What to Do If Your iPhone Is Disabled for a Long Time?

Mistyping your passcode even once can result in you receiving the iPhone is disabled message. At such moments it is best to know how to fix a disabled iPhone unless you are okay with not being able to access your mobile phone. If you are looking for an answer to this question, we invite you to read our full article. Moreover, to prevent yourself from seeing the mentioned message on your device's screen ever again, it is essential to learn how it can get disabled. Therefore, further in this blog post, we discuss the most common reasons why iPhones get locked too. Also, we present a tip on how to prepare for situations when you cannot remember your passcode and need to reset your iPhone so you would not have to lose data on the device.

Why do you see the iPhone is disabled message?

The usual cause is mistyping the passcode that unlocks the mobile phone's screen. This may sound strange, but it can happen both on purpose and unknowingly. To be more precise, in one scenario the user might merely forget his password, which happens quite a lot as many users nowadays have to remember more and more passwords every day. In another situation, the user himself could type the wrong code without realizing it and make the device display the iPhone is disabled warning. It can easily happen if you carry your iPhone in a pocket where you often keep your hands or a pocket that is close to your skin. One wrong movement could open the password entry screen, and if the device has further contact with your skin, a wrong code could be inserted accidentally.

Also, let us not forget that a lot of children like to play with mobile phones and parents forget how easy it is to access the password entry screen as they give their iPhones to their kids. Recently, a father of a 3-year-old thought it was a good idea to give the kid his mobile phone until he realized the child locked it until 2067. As you see, iPhones can lock themselves for a specific amount of time that is usually specified in the iPhone is disabled message. Normally, how soon you can attempt to type the correct passcode depends on how many times you or someone who had your phone mistyped the password. For example, 5 incorrect entries in a row should disable the mobile phone for 1 minute, 7 incorrect entries might result in having to wait for 5 minutes, 8 incorrect entries makes you wait for 15 minutes, and 9 incorrect entries display the iPhone is disabled, try again in 60 minutes message. Finally, if you mistype your password 10 times, the device should show a warning stating you have to connect to your iTunes.

How to fix a disabled iPhone

Unfortunately, there is no magic trick you can perform to get your screen unblocked right away. In other words, if you see the iPhone is disabled warning, you have to wait until you can try again to insert your correct passcode or perform actions that may erase all data from the device. After 10 guesses your mobile phone should ask you to connect to iTunes. If you have ever synced your iPhone to your computer and you know the passcode, you should connect your mobile phone to the same device and launch iTunes. Doing this will restore your iPhone from the most recent backup.

What if you are facing the iPhone is disabled message, and you cannot remember your password? In such a case, there is nothing left to do but to use the recovery mode. The bad news is that doing so will erase all your data located on the mobile device. If you do not know how to reset your iPhone, you could use the instructions we provided in our previous blog post. Once you can access your mobile device again, we highly recommend thinking of a new password that you would be able to remember. Of course, it is better to be safe than sorry, which is why you should take extra precautions too. For instance, you could save the new passcode on Cyclonis Password Manager's Private Notes. This way, if you forget your unlock code and receive the iPhone is disabled warning, you could simply take a look at your Cyclonis notes. No need to worry about safety as the application stores all passwords and notes in an encrypted vault. To learn more about our password manager, you should continue reading here.

How to make sure you can recover your data when restoring your iPhone

There is nothing you can do to protect your data if you already received the iPhone is disabled warning, and you need to restore your iPhone right away. What we mean to say is that if you want to be able to get your files back during such emergencies, you have to look ahead and take extra precautions. There are various ways to back up data from your mobile device, and if you are using an iPhone, the easiest way to do so is to connect to iTunes. If you need instructions on how to do so, you should have a look at the ones provided by iMore.com.

All in all, receiving the iPhone is disabled message could be scary, but it is not the end of the word if you know how to fix a disabled iPhone and, hopefully, now that you have read our blog post, you know how to do it. Also, as we explain in the article, blocking your phone accidentally or forgetting its password happens often, but instead of worrying about it, you should make sure you have a plan B as we suggested earlier.

May 15, 2019
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