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Locked iPhone

DavidG777

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OK, I'll say up front that this is probably one of the more stupid posts you'll run across. I admit my carelessness ahead of time.

I will also say in advance that I have contacted my phone store, Apple.com (via chat), and have posted these issues on other forums, with no hope in sight.

I've had my iPhone 11 since June this year. Around 3 weeks ago, I decided to change my passcode. But being severely ill for around a year, I became annoyed with having to use a passcode, and I set my phone time-to-lock to "Never." I deemed this acceptable as I have been self-confined to my home except for medical visits.

Then, I deleted some apps, installed a couple of new ones, and decided to restart my iPhone. When it came time to enter my (newly changed) passcode, I soon realized I could not remember it. Long story short, I ran out of attempts and my phone is now permanently locked. I can no longer even try to remember the passcode.

The stupidest thing I have carelessly done is fail to ensure data was backed up. I am facing a total reset of my phone, which apparently will cause all data to be erased.

It appears that photos are automatically backed up, BUT there is a limit. Hopefully I will later find that at least some of the more important ones still remain in backup. Another concern is my contact list; I have no idea if these are in any way saved and retrievable following a total phone reset. Ditto for text and Messenger conversations ... many of these are very important, such as conversations with people at work, people with whom I've spoken concerning new employment, interviews, etc.

Bottom line, is there any way whatsoever I can access my phone after forgetting my passcode, and NOT losing my data? My local phone store of course keeps records of customers, including the serial #'s of their phones, so I could reasonably prove I am the owner of the phone .... but they said they still could not help me with accessing it.

If anyone can help me in some way to regain access to my phone and not lose my data, I will pray for you to win the next Powerball.

Thanks in advance,
David G.
 
I’m afraid that restoring your iPhone will erase everything. There is no way around it. Have you ever synced your iPhone with your computer or iCloud? If so there may be a backup there.
 
OK, I'll say up front that this is probably one of the more stupid posts you'll run across. I admit my carelessness ahead of time.

I will also say in advance that I have contacted my phone store, Apple.com (via chat), and have posted these issues on other forums, with no hope in sight.

I've had my iPhone 11 since June this year. Around 3 weeks ago, I decided to change my passcode. But being severely ill for around a year, I became annoyed with having to use a passcode, and I set my phone time-to-lock to "Never." I deemed this acceptable as I have been self-confined to my home except for medical visits.

Then, I deleted some apps, installed a couple of new ones, and decided to restart my iPhone. When it came time to enter my (newly changed) passcode, I soon realized I could not remember it. Long story short, I ran out of attempts and my phone is now permanently locked. I can no longer even try to remember the passcode.

The stupidest thing I have carelessly done is fail to ensure data was backed up. I am facing a total reset of my phone, which apparently will cause all data to be erased.

It appears that photos are automatically backed up, BUT there is a limit. Hopefully I will later find that at least some of the more important ones still remain in backup. Another concern is my contact list; I have no idea if these are in any way saved and retrievable following a total phone reset. Ditto for text and Messenger conversations ... many of these are very important, such as conversations with people at work, people with whom I've spoken concerning new employment, interviews, etc.

Bottom line, is there any way whatsoever I can access my phone after forgetting my passcode, and NOT losing my data? My local phone store of course keeps records of customers, including the serial #'s of their phones, so I could reasonably prove I am the owner of the phone .... but they said they still could not help me with accessing it.

If anyone can help me in some way to regain access to my phone and not lose my data, I will pray for you to win the next Powerball.

Thanks in advance,
David G.

I don’t know how familiar you are with the iCloud settings on your phone, but iCloud backup is usually on by default.
 
Thank you, CarolineM and scifan57. Caroline, I wasn't sure about that. It will be a hopeful possibility once I reset my phone.

Meanwhile, I ran across an app that can be used to recover data from an iPhone that has been reset, or a situation where data has been accidentally erased. Is this legit in any way? I'm really down about this, I have family photos, contacts and business conversations it will kill me to lose. Here is a link, in case anyone cares to look it over:


Thanks again,
David G.
 
I‘m in doubt this will work. These kinds of services mostly depend on iTunes or iCloud backups.

Your contacts are tied to your email account(s). Once you install them on your iPhone again, they will be right back.

For your photos:
Go to www.icloud.com, login and see which photos you can see there. If you use iCloud, they are not backed up, but synced to your other devices connected to your iCloud ID. To make sure you don‘t lose them, either save them to your computer, an external hard drive, or to another cloud service (Google Photos, …).

If you use iMessages with your iCloud account, they are also not included in a backup, they are synced between devices. Usually, they will reappear after restoring.

WhatsApp chat history can be restored, if you‘ve used iCloud to backup your messages, and keep your phone number.
 
Thank you, J.A. I don't use WhatsApp, Instagram, etc. ... only iPhone text and Messenger (FB). Hopefully my texts will return. I'm able to see photos with my iPhone connected to my PC, and in a moment will try transferring them. Other than that, I will then reset my iPhone and hope for the best. I do hope my contacts and texts show up again.
 
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