Even if you can face hardware issues (see symptoms of a broken iPhone) with iPhones rarely, software problems can happen quite often and you should know how to fix them. When you find the message “iPhone is disabled, connect to iTunes.” what should you do to unlock the disabled iPhone? If you have entered some wrong passcodes on your iPhone, you should find the iPhone disabled permanently. As for iOS 15, you might get the error message “iPhone is Unavailable” on the iPhone screen. This article will tell you some ways to unlock your disabled iPhone for helping you out.
Table of Contents
Part 1: Why iPhone is Disabled
When entering the wrong passwords to an iPhone 6 times, it will lock for one minute. And if wrong passwords are entered 10 times, the iPhone will be locked permanently. So iPhone will protect your data and other privacy for the security to disable your iPhone when the password fails too many times. To avoid unlocking a disabled iPhone, you should use the frequently used passcode instead.
| Wrong Passwords Input Times | Disable Time for iPhone |
| 6 | iPhone is disabled, try again in 1 minute |
| 7 | iPhone is disabled, try again in 5 minutes |
| 8 | iPhone is disabled, try again in 15 minutes |
| 9 | iPhone is disabled, try again in 60 minutes |
| 10 | iPhone is disabled, connect to iTunes |
Part 2: How to Unlock Disabled iPhone
There are two situations of disabled iPhone, one is locked for a limited time, and another is locked permanently. For the former, you can wait the time to enter the right password to unlock the disabled iPhone, and for the latter as well as those who completely forget the password, there is no way to unlock the disabled iPhone unless you erase the password of your device.
Method 1: Using iTunes
There will be a message saying “iPhone is Disabled, Connect to iTunes” when your iPhone is disabled. If you have a PC to unlock your disabled iPhone, you should try this method first.
Here are the steps to use iTunes to unlock your disabled iPhone.
Step 1: Plug your iPhone into your computer using your USB cord. If iTunes doesn’t automatically open, launch iTunes manually.
Step 2: In iTunes, click on the icon of your device, located near the top and toward the left side of the screen. This will open all the information about your device and what’s on it.
Step 3: Tap the Summary and you will see the option to Restore iPhone. Click on that.
Step 4: If you get an error message that the Find My iPhone must be turned off, use the iCloud method or Recovery Mode instead.
It will completely erase your iPhone, so you must know you have a recent backup either in iTunes or iCloud. Once your iPhone has been restored, it is like a new iPhone. And you can activate the new iPhone on Verizon, AT&T, and sprint.
Method 2: Using iCloud
The iCloud is also a convenient way to unlock your disabled iPhone without iTunes, especially when you cannot connect to iTunes. Here are the steps to use iCloud to unlock a disabled iPhone.
Step 1: On your computer, open a browser and visit icloud.com/find. Log in with your Apple ID and password.
Step 2: Then select the All Devices at the top.
Step 3: Click on the device that is currently disabled.
Step 4: Click the Erase iPhone, then confirm.
Using iCloud to unlock a disabled iPhone is like using the finder function, so all the data may be lost unlike iTunes which will keep important data on the computer, so make sure you have a backup of your data then considering using iCloud to unlock your disabled iPhone.
Method 3: Using Professional iPhone Unlocker
These two methods mentioned above need your Apple ID and password, if you cannot remember your Apple password either, you may need third-party software to unlock your disabled iPhone. AnyMP4 iPhone Unlocker will be an example for you to see how to use third-party software to unlock your disabled iPhone.
Step 1: Connect your device to the computer with a USB cable. Now click the Start button.
Step 2: Before unlocking your device, please confirm the device information. Now you can start your unlocking trip.
Step 3: Then, you should wait patiently till iPhone Unlocker completes the download for the firmware package. If you download successfully, please click the Unlock button to wipe your screen passcode.
Step 4: The next step is to enter code “0000” to confirm unlocking.
Part 3: FAQs about Disabled iPhone
How can I unlock a disabled iPhone without a computer?
There are also some ways to unlock the iPhone passcode without a computer. For example, you can use another iPhone to download and install the Find My iPhone app on it. You will be able to see all your Apple devices using the same iCloud account after logging in. And tap the erase option to unlock your disabled iPhone.
What to do when iCloud needs safe code while my iPhone is disabled?
It sounds like you have two-factor authentication turned on. You can change the trusted phone number, so it is no longer the disabled phone, and instead of a phone, you have access to like this: Go to appleid.apple.com. Go to the Security section and click Edit. Click the Add a Trusted Phone Number and enter the phone number to change the number.
What to do when iTunes couldn’t identify your iPhone?
You can connect the iPhone to the wall charger while holding the home button and that immediately displayed the iTunes logo on your iPhone. From there you connect your iPhone to the computer while still holding the home button and this time iTunes will identify it immediately.
Conclusion
If you are just stuck with the disabled iPhone or the forgotten passcode, there is always a way for you to unlock the disabled iPhone. Just use iTunes, iCloud, or the professional iPhone Unlocker to access your iPhone again. Follow the mentioned steps to solve the problem easily.