iPhone locked - please help!!

[preciousneeda]

My husband passed away over a month ago and I still have his iPhone. I knew his passcode but forgot the last number of the four digits so I completely locked it and it tells me to connect to itunes.

He got the iPhone last year in May so there are a lot of our videos and pictures with our 20 month old son on there. Those files mean more to me now than you can ever imagine and I am scared to connect to itunes and loose them.

I still have the laptop he synched it to. Is there a way I can save the files???

 

[popcornuk]

Make sure iTunes isn't open and if it opens close it straight away or slide the iphone to cancel the sync.

Once you've done that, If your using windows then go to my computer and you should see the iPhone. You can then access it like a USB pen drive and it should have a folder containing the photos. You can drap and drop them to your desktop.

I'm not sure if it shows up in a similar way to a mac.

I hope this works for you

 

[preciousneeda]

Should I do that with the laptop he used to sync it with or another laptop where I don't even have itunes on?

 

[ct2k7]

Should I do that with the laptop he used to sync it with or another laptop where I don't even have itunes on?

Preferably with a laptop with iTunes on. Sorry about your loss

 

[preciousneeda]

So I tried it on my laptop (not the one my husband used) today and it doesn't even pop up on my computer You just hear the sound but it doesn't show the device. The itunes on my computer says that the iphone has been locked.

I will try tomorrow on the laptop he used to sync it with and hope that it might make a difference. The screen went black so I have to connect it to my tv first. The phone is jailbreaked so I can't even send it to Apple

 

[Applejuiced]

He must have had the erase all data after 10 failed passcode attempts.
In that case everything is gone and nothing u can do now.
Hope he had a recent backup of his iPhone saved on his iTunes.

 

[Mac'nCheese]

Sorry about your loss. Best of luck with your son.

Have you thought about just bringing the phone to an apple store, telling them it was your late husbands and your want the files off of it. If they have any decency, they would do it, jailbroken' or not. You did nothing wrong... don't even tell them you know he did that.

 

[Applejuiced]

How do u expect an apple store or anyone to get the files off when all data has been deleted after the wrong password has been entered 10 consecutive times?

 

[Mac'nCheese]

How do u expect an apple store or anyone to get the files off when all data has been deleted after the wrong password has been entered 10 consecutive times?

I don't know. Just trying to help. DO you know for sure everything is gone for good? Can't hurt to try, right?

 

[Applejuiced]

Yep, worth a shot but everything is pretty much gone.
Once it locks up and shows the connect to iTunes logo all u can do is restore it. Cannot retrieve anything off it once the delete all data is activated after the failed passcode attempts.

 

[Mac'nCheese]

Yep, worth a shot but everything is pretty much gone.
Once it locks up and shows the connect to iTunes logo all u can do is restore it. Cannot retrieve anything off it once the delete all data is activated after the failed passcode attempts.

Wait! Something just hit me. I don't have an iPhone and therefore know not of which you speak. Are you telling me, that if someone grabs your iPhone and tries ten times in a row to guess your passcode, all your data is GONE! And unless you backed it up (of course), its gone gone! Is that the way they all work or does a user choose that function? I plan on switching from Verizon to AT&T soon to get my first iPhone. I guess I got to make sure my kids don't get a hold of it and screw around, right?

P.S. I know, I know, google it, but just not in the mood...

 

[Applejuiced]

Wait! Something just hit me. I don't have an iPhone and therefore know not of which you speak. Are you telling me, that if someone grabs your iPhone and tries ten times in a row to guess your passcode, all your data is GONE! And unless you backed it up (of course), its gone gone! Is that the way they all work or does a user choose that function? I plan on switching from Verizon to AT&T soon to get my first iPhone. I guess I got to make sure my kids don't get a hold of it and screw around, right?

P.S. I know, I know, google it, but just not in the mood...

Its a setting you can enable if you wish like the passcode or erase all data after 10 failed attempts and other things can be turned off or on.

 

[preciousneeda]

How do I know if he enabled that setting or not? Once I go to iTunes how can I check if he had a recent backup of his iPhone saved on his iTunes??

 

[popcornuk]

How do I know if he enabled that setting or not? Once I go to iTunes how can I check if he had a recent backup of his iPhone saved on his iTunes??

If the iphone has indeed been set to wipe the data then im 99% sure you can't recover it from the phone itself.

To check the last time the iPhone was backed up go here on Windows:

Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

Windows Vista/Windows 7
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

In the Backup folder there will be a folder labelled with loads of letters/numbers. If you right click on the folder and selected properties and look for the field (Date Modified) that should tell you the date and time of the last backup.

You could then restore the phone through iTunes and put the data from the backup back on if you know the photos were taken before this date.

The only problem would be if your husband encrypted the backup with a password. But i'm not sure how to check if this was done.

 

[Applejuiced]

How do I know if he enabled that setting or not? Once I go to iTunes how can I check if he had a recent backup of his iPhone saved on his iTunes??

Because if he didnt enable that setting it wouldnt tell you to connect to itunes.
It would just let you keep entering different passcodes still.

 

[wordoflife]

I think iTunes is giving you that error because you plugged it into a different iTunes. Plug it into the laptop he synced his phone with.

 

[preciousneeda]

I got the pictures out easily once I connected the phone to the computer he synched it with now I will try what was suggested with the videos. I hope I can save them somehow...thank you guys so much for your help!!

 

[preciousneeda]

If the iphone has indeed been set to wipe the data then im 99% sure you can't recover it from the phone itself.

To check the last time the iPhone was backed up go here on Windows:

Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

Windows Vista/Windows 7
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

In the Backup folder there will be a folder labelled with loads of letters/numbers. If you right click on the folder and selected properties and look for the field (Date Modified) that should tell you the date and time of the last backup.

You could then restore the phone through iTunes and put the data from the backup back on if you know the photos were taken before this date.

The only problem would be if your husband encrypted the backup with a password. But i'm not sure how to check if this was done.

I will definitely try to do that once I can get back into the computer, the damn screen keeps turning off. Thank you so much for the detailed explanation...I am so scared to screw anything up that's why I have been taking my time with it all. I will let you know of it goes.