help. daughter knackered phone?

[ady1979]

Hi. I have been trying to fix my daughters iphone 5s. She has put a passcode on it, doesnt know how or remember what it is. After lots of youtube videos and reading I plugged it into my laptop and installed itunes. When i plug it in it says to update and restore, after about 15mins of downloading the phone vibrates and it says on the laptop"unable as phone is passcode protected" i left itunes to carry on downloading and it got halfway through (which took 3 hours!) And then i had error code 9006.. I turned off my firewall and tried again and it did the same thing. Next i found a link to the latest ios and downloaded that to instal manually. Then i opened itunes held shift key and chose the file but it says the file is incompatible, i have definatley chosen the right one from the list. I dont know which Ios is currently installed as i have never plugges this into my laptop. Anyone able to help.

 

[J. A.]

Welcome to iPhoneForums, ady1979!

There are three methods to remove the passcode from the iPhone. All three of them can be found in this link:
Forgot passcode for your iPhone iPad or iPod touch or your device is disabled - Apple Support

The latest software for her iPhone is 8.2, and it's not possible to install a different one on her device. If one of the instrucions of the link above works, you don't have to install the software manually. iTunes will update the iDevice, and install the right version.

There's a thread in this forum that will help, if you can't update the iPhone:
TUTORIAL - Failsafe method to restore the current version of IOS Apple iPhone Forum

 

[scifan57]

I'm afraid that if the password your daughter can't remember is the iCloud password all your attempts to restore the phone will be unsuccessful unless your daughter can remember her iCloud password, as without that password the restoration cannot be completed. This is a security measure instituted by Apple to prevent stolen iPhones from being erased and re activated. It's known as activation lock. If it he forgotten password is the one used to unlock the phone after it's been asleep, the instructions given by J. A. should work.

 

[ady1979]

Its the passcode to access phone its not icloud locked.I think its 4 digits

 

[scifan57]

After you follow J. A.'s instructions let us know how it's gone.

 

[ady1979]

Th apple link i have done without success. I have also tried the other one where i manually downloaded the latest ios 8.2 but when i tried to install it through itunes (hold shift key and manually open) it said on itunes file was not compatible. I downloaded ios8.2 from various sites and even picked my model number but they all said file not compatible when at recover and update stage

 

[J. A.]

Does she use iCloud and Find my iPhone? You'll be able to erase her device when you access iCloud on a computer, without using iTunes, to remove the passcode lock.

 

[ady1979]

No she hasnt installed icloud. We havent setup find my phone unless its automaticly done

 

[ady1979]

I think we just have an expensive doorstop now

 

[J. A.]

There are two versions of the 5s. Make sure you're trying to install the software for the right one.

Try the following:
Reboot the computer, then try updating/restoring again.

Disable your antivirus software.

Make sure iTunes is up to date.

Remove iTunes completely from your computer, and reinstall it, using these instructions: Remove and reinstall iTunes and related software components for Windows Vista Windows 7 or Windows 8 - Apple Support

 

[ady1979]

Thanks will try that. Otherwise i will ring apple see what they say. We bought it new so shouldnt be a problem

 

[ardchoille]

No she hasnt installed icloud. We havent setup find my phone unless its automaticly done

Find My iPhone is an option during the initial setup of the phone. I just reset my iPhone 6 yesterday and it asks early on in the setup routine if you want to "Use Find My iPhone" - I remember the same thing on my 5s. If that option was used then Activation Lock was enabled during setup.

 

[J. A.]

It's also possible to skip using or setting up iCloud, and if it was done that way, Find my iPhone won't erase the iPhone.

 

[Coastiejoe]

To bypass the sign in passcode you can do a DFU Rest. This will wipe the phone out and once it is done, it will be like "Out of box" condition in regards to installed items. IF she has iCloud even though she has done so unknowinly, the DFU Reset will still work but it will ask for the iCloud password when it goes to re-activate the phone. If she does not know that password, she/you can go to a computer and attempt to log into iTunes and if she has the correct password it will let her in. If not, request to reset/retrieve the password. Once you have reset it, then put the password into the phone. It will then allow the phone to update and you ill simply start from scratch at that point..

 

[ardchoille]

To bypass the sign in passcode you can do a DFU Rest. This will wipe the phone out and once it is done, it will be like "Out of box" condition in regards to installed items. IF she has iCloud even though she has done so unknowinly, the DFU Reset will still work but it will ask for the iCloud password when it goes to re-activate the phone. If she does not know that password, she/you can go to a computer and attempt to log into iTunes and if she has the correct password it will let her in. If not, request to reset/retrieve the password. Once you have reset it, then put the password into the phone. It will then allow the phone to update and you ill simply start from scratch at that point..

By definition, bypassing the lock screen passcode would allow one to gain access to the device and view its current content without performing a factory reset. What you've described is a factory reset, which doesn't actually "bypass" the lock screen passcode.