Methods to Unlock Disabled iPhone – Complete Guide

Have you forgotten the password of your iPhone or locked your iPhone after entering the wrong password several times? Are you getting the “iPhone is Disabled” message while unlocking your iPhone?

Don’t worry; we will help you to unlock disabled iPhone. Forgetting the passcode of your iPhone can put you in trouble and it is important to unlock it in order to access its stored data.

This article will show you different methods to unlock disabled iPhones.

Why Does an iPhone Get Disabled Suddenly?

Usually, an iPhone or iPad will become disabled after six consecutive wrong attempts to unlock it. That means you will be able to unlock your iPhone only five times, after which it will lock you out. On your sixth wrong attempt, your iPhone will be locked for One minute.

Similarly, the more wrong attempts you will try, it will increase the duration to unlock your disabled iPhone. The seventh wrong attempt will lock your iPhone for five minutes, the eighth attempt for fifteen, and the tenth wrong attempt will lock for the next sixty minutes.

If you have reached the tenth attempt and still have not unlocked the iPhone, you will get a message indicating “Your iPhone is Disabled”. 

In such cases, you must know how to unlock a disabled iPhone using different methods.

Quick Methods to Unlock a Disabled iPhone

In this section, we have provided some common methods that you can apply to unlock your iPhone. Though most of the users prefer unlocking the locked iPhone using iTunes, along with this, you can try some other methods mentioned below:

Method 01: Restore iPhone to Factory Settings Using iTunes

Restoring your iPhone to the default settings via iTunes can help you to fix a disabled iPhone. But it is important to note here that this method will format all the content and settings stored on your iPhone.

Go through the following steps to unlock the disabled iPhone using computer:

  • First, you need to open the iTunes app on your computer.
  • Now, use a USB cable to connect your phone to the computer.
  • Locate and click on the iPhone icon that appears on your iTunes app.
  • Tap the “Restore iPhone” button and click “Restore” to confirm.

Once the process of restoring your iPhone to factory settings gets completed, you can configure your disabled iPhone as a new one.

Method 02: Enable a Disabled iPhone via iCloud

Along with enabling your disabled iPhone using iTunes, you can erase your iPhone via iCloud. But you need to know your Apple ID and password in order to proceed with this method.

Follow the following steps to unlock the disabled iPhone using computer:

  • First, open any browser on your computer and go to icloud.com/find.
  • Enter your Apple ID and password in the respective fields to log on to the disabled iPhone.
  • Now, choose All Devices. After that, select your disabled iPhone and tap the “Erase” button.

  • Once done, confirm the changes. Again enter your Apple ID and password to check if the changes are saved or not.

How to Recover Data from a Disabled iPhone?

This is something that many of you must want to know. Sadly, when you unlock a disabled iPhone by any of the aforementioned methods, instances may occur when all the stored data gets deleted.

Therefore, it is important for you to securely restore the deleted data from your iPhone. You can use a professional iPhone data recovery software to recover lost or deleted iPhone data. 

Among various such data recovery software available online, we recommend you to try Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone. It is the best iPhone recovery tool that you can use to recover lost data, such as photos, videos, contacts, notes, etc. from your iPhone.

Why Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone?

Before you use this tool to recover your lost data from iPhone, it is important to know why this recovery software will be best for you:

  • The software is compatible with iPhone series 14/13/12/11/X and below.
  • Support recovery from the latest iOS 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, and below.
  • It can also recover data lost from encrypted iTunes backup files.
  • Allow you to preview data before saving them on your device.
  • The deep scan feature of this software allows recovery of every bit of lost or deleted data.

Step-by-Step Guide to Recover Lost iPhone Data Using This Tool

Now that you are familiar with the features of the Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone tool, it’s time to know the steps of how this recovery software actually works:

  • First, you have to download and install the software on your computer from its official website.
  • Now, connect your iPhone to that computer using a USB cable. Launch the software and from the “Select What to Recover” window, select the type of file that you need to recover. Click Next to continue.

  • After that, tap the Scan button to begin the scanning process. Once it gets completed, preview the recoverable data.

  • At last, click the “Save” button to save the recovered data at the desired location.

Wrapping Up

We hope these methods help you to unlock disabled iPhone. If the manual methods cause issues like data loss on your iPhone, you can restore the deleted data using Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone tool, a popular iPhone recovery software that allows you to recover lost files.