afterwards?
- Only from a backup. The encryption key is destroyed, so the data on the phone is gone.
If it is not working
- Do not enable it unless iCloud Backup or a computer backup is genuinely current.
- The counter resets after a successful unlock.