If you've forgotten your passcode and your iPhone has become disabled,
you have to erase it and set it up as new. Other than waiting
and then entering the correct passcode, this is the only way to get back into your iPhone. Unless you've already entered
your passcode incorrectly 10 times, and your iPhone is completely disabled. We'll explain how to
erase your iPhone and then give you some tips to help protect it in the future. A lot of the time,
it's not you that locks yourself out of your iPhone; it's someone else trying to get in.
The first way to erase your iPhone is using your computer and Recovery Mode. Step one is to turn
off your iPhone, so I'm going to press and hold the side button and the volume down button, and
swipe to Slide to Power Off. The phone is turning off. Even if your iPhone is unavailable,
you could still turn it off. Now that it's off, we're going to enter Recovery Mode,
and we need three things for this to work: a computer (doesn't have to be yours), a cable,
and your iPhone. Step one, I'm going to plug this cable in to my computer. As I plug in the
lightning connector into my phone, I'm going to press and hold the side button. You do that on any
iPhone 8 or newer. If you have an iPhone 7, press and hold the volume down button as you're plugging
in. If you have an iPhone 6s or older, press and hold the Home button as you're plugging in.
Press and hold the side button. Plug in the cable.
I'm going to keep pressing and holding the Apple logo until it appears on the screen.
Keep pressing and holding. You can let go of your button
once you see the computer and cable icon appear on the phone. I can let go of the button. The rest of
the process happens on my computer. If I'm using an older Mac with 10.14 or older, or an older PC,
I'm going to use iTunes. If I'm using a newer Mac, I'm going to use Finder. If I'm using a newer PC,
I'm going to use the Apple Devices App. Let's open Finder on this computer and locate the phone.
Underneath Locations, there is a problem with the iPhone that requires it to be updated or restored.
We're going to click the Restore button, which incidentally will update it. Yep.
Are you sure you want to restore the iPhone to its factory settings? All media and other data will
be erased and the newest version of the iPhone software will be installed. So, click "Restore and
Update"; you don't have another option. If there's a company that offers to help you bypass this,
don't trust them; it doesn't work, it's a scam. You'll get some information about the update;
just click "Next" then read the agreement from start to finish, then click "Agree"
and we're now downloading the iPhone software update. You'll see a progress bar going
across the screen at the bottom; first it downloads the file, then it extracts it,
then your computer updates your iPhone. The restore process itself will take about
10 minutes, but this process is going to take anywhere between one minute and a million minutes
depending on how fast your internet connection is; faster internet speeds and how large the
update is could be a big thing and with a major update it's going to take longer to download.
The download is complete and now it says "Extracting Software" at the bottom of the
screen; just keep watching those status bars. Now we've got our "Candy Cane" — "Depressing Candy Cane"
status bar, "Preparing iPhone For Restore"; you'll notice the Apple logo has now appeared on the
screen and we've got a status bar on our iPhone as well, two status bars to look at.
Yes, as we're waiting for these status bars to roll along, considering that "Join" button
below this video, obviously right now you can't edit any of the settings on your iPhone. But if
you're a member of our Channel, we've got PDFs of our settings that we recommend changing;
you can get those and a whole lot more by clicking that "Join" button below.
So, when your restore is finished, you can go in and change all the settings. As
soon as the process finishes and you see "iPhone Locked to Owner" on your phone,
you might have to tap the screen to get that to show up.
You can unplug it from your computer and the whole rest of the process happens on the iPhone
itself. On the iPhone locked to owner page, swipe up to open and tap on your language. Select your
country or region and you can quick start or set up manually. We're going to choose set up
manually and choose our Wi-Fi network. It may take a few minutes for your phone to activate.
Next, we need to enter our Apple ID and password, then tap next in the upper right hand corner of
the screen. There we go, now we're in Data and Privacy. Tap continue and Face
ID we'll set that up later, you can set it up now if you'd like and create a new
passcode. Make sure it's one that you do not forget, so we're going to choose this one.
