How to Back Up A Locked/Disabled iPhone Without Passcode
Summary: This article will list every possible method to force back up a locked/disabled iPhone without entering a passcode. No matter you’re using an iPhone 13 (Pro/Max/Mini) or any older models, you will find a way out!
Last Updated on April 23, 2023 by Jack RobertsonEven if Face/Touch ID is powerful, we still need to unlock our iPhone with a passcode in certain cases like after a reboot or upgrade.
Disaster strikes when we forget the passcode. Worse still, our attempt to unlock the iPhone may turn it disabled. We got locked out of your iPhone completely.
When this occurs, the first thing we think of is backing up our locked iPhone since the data inside may be untouchable. But can we back up the iPhone if it’s disabled? Well, that’s what we’re going to find out today.
I’ve done my research and test, tried to write down everything that you should know to back up your iPhone when it’s locked or disabled. Keep reading then.
Force Backup Disabled iPhone:
- Method 1: How to Backup iPhone with iTunes if You Can't Unlock It;
- Method 2: Back Up Locked iPhone with iOS Data Backup Tool;
- Method 3: How to Back Up Disabled iPhone with a Mac;
- Method 4: How to Back Up Disabled iPhone with iCloud;
- For Urgent Need: Extract Data from Previous Backup when iPhone is Locked.
Method 1: How to Backup iPhone with iTunes if You Can't Unlock It
Even though you cannot unlock your iPhone, you can still use iTunes to back up the data on your iPhone.
Connect Your Locked iPhone to a Trusted Computer.
How to do that?
Well, have you ever connected this iPhone to a computer before? If you have, connect your disabled iPhone to this computer. It will connect without issue at all.
If you’re using a Mac that has your Apple ID registered, congratulation, simply connect your iPhone to the Mac computer, your Mac will recognize the locked iPhone.
Back Up your Locked iPhone to Computer
Once connected, for Windows computer, launch iTunes and go to the Summary interface, click Back Up Now.
For Mac computers, if you’re still running Catalina, Big Sur, or Monterey, you need to launch a Finder window and back up with Finder.
Notes:
If you have synced your iPhone to iTunes before, but it fails to sync to iTunes this time and iTunes keeps asking for “Trust This Computer“.
This is probably because your iPhone has been powered off since the last sync, or this is not the same computer that you used to connect your device.
Method 2: Back Up Locked iPhone with iOS Data Backup Tool
echoshare iOS Data Backup, known as a powerful iOS manager, is one of the best tools that is designed to keep your data safe.
This tool can access your locked iPhone without unlocking your iPhone through a trusted computer, so it doesn’t matter if your iPhone is locked/disabled or has an unresponsive screen.
To perfectly preserve your data, it can back up, recover, and restore dozens of data categories, including photos, audios, videos, contacts, messages, notes, chatting history of Whatsapp, etc.
Also, it enables you to preview and select the data you want to back up. You won’t need to worry whether your iPhone is going to be filled with useless data after a data restoration.
The program can also extract data directly from the disabled iPhone or from iCloud/iTunes backup files. So, if you need your iPhone data now, try this program and extract the data you want!
Force Back Up Disabled iPhone Right Away
Step 1
Download, install and launch the software on your trusted PC.
Step 2
Choose iOS Data Backup & Restore on the interface and click iOS Data Backup afterwards. Connect your iPhone to this trusted PC with a USB cable. Normally, your iPhone will sync to this computer successfully without asking you to unlock the disabled device.
Step 3
There, decide the mode for the backup: Standard or Encrypted (Add a password to the file to protect privacy). Click Start to proceed.
Next, you can select the data to back up by category. Or, you can back up all the data, choose Select All.
Finish selecting the data, click Next to back up the selected data. The data will be stored on a PC folder that you’ve selected.
In this way, you can back up your data even if the iPhone is disabled. And also, your backup files will be much easier to restore and check.
Method 3: How to Back Up Disabled iPhone with a Mac
Are you using an iMac or Macbook that you’ve logged in to your Apple account on? If yes, then, you’re very likely to back up your disabled iPhone on the Mac.
Once your Mac and disabled iPhone are registered to the same Apple ID, you can sync them together and therefore do the backup. Check these out:
Step 1: Connect your disabled iPhone to the iMac/Macbook.
Step 2: Launch Finder through by pressing Option + Command + Space.
Tip:
Finder is only available on macOS 10.15, 11, 12 and any newer version. For older macOS, you can launch iTunes instead.
Step 3: Find your device’s name on the left panel of the Finder window.
Step 4: Click the Back Up Now button to complete.
Method 4: How to Back Up Disabled iPhone with iCloud
Before you continue reading, let me ask you one thing: is iCloud active on your disabled iPhone?
