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Artist locked out of her iPhone and needs her photos b4 resetting it. PLEASE help!

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chelle.k

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 14, 2009
22
0
san diego
This is a desparate request for help. Please let me knw if you have ANY ideas to help me.

I was really tired after a day of dealing with a person hijacking my internet at home. For some reason, after reseting all of my passwords on my laptop I decided to change the password on my new iPhone too (why, I don't know b/c it was in no way compromised), then I went to bed. Next morning I tried to log in and used the old password. It did not work (of course) so I thought I entered it wrong and re-entered the old password. Still nothing. Then after the 4th time I remembered I had changed it the previous night. Bad news is, I forgot what I changed it to. I kept trying and trying until it finally locked me out and I get the message "iphone is disabled connect to iTunes". Went to Apple genius bar and was told I can easily reset my password. Great news, right? Wrong. I will lose everything on my iPhone. I would totally not even care because the phone was only a couple weeks old and all the info (phonebook database from my old phone) is on a sim card, but I had just gone on a trip and took a ton of photos that I cannot bear to lose. I know there are some really smart people out there who may have an idea on how to get to my pix for retrieval before I totally shut it down and reset the phone. Can anyone help me out??? I am an artist and there are a bunch of pictures on there that I need for a project I am doing. Please help me. Kisses, Chelle
 
Is there anyone out there that is actually a help??????

What doesn't add up?? This is my phone and was bought and paid for by me and I am under contract with AT&T, so please...forego with the comment unless you are able to help me. I am paying for my contract and can only receive calls, not place any or use my phone for anything else unless I want to lose my photos. It has been almost 2 weeks since I did this and I have gone to many different places for help and the reason I am on this site is because on my trip to AT&T for help, they told me they are not allowed to touch the iPhones by contract and must redirect me to the genius bar. The guy who helped me at the apple store said he is only able to tell me how to reset the whole phone (and does not know how to do what I asked, or only said that b/c of the apple rules). Anyway, when I asked if there was a way to just pull out my photos or if they would be on my SIM card if I pulled it out and put it back into my old phone, he said no b/c the SIM only holds my basic set-up info and all the memory is elsewhere. When I got home I did try putting my G card (not actually a sim I found out) into my old phone but it did not work. He had suggested that since I was completely hell bent on keeping my photos to try the internet for help, to do a google search for the error message and maybe someone out there with a blog or on one of the user boards is able to walk me through options to get my photos. I have read things here before for my MacBook and the info seems good and the people helpful to each other. Therefore I am surprised at the first reply I received. If I only wanted to break into some phone I stole, there are a million sites that tell how to reset a phone. That is not what I need. I need my photos off the phone, then I can proceed with resetting my phone to its original set-up and reloading my address book. Again, if you are unable to actually be of help, please refrain from posting a comment.
 
chelle.k said:
What doesn't add up?? This is my phone and was bought and paid for, so please...forego with the comment unless you are able to help me.
Click to expand...

Even if it is stolen, there are plenty of ways described on the web how to get the lock removed.

Here are your possibilities:

Obviously you can call Apple or ATT if it's not a jailbroken iphone. They can verify your phone etc. ATT will most likely refer you to Apple, but who knows?

You are not the first one with that problem.

You need to know your Firmware version. Also your iphone generation.

If you don't, connect and open up in itunes and check whether it gives you the info.

Before restoring , download a program called Quickpwn from www.Quickpwn.com (FREE) Read up on how to use it. Get help from a friend if you are not computer savvy.

Connect the phone and pretend to do a firmware update. That creates a back up on your computer with all the files on the iphone and removes the lock.

Use Quickpwn and follow it's instructions. Once the back up exists on your computer (verify) tell Quickpwn to start this iphone as "NEW"

When the iphone is NEW reload the back up files from your computer and it all should be there.

Do not use the back up to reload, otherwise it reloads the lock with the other info as it is in the back up.

If in this process you do not see the backup files on your computer or a pop up tells you to erase, just cancel.

More detailed instructions are at www.hackint0sh.org

Just google "locked out of my iphone" and

see what fits for yours.

As mentioned not enough info about what status your iphone is in Firmware version, 1G 2G etc.

BTW: Recommendation: Call Apple.
 
