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How to avoid the horrible iOS 8 bug that could delete your files

Updated Oct 1st, 2014 10:53AM EDT
iCloud Drive Bug Fix
Image: Apple Inc.

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Apple has had one headache after another over the past few weeks, spanning from the media circus that is “Bendgate” to a buggy iOS 8.0.1 update that bricked about 40,000 new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus handsets. Among all of these issues lies a fairly serious bug in iOS 8 that has been causing major headaches for users — but luckily, there’s a simple way to avoid the issue altogether.

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In a nutshell, iOS 8 has a huge bug that has impacted several users who perform a reset on their devices using iOS’s “Reset All Settings” function. In performing the wipe, some users have found that all of their documents stored in iCloud drive are getting deleted and then, since iCloud syncs to all devices, those documents are in turn being deleted off of connected iPads and Mac computers.

Apple’s latest iOS 8.0.2 update does not resolve the issue, so Wired notes that the best option is simply to embrace it.

If you’ve already performed a reset and lost all of your documents, contact Apple support — it’s your only hope. If you have not but you’re planning to perform a device reset, go into it assuming that your iCloud Drive documents will be lost. Back them up to a Time Machine, another cloud service like Dropbox, or save them in a separate folder on your computer. Then, once the reset is complete, re-sync your documents if they were deleted.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.