Damn! You have forgotten the unlock code of your iPhone and after 6 attempts, you have permanently blocked the phone. I bet you’re already thinking of bringing your iPhone to the nearest Apple center, with the possibility of having to pay even a few euros because of the expired warranty. And if instead I told you that you can try to reset iPhone locked in complete autonomy, without the help of anyone else?

Do not worry, you do not have to be a genius or a computer technician to do it! All you need is a little patience, a computer with an active Internet connection, your iPhone (with its Lightning cable) and the credentials of your Apple ID, which are fundamental to reset the smartphone and to deactivate it. of the feature Find my iPhone: the latter, in fact, acts as an “anti-theft” and prevents the phone reset as a security measure. So, if you do not remember the username and / or password of your Apple ID, I strongly suggest you proceed with the recovery: if you can not do it and need help, I invite you to consult my dedicated guide.

Without due clarification, there is nothing left to do but sit quietly in front of the computer and with your iPhone in your hands, take a little ‘free time and read the instructions I am about to give you: I guarantee that, once assimilated all the necessary information, you will be able to reset your iPhone locked and use it as you did before this unwelcome inconvenience. Good reading and, above all, good luck!

Reset iPhone blocked by backup

The easiest (and painless) way to reset blocked iPhone is to proceed using a backup created previously with iTunes. Before explaining how to do it, however, it is essential that you know two things: the first is that the feature Find my iPhone must be disabled (otherwise iTunes will prevent you from proceeding with the recovery), the second is that the iPhone must have been already synced previously with the program: if not, iTunes will ask you at some point to enter your security code (yes, just what you forgot!).

To reset the iPhone via backup, open iTunes, turn on your iPhone, connect it to your computer via a Lightning cable and wait for the program to recognize it and synchronize the data. To copy songs, apps, and multimedia content to your computer during backup, go to the File> Devices menu and select the Transfer purchases from iPhone item. Click on the small iPhone icon at the top left (next to the Music drop-down menu), check the item This Computer and click on the Back up now button to create a full backup on the PC (or update the existing one ).

To include health (Home) and health data (Homekit) in the backup, put the check mark next to the item Encrypt iPhone backup and enter a password to use as protection for iPhone backup.

Now you can finally restore the iPhone and remove the block: click on Reset iPhone …, Backup, Restore / Restore and update, Forward and Accept, then wait patiently for the procedure to be completed. When prompted, enter the credentials of your Apple ID on iTunes, double-click the Continue button and, again from iTunes, choose whether to configure the device as a new iPhone or restore a previously created backup by checking the appropriate entry .

If you have selected the second option, choose the most appropriate backup (if you do not know what to choose, use the most recent) from the appropriate drop-down menu and wait for the data to be copied to your iPhone. After the iPhone is automatically restarted, you can finally use your iPhone again and proceed to configure the last settings such as Wi-Fi, Touch ID and the new unlock code.

If you had opted instead to reconfigure your iPhone from scratch, follow the instructions on your screen to proceed and, if you need help, consult my tutorial dedicated to the topic.

Reset iPhone blocked via restore mode

You tried to act as I explained above, but iTunes keeps asking you the unlock code? Do not worry, you can take advantage of the restore mode of the iPhone: all you have to do is turn on your phone with a particular combination of keys, connect it to your computer and proceed as seen previously.

Keep in mind that, even in this case, the Find My iPhone function must be deactivated in order for the procedure to be successful. In addition, unless you have previously created a backup of the data to be restored (via iCloud or iTunes), you will completely lose your personal files.

Without this due premise, it’s time to take action: if you have not yet installed iTunes on your PC (let’s talk about Windows, since the software is already included as standard on Mac), connected to the Apple website for download it, click on the Download button and, after downloading the file to your computer, start the installation program (eg iTunes6464Setup.exe). In the window that opens, click on the Yes, Next, Install, Yes, Yes and End buttons and you’re done.

Now close iTunes if it is already open, connect your iPhone to the computer with the Lightning cable open iTunes and then force the device reboot: if you have iPhone 8, 8 Plus or X, press and quickly release the Volume + key, make the the same thing with the Volume key – and finally hold down the side key until the Connect to iTunes screen appears on the iPhone screen (Lightning cable, up arrow and the iTunes icon).

If you have iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, press and hold the side key and the Volume key simultaneously – until the above screen appears; on iPhone 6s and earlier, on the other hand, you have to press and hold the Home key and the power button.

Once the iPhone has been rebooted, click on the Restore button which is displayed in the iTunes alert window, then on the Restore / Restore and update, Next and Accept buttons and wait for the procedure to complete.

At the end of the restore, you can finally decide whether to set the device as a new iPhone or to restore a previous backup, following the instructions I gave you in the previous section.

Reset iPhone blocked iCloud via DFU

If you have not managed to restore your iPhone in recovery mode, you can try everything and unlock the device using DFU mode: DFU mode is a special boot mode that bypasses the iOS bootloader and thus allows you to reset the device. ‘iPhone in a complete manner bypassing any blocks or errors. It is also very useful to remove the jailbreak, as it completely deletes the Cydia files, which with the standard restore modes can remain “hidden” on the memory of the “iPhone by”.

To put your iPhone in DFU mode, open iTunes, connect the iPhone to your computer via the Lightning cable and proceed in one of the following ways, depending on the device you have.

• iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X – with the iPhone on, quickly press and release the Volume + key, press and quickly release the Volume – key, hold down the right side key until the screen goes black. Now release all the keys and immediately press the right side key and Volume -, holding them down for five seconds at the same time, then release the side key only and keep pressing the Volume key – for at least another five seconds.

 

• iPhone 7 and 7 Plus – turn off the iPhone completely, hold down the Power button for 3 seconds, then (without releasing the Power) press the Volume button – and hold both of them for about 10 seconds, release the Power button and continue to hold down the Volume key – for another 8 seconds.

 

• iPhone 6/6 Plus and earlier – turn off the phone completely, hold down the Power button for about 3 seconds, press the Home button (without releasing the Power) for about 10 seconds, then release the Power button and keep pressing the Home button for at least 8 seconds.

If all went well, the iPhone screen will remain black and iTunes will warn you that you have found an iPhone in recovery mode; if I could not complete this step and / or the iPhone screen goes on, repeat the entire procedure following my tutorial.

Once in DFU, reset by pressing the OK button on iTunes, Restore iPhone …, Restore / Restore and update, Forward and Accept and wait for the process to complete (it may take a long time). Once the reset is complete, you can decide whether to reset your iPhone from scratch or restore a backup of iTunes (if you’ve already created one), following the instructions that I gave you in the section about recovery through backup.

Did you see? There was no need to bring your iPhone back to the Apple Center despite you have forgotten your access code and blocked the device: I’m sure, after reading and following my instructions carefully, you have already put your hands on your iPhone by now unlocked, well pleased with the result!