Thanks svndmvn

I am afraid to do that bc I was told when I go in to the set-up it will delete my photos. My phone still works for incoming calls, but that is it. (Well, it still offers to make emergency calls too though). I got my phone right before a trip and had not synched it with my laptop or anything, so the genius bar guy said there is not going to be any place that my photos are held except for inside my phone. Is that not true? I am not a techie person, so I may not have understood completely what he said, but when he asked if I had synched it and I said no, that the woman at AT&T had taken the address book off my old SIM card and put it into the iPhone so I did not see it was necessary, he sounded like that was my kiss of death. Am I missing something? When I do go to my iTunes will it allow me to keep my photos or will it just blast all my info back to square one? If you are not sure it is totally okay, as I know this is not an ordinary request. The apple store guys said they normally have people freaking out about their downloaded music or mail, not so much photos. I had not done anything with the phone on my trip but take pix up in the mountains and so I have no new info on it but photos and maybe a couple random calls from people that are added to the address book, but I totally don't care about them. I just don't want to lose everything from the trip unless that is the absolute only way to get my phone to work again. Thanks for any info you could provide.
 
Thanks Thunderhawks

I appreciate the info. Yes, you mentioned what I have done and they did verify me at both the AT&T store and at Apple. The only thing is that they tell me if I had not synched it (or whatever the term is) with my laptop then the only place my info is located is inside the phone and it will be lost if I do a reset. I am only interested in getting the photos back and that seems to be where the help with unlocking or resetting defeats my purpose. If I have never synched it or backed it up or however it is done, then it is my understanding that this will all be gone. God I wish I knew of someone who had recovered photos with this process, but I am almost sure nobody was dumb enough to just start using the phone without ever backing it up. This was my first iPhone so I was under the impression it was like my old phone where everything was on my sim card, but that is obviously not the case.
 
I thought iTunes broke the password..
Either way, isn't the backup or the transfering the photos to iPhoto or whatever Windows uses, supposed to back your photos up, as well as other stuff..
That should help, and if you still get a password check after you syncing do a restore and restore from the backup you still have to do.. If I recall correctly, a restore erases passwords..
 
Thunderhawks, I am going to try it.

Just updated my iTunes to version 8.1 (which I guess was required, along with 3 other updates) and as soon as it is done I will try the quickpwn. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
 
Thunderhawks, it's not working.

I added the software after I did the iTunes update then plugged my iPhone into my laptop and I get this message:
"iTunes could not connect to the iPhone "iPhone" because it is locked with a passcode. You must enter your passcode on the iPhone before it can be used by iTunes."

That does not look good because it does not seem to acknowledge the phone unless it is already unlocked. Again, I have never connected it to my laptop before so is this not going to work? or did I do something wrong?
 
im sure plugging it in to the itunes that activated the phone can remove the passcode lock if its been locked

oh ok it was activated instore, you tried the various iphone browsers available for windows.
 
chelle.k said:
I added the software after I did the iTunes update then plugged my iPhone into my laptop and I get this message:
"iTunes could not connect to the iPhone "iPhone" because it is locked with a passcode. You must enter your passcode on the iPhone before it can be used by iTunes."

That does not look good because it does not seem to acknowledge the phone unless it is already unlocked. Again, I have never connected it to my laptop before so is this not going to work? or did I do something wrong?
Click to expand...

Plug it into whatever computer you've synced it with. If you've never sync'd it before then why do you even have an iPhone!?!
 
chelle.k said:
I added the software after I did the iTunes update then plugged my iPhone into my laptop and I get this message:
"iTunes could not connect to the iPhone "iPhone" because it is locked with a passcode. You must enter your passcode on the iPhone before it can be used by iTunes."

That does not look good because it does not seem to acknowledge the phone unless it is already unlocked. Again, I have never connected it to my laptop before so is this not going to work? or did I do something wrong?
Click to expand...

My phone is password protected, and it never does that.

What ever, if you want photos, you can get them.
Do you have a mac or pc?

If you have a mac, you can use a program called ImageCapture to pull the photos off the device.

I'm sure there is a program for windows. Just search.
 
No it has never been synched. I got it before a trip and when I got back I got busy and did not do any synch on it and then had a problem with home internet and ended up locking myself out and has been like that while I have been trying to get help to salvage my photos.
 
The problem, I had just had an issue with someone hacking into my home computer / internet, so I was told by the customer service at Cox to go in and change all my passwords to be on the safe side. After doing that I had so many different codes in my mind that I kept thinking I knew the right one but at AT&T they had helped me with getting it set up since I am kind of inept at stuff like that. Unfortunately, I guess they had it set to deactivate if the password was done incorrectly too many times in a row. The Apple guy told me he rarely tells people to do that setting because of this exact issue. I guess I did not realize it was a permanent thing and never expected I would have the issue. Anyway, now it seems like I am totally screwed. But I appreciate your attempt to help anyway.
 
I don't think there is a way :(
sorry. There's no way of getting to the info locked in the iPhone unless you can remember the passcode. Just keep trying numbers.
 
DannyBres said:
oh ok it was activated instore, you tried the various iphone browsers available for windows.
Click to expand...

I use a MacBook. Would this fix work better if I was trying it on Windows? I have a neighbor who uses windows and may be able to let me use his computer if it would help. Please let me know because he goes to work in a couple hours.
 
iTzChasE said:
My phone is password protected, and it never does that.