If you've enabled it on your iPhone and kept it running all the time, you can actually back up your iPhone even if it's locked completely. If not, well, try other methods then.
How iCloud Backs Up your Disabled iPhone
iCloud is an auto-backup cloud service. It will save your save to the cloud when this iPhone is connected Wi-Fi, charged, or lockced.
So, what you need to do now is to activate the auto-backup of iCloud.
First of all, charge your disabled iPhone. Repeat the plugin and plugout process for several times.
All these is to make sure iCloud auto-backup is activated. Now, let's check if iCloud has backed up your disabled iPhone or not.
Check if iCloud Backs Up your Disabled iPhone
To begin with, you need to prepare something:
- Get another iOS device, be it an iPhone or iPad.
- Remove the SIM card from your disabled iPhone and insert it to any phone, if can be the same iOS device you prepare.
Check your Disabled iPhone Data from Another iOS Device
Take out the iOS device you prepare. Decide this: are this iPad/iPhone and the disabled one share the same Apple ID?
If yes, they share the same account. On the device you prepare, go to Settings - Apple ID - iCloud - iCloud Backup - Manage Backup - Backups. There, you can see all the backup files for this Apple account.
Choose the name of your diabled iPhone. You will see the time for the Last Backup. See if it matches with the time you charge the disabled iPhone or not.
If not, log in your Apple account on this device you ready. You may be asked for verification code. Choose Didn't Get a Code? - Text code to (phone number).
You will receive a 6-digit code on the phone that you've inserted the SIM card to. Enter it to finish the login.
Now, you can follow the path mentioned above and check if iCloud backs up your disabled iPhone or not.
For Urgent Need: Extract Data from Previous Backup when iPhone is Locked
If you’re in great need of the data on the locked iPhone, you may extract it from a previous iTunes backup or iCloud backup if you’ve made one.
Situation 1: Extract Data from Previous Backup when iPhone is Locked
You can extract your data from a previous iTunes or iCloud backup file.
While you’re not sure if the data you want is stored on the latest backup file, use an old iPhone or iPad.
Take out the old device, and go to Settings - General - Reset - Reset All Contents and Settings.
Then, power on the device and set it up again. While setting up, choose Restore From iCloud Backup or Restore from Mac or PC accordingly, choose the latest backup file to restore on your old device.
After finishing the setup, all the data from the previous backup file will be input into your old iPhone.
If the data from the latest backup file is exactly what you are long for, you can move to unlock your disabled iPhone.
Situation 2: Retrieve your Data from iCloud.com
iCloud.com is the browser access of the iCloud storage. Once you turn on iCloud on your iPhone, it will automatically upload certain data to the cloud. You’ll be given the chance to find some data there.
Tip:
This is the data you can find on iCloud.com - Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Photos, Notes, Reminders, Pages, Numbers, Keynote.
Note that iCloud.com will only gather the data that is currently stored on your iPhone. If the data is removed already from the locked iPhone, well, try other methods.
Log in iCloud.com on a browser. After you sign in, choose the data type that you want to retrieve. Click the icon and preview the data, then save them on your PC.
Situation 3: Extract your important data from the device directly
If the data is stored on the locked iPhone only without backup, the only way you can do now is try to extract data directly from it.
There’s no other way out if you need the data badly, get yourself an iOS data extractor program. Here, I recommend the echoshare iOS Data Recovery. This program is a pro data extractor that scans the data on your iPhone and downloads them to the computer. With it, you’re available to get the data you want in 10 minutes.
iOS Data Recovery
World's #1 Data Recovery & Extraction Kit for iOS
Recover Photos, Videos, Contacts, Call Log, SMS, iMessages, Notes, and more.
Restore WhatsApp/Kik/Line/Viber/Facebook Messenger messages and more app data.
Extract any data from iOS devices(even disabled), iTunes/iCloud backup flexibly.
Recover data from iOS devices now!
FAQs
To fix a disabled iPhone, you need to put your iPhone into recovery mode first. Next, connect it to the computer with a USB cable.
Next, iTunes or Finder on your PC or Mac will automatically launch as it detect the disabled iPhone. And it will prompt you to restore this iPhone. Follow its instruction and fix the disabled iPhone.
Apart from this, you can also use iCloud and Find My app on your iPhone to fix a disabled iPhone. For more details, read this: How to Restore Disabled iPhone.
When your iPhone is disabled, check the screen. See how many minutes or hours it will be disabled.
If there's a certain amount of minutes or hours, it's fine. You can unlock your iPhone again when the disabled restriction is gone.
However, if you see a sign "iPhone is disabled connect to iTunes", your iPhone is completely disabled. You have to reset it.
There's no other way out, to re-use this iPhone, you must put it in factory settings that will erase everything of this iPhone.
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