How to handle when iPhone is disabled to connect to iTunes easily

iPhone is famous for its strict security mechanism to prevent unauthorized access. However, if you forget your passcode and keep trying and failing over and over again, you will get the prompt “iPhone is disabled. Try again in X minutes” appears on the screen.

What’s worse is that you’ll probably get an error “iPhone is disabled connecting to iTunes” after too many times of entering the wrong password and the iPhone is locked forever. So how to effectively overcome this situation, GhienCongListen will help you with the following answer.

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What does iPhone disabled mean? Where does this error come from?

In common cases, a disabled iPhone simply means that you have entered the wrong iPhone unlock passcode too many times.

To secure user personal information for iOS devices, Apple will lock the device for a period of time when unauthorized access is suspected. The more times you try to enter the wrong passcode, the longer it takes to be able to enter the passcode, until “iPhone is disabled, connect to iTunes” then iPhone has been disabled forever.

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To better understand, the message displayed on the iPhone screen has several different forms, depending on the number of times the iPhone unlock password is entered incorrectly. At first, you’ll get a pure message prompting you to try again anywhere from 1 to 60 minutes. After 10 incorrect passcode attempts, iPhone will lock itself and ask you to connect to iTunes.

• iPhone disabled, try again in 1 minute: If you enter the wrong passcode 5 times in a row, your phone asks for a 1-minute timeout before you can try again.
• iPhone is disabled, try again in 5 minutes: After 1 minute is disabled, if wrong input again, the interval will increase to 5 minutes.
• iPhone disabled, try again in 15 minutes: After 8 attempts to enter the wrong password.
• iPhone disabled, try again in 60 minutes: This means you have entered the wrong password for the 9th time. You only have one last chance to guess.
• iPhone is disabled. Connect with iTunes: After seeing this message, if you entered it incorrectly 10 times in a row, Apple will disable your iPhone permanently. You no longer have the opportunity to try more, but connect your iPhone to the computer to factory reset.

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You may be wondering why your iPhone is disabled even if you didn’t enter the wrong passcode. Here are some possible reasons:

• When you put your iPhone in your pocket, you may not realize that the screen is still active. As you walk around, your movements can cause the phone to constantly rub your feet and inadvertently trigger the passcode entry screen, which randomly enters numbers over and over again. As a result, your iPhone is locked.
• In addition, a new notification can also light up the screen and cause the wrong passcode to be entered when placing the iPhone in a pocket.
• It’s possible that someone intentionally unlocked your iPhone (probably out of curiosity).

How to open a disabled iPhone in X minutes

If iPhone shows the message “iPhone is disabled for X minutes” then there is nothing you can do but wait for the time the iPhone is disabled to re-enter the correct unlock passcode again.

When the X minutes is up, calmly enter the correct passcode carefully to unlock the iPhone. Note that once you hit the wrong one again, you will have to wait longer even causing the device to go into permanent disablement.

It doesn’t matter if you have to wait for 1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes or even an hour because the emergency call when iPhone is disabled still works.

As long as you didn’t do anything wrong, your iPhone should be unlocked again and everything should be fine.

However, if you continue to enter the wrong passcode, you will eventually see the message “iPhone is disabled connecting to iTunes”. Soon your iPhone will be locked forever.

So when your iPhone displays this message, the way to restore and unlock iPhone back to normal is only one way, that is to connect the disabled iPhone to the computer and restore the iPhone factory settings. with iTunes software.

How to open iPhone with iTunes connection disabled

Before performing the steps to unlock permanently disabled iPhone using iTunes, there are a few things you need to prepare:

• The computer is running Windows/macOS.
• Lightning to USB cable (can be Lightning to USB-A or Lightning to USB-C)

Step 1: Enter Recovery Mode on iPhone

The first step you need to do is put your iPhone into Recovery Mode. How exactly will depend on the model of iPhone you own.

The iPhone series does not have a Home key:

• Press and hold the side button and one of the volume buttons and wait for the power off slider to appear.
• Drag to turn off your iPhone completely.
• Press and hold the volume up button and side button simultaneously until the Recovery Mode screen appears.

iPhone series with Home key:

• Press and hold the side (or top) button and wait for the power off slider to appear.
• Drag the slider to turn off your iPhone.
• Press and hold the . button at the same time Source and button Turn down the volume until you see the Recovery Mode screen.

Step 2: Connect iPhone to computer with a cable

After connecting your iPhone to your computer with a cable and entering Recovery Mode on your iPhone, depending on the software running on your Mac or PC, the next step will involve Finder (Mac Catalina) or iTunes. (PC or Mac running a version of macOS or earlier).

MacOS Catalina:

• If your computer is running Catalina, open a Finder window.
• You’ll see your iPhone or iPad on the left side of the Finder window below the locations.
• Click it.

MacOS Mojave and later:

All you need to do is open iTunes. There are many different versions of iTunes that you can use in different ways.

On a PC running iTunes for Windows

The iTunes software will automatically pop up when you successfully connect your iPhone to your Windows computer with the cable.

Step 3: Perform an iPhone restore using iTunes

Once you’ve selected your iPhone or iPad on your computer, click Restore. After you do this, the software will need time to download. This process may take several minutes.

If it takes more than 15 minutes, you may have to reconnect your device using the steps above. Once the download is complete, you’ll see an on-screen prompt to follow. You will have to wait for the data on your device to be erased first. You can now set up your iPhone as if it were a new version.

How to avoid iPhone being disabled in the future

To avoid seeing the notifications iPhone is disabled or iPhone is disabled connecting to iTunes in the future, you can take some of the following measures:

• Set a screen passcode that’s easier to remember. If necessary, write down some clues about your password on paper or your notes.
• Another option is to set up an additional Touch ID or Face ID instead of entering a 4-digit/6-digit passcode to unlock your iPhone. You can do it by going to Setting > Touch ID & Passcode (or Face ID & Passcode) and follow the on-screen prompts to set it up.
• Apple has a hidden feature on your iPhone that erases all your data after 10 consecutive incorrect passcode attempts. Although extremely effective as it helps protect your personal data from unauthorized access, think carefully before using it. To enable this feature, go to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode (or Face ID & Passcode), enter your passcode, scroll to the bottom, then turn on “Delete data“.
• You can make some tweaks to your settings to reduce the chance of accidentally disabling it when your iPhone freezes and enters the wrong password on its own. Go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto-Lock and set the screen to automatically turn off after 30 seconds. You should also disable the option “Raise to Wake” there.
• Also, don’t forget to back up your data regularly. Because even if you forgot your password resulting in iPhone disabled iTunes connection, you may need to reset the device and recover your data.

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