What ever, if you want photos, you can get them.
Do you have a mac or pc?

If you have a mac, you can use a program called ImageCapture to pull the photos off the device.

I'm sure there is a program for windows. Just search.

And If the phone isn't yours, and you stole it, GO TO HELL.

Your welcome.
Click to expand...

You have probably never messed up the password until it locked you out though, right? Or are you saying you have been in my same situation and it did not give you that message??

I am on a mac (using itunes 8 now)

Do you have any idea if ImageCapture will work if my phone is still locked??

And no, my phone is not stolen. I bought it at AT&T.

Thanks for any further info.
 
I just did the following test:
I locked my iPhone 3G with the 4 digit password.
Keep it locked and connect it to a Windows XP computer.
It had iTunes previously installed.
And it didn't asked for any password, the Scanner and Camera Wizard started automatically and then I copied all the photos to the hard disk.
I'm not sure if this works after entering a wrong password, but it works even the iPhone is locked with the 4 digit password.
 
If you have an iPhone that you've never synced with your computer, or you have reformatted your computer since your last sync. (Guess what! Not everyone syncs their phones nightly. My aunt has had her iPhone since 1.0 launch day, I stood in line for her, and she didn't sync it with her computer until last January when I did it for her.) Sometimes people forget their passcodes. That's why plugging it into your computer will make it so you don't need the passcode (usually, if you've synced there before). It's just an extra security feature.
 
TuffLuffJimmy said:
Nope. Neither a windows computer, nor OS X machine can get to the files in that phone.
Click to expand...

That's what they told me at the apple store, but he said to check around if the pix are that important to me and see if I can get any help getting to them before I just blank out my phone. Are you a photographer? If so, you can probably relate to how important these are to me. I took a ton of shots on the trip because I will be painting a huge mural for a snowboarding and ski store and needed to have some specific images to use as reference since I am a surfer and not a snow bunnie. Anyway, I wish there was a way to save them because I cant afford to go up the Big Bear again and the time it takes to find what I need online is ridiculous.

Anyway, are you 100% sure I am screwed or would you recommend that I keep trying? It almost seemed like one of the apple guys knew how to help me with this exact problem but there was another guy there that he seemed to be afraid to talk in front of. Then when I went back the next day he was not working and when I went this morning he had a full genius bar so I could not ask him. I guess I could keep going back to see if he can help, but he did tell me to just google it and see if I could get help online. I think they are under specific rules on what they can and can not do for the customers. Of course I don't want my phone jacked up, but I really want to try everything before I just throw the pix away.
 
chelle.k said:
That's what they told me at the apple store, but he said to check around if the pix are that important to me and see if I can get any help getting to them before I just blank out my phone. Are you a photographer? If so, you can probably relate to how important these are to me.
Click to expand...
I can imagine. I'd be crushed if I lost any portion of my Aperture library. However I care for images enough that I got a DSLR for photography and not a third rate cell phone camera. ;)

Did you try plugging your phone into your computer and opening iPhoto or Image capture? Maybe you should try plugging it into a Windows machine to get the images out with <insert windows image capture application here>
 
TuffLuffJimmy said:
I can imagine. I'd be crushed if I lost any portion of my Aperture library. However I care for images enough that I got a DSLR for photography and not a third rate cell phone camera. ;)

Did you try plugging your phone into your computer and opening iPhoto or Image capture? Maybe you should try plugging it into a Windows machine to get the images out with <insert windows image capture application here>
Click to expand...

Yeah, the main reason I broke down and bought the iPhone when I did instead of wait until May for it as a birthday gift from my dad was because of the trip. I decided it was a better idea to get it and use it (and not my camera) was because I got a total hard case around my iPhone and was going to be crawling around in the snow at the bottom of jumps and did not want to wreck my good camera's in case there was an accident (like a person falling on me or me dropping it in the snow). It actually worked out really well and I was happy with the pix that saved, although some came out extremely blurry.

I have plugged in the phone to my laptop and followed the other instructions, but they did not work. I also just opened iPhoto and it does not offer anything having to do with my phone. I also tried to see if I could import the photos but the only thing that happens when I plug the phone into the laptop is the same iTunes message.
 
McGiord said:
I just did the following test:
I locked my iPhone 3G with the 4 digit password.
Keep it locked and connect it to a Windows XP computer.
It had iTunes previously installed.
And it didn't asked for any password, the Scanner and Camera Wizard started automatically and then I copied all the photos to the hard disk.
I'm not sure if this works after entering a wrong password, but it works even the iPhone is locked with the 4 digit password.
Click to expand...

I think the reason this worked for you is because your phone is just locked. Mine says "iPhone is disabled". This is probably different.
 
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