We get locked out of our iPhone sometimes. No matter how handy the Face or Touch ID is, the iPhone will ask us to enter the passcode from time to time. If we forget it, the effect is overwhelming – we can’t access the iPhone as well as all data inside.
To make it worse, attempts to unlock the iPhone may turn it disabled. According to Apple, a factory reset is the only solution to fix a disabled iPhone but will also erase all data.
We can’t just erase our locked or disabled iPhones without doing a backup first. Some data is even more important than the device itself. We can’t just say goodbye to precious like great memories with our loved ones, the files for business, etc.
Fortunately, there are ways to back up a locked or disabled iPhone without a passcode. In this article, we will guide you through the exact steps and details on how to do so.
Quick Solve: Can I Back Up my iPhone Even If It’s Locked or Disabled
To be clear, we can definitely back up a locked or even disabled iPhone. There’re multiple solutions that we can pick from. However, each solution provided in this post requires several conditions.
If none of the online solutions can help you, perhaps you can contact Apple personally. Or you can go to some trustworthy data recovery store in your city.
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Method 1: Back Up A Locked/Disabled iPhone with iTunes/Finder
To back up an iPhone, the official assistant app iTunes can never be ignored. Indeed, it can still help us back up our device even if the iPhone is now locked.
Before we dive into the exact steps, there’s one thing that you need to know. iTunes can back up a locked iPhone without the passcode when you’re using it on a trusted computer.
What Is A Trusted Computer
Due to concerns for your privacy, Apple has made the connection between an iPhone and a computer demanding. You must unlock the iPhone and tap Trust when you want to connect them via a USB cable. This computer will become a trusted device once you finish the process.
So, if you have a trusted computer, plug your locked iPhone into it. iTunes will then launch by itself and sync to your iPhone.
Backup Locked iPhone After Connection
Next, on the iTunes interface, hit the thumbnail iPhone button at the top of the screen. Then, click the Back Up Now button to complete. iTunes will start to save everything on this locked iPhone to your computer.
Q&A: Why Won’t My Locked iPhone Connect to iTunes?
If iTunes won’t launch and connect to your device when you connect a locked iPhone to a trusted computer, that’s probably because the trusted computer is expired.
The trusted status of your PC will last for only 1 hour when there’s no new connection. Also, according to some iPhone owners, you will have to tap trust again if you restart your iPhone or the computer within that 1 hour.
Method 2: Back Up A Locked/Disabled iPhone with iCloud
Have you signed in to an Apple account and activated iCloud on your locked iPhone before? If you do, it’s very likely that iCloud will back up the data on your locked iPhone automatically.
When we buy an iPhone and start to use it, the device requires a series of setups. If you’ve followed all prompts and finished the setups, iCloud backup is on possibly.
Based on Apple’s description of iCloud backup, once this feature is on, the data on the iPhone will be synced to the cloud storage every time we charge, unlock, and connect the iPhone to Wifi.
So, to back up your locked iPhone, simply charge it with a valid USB cable and turn on the Wifi option.
Addition: How to Know if iCloud Backs Up the Locked iPhone
Though the iCloud backup is on, we never know if it saves the data we need. To make sure we don’t lose important files, we can check the backup files via iCloud.com.
Step 1
On any browser, visit iCloud.com and sign in with your Apple account.
While signing in, iCloud will ask you to verify the action by entering a 6-digit code. When your iPhone is locked and you can’t get the code, you can try it on another phone.
Remove the Sim card from your locked iPhone and insert it into another phone. Then, back to iCloud.com and hit the Didn’t Get a Code option. Next, choose to send a new code to the phone number.
Lastly, enter the code you receive to iCloud.com to pass the verification.
Step 2
After login, locate the icon of the target file and browse for the data you’re looking for. You may choose to download them right away.
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Wrapping Up:
It’s a complete mess when your iPhone is locked or disabled without backup. In this case, the two official utilities – iTunes and iCloud are still possible resolutions.
If neither helps you save the iPhone data, you’d better contact Apple Support for direct help. Though you will very likely get the same answer above, it is worth a try.
Other than that, some professional data recovery services boast that they can extract data from an iPhone when it’s locked or disabled. If you have no other way out, they can be your last hope.
Emergency: Extract iPhone Data from iPhone Backup In An Urgent
It’s a pain in the neck when we’re in need of the data saved on a locked iPhone so badly. Unfortunately, due to the unbreakable lock of Apple, we can’t bring it out unless we have the passcode.
In this case, if we’re in need of certain data from our iPhone, the best walkaround is to extract the data from your iPhone backup files.
iCloud is the recommended backup solution of Apple. When there’s an iCloud account logged in on an iPhone, iCloud auto backup will be enabled. Your data on this iPhone will be synced to the cloud automatically.
To extract data from iCloud backup, you can apply an iCloud backup recovery program like echoshare iPhone Data Recovery.
echoshare iOS Data Recovery
Save iPhone & iPad Data to Windows & Mac in A Minute
- One-click or selective data backup to computers
- Highly flexible restore process: preview and select
- Recover WhatsApp, Photos, Videos, and Audio to iPhone/iPad
*Compatible with iOS 16 & iPadOS 16
Extract iCloud Backup with echoshare iPhone Data Recovery
Logging into iCloud.com, the categories of the data we can recover are limited. Photos, emails, contacts, notes, reminders, pages, and numbers are all supported data types. For more files, a third-party extractor is crucial.
As a handy and efficient iCloud backup downloader, echoshare can transfer more than 19 types of data from iCloud to your device, including WhatsApp messages, videos, photos, audio, iMessages, documents, and text messages.
Get the program and extract your data right away.
Step 1
Launch the iCloud backup downloader and choose the iPhone Data Recovery tab to start. Then, locate the Recover from iCloud bar and log into your iCloud account there.
Step 2
After getting in, click Start and enable a data scan on selected data types. Next, the program will begin to grab all the data on the iCloud. When the process is done, you can browse and select the desired data and recover it.