If you choose a password that will be easily guessed, you might get this pop-up saying,
"This passcode can be easily guessed." Take that risk at your own discretion.
We're going to use that anyway and we'll enter one more time.
Next, you want to transfer apps and data to this phone. We have
an iCloud backup, so we're going to select restore from iCloud backup
with your iCloud account. Tap next and tap in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
Enter your passcode one more time and tap next in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
Apple ID verification code, then you must find another device. You only see this pop-up if
two-factor authentication is on. It probably is on your phone, so there it is once again.
We got more terms and conditions that you should definitely read start to finish. Then,
once you've done that, tap agree in the lower right hand corner
of the screen. It may take a few minutes to set up your Apple ID.
Now they're on the "Backup" page. Choose your most recent backup and
make this your new iPhone. Tap "Continue" and we'll set up Apple Pay later in
Wallet. We're continuing with the Apple Beta Program - believe it! Now we're on "Restore
from iCloud". Are you sick of progress bars? Well, too bad - you got one more to sit through
and we did it! It took a little while, but we are back into our phone. If I swipe up,
I can log in again thanks to iCloud Backup - all my apps are there! You can also erase
your iPhone wirelessly using your computer. So, we're going to go to iCloud.com/Find
We're going to sign into our account. Once you're logged into iCloud "Find
My" and click on your device - "iPhone" - and locate it. If you don't see it right away,
you can tap the little triangle next to "All Devices" at the top and find it in that list.
We got our iPhone. Click on the "Erase iPhone" button. Erase this
iPhone and all content and settings will be erased. If "Find My" network is enabled,
you'll still be able to locate this iPhone. Then click "Erase" and enter your password.
Follow the instructions and you're good to go.
Let's talk about how to protect your iPhone. Step one, turn on iCloud Backup. That way,
you know you'll have a backup if your iPhone becomes disabled again. Maybe you have small
children who love pressing buttons, or a nosy sibling who can't read your diary anymore, because
nobody writes in diaries anymore, or a YouTube co-host who likes to play pranks on you every day.
Open the Settings app and tap on your Apple ID at the top of the screen. Then tap "iCloud". Tap
"iCloud Backup" and make sure the switch next to "Backup this iPhone" is on. iCloud Backup
automatically happens every day, as long as your iPhone is plugged in, the screen is off,
and you're connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data. But we'd tell you to turn off the
switch next to "Backup over cellular". This will just drain your cellular data plan.
Next, we're going to turn on "Find My" so that if your iPhone becomes disabled again,
you can just wirelessly erase it and find it, I suppose. Let's step back to the main
page of our Apple ID settings. Then tap on "Find My". Tap on "Find My iPhone" at
the top of the screen and make sure the switch next to "Find My iPhone" is on.
The next setting to be aware of is "Erase Data". Let's head back to the main page of settings.
Scroll down to "Face ID and Passcode". Login using your passcode that you now remember
because your phone is unlocked. Then scroll all the way down to "Erase Data". When this is on,
your iPhone automatically erases your data after 10 failed passcode attempts.
Not as important for parents as it is for secret agents whose phones might get stolen.
But this next tip is really helpful for parents with those annoying little children.
It's a setting called "Guided Access." Kids love to press buttons, especially buttons with numbers
on them. I remember pressing a lot of buttons in elevators when I was a kid; people loved that.
Let's head back to the main page of Settings; scroll all the way to the top and then we're
going to type in "Guided Access." The first result there, tap on "Guided Access" takes you right to
it; no tapping involved. Let's turn on that switch next to "Guided Access." Guided Access locks your
iPhone in a specific app, so that if you hand it to somebody like a kid, they can't lock it
and then press all the buttons and disable your iPhone again. Let's say you want to lock your
child inside the YouTube app. Let's close out of Settings; come over here to our App Library. I'll
type in "YouTube" and open that up. Then, we're going to Triple Click the side button - one,
two, three - then tap "Guided Access," and now they are locked inside that "Guided Access."
Just tap "Start" in the upper right hand corner of the screen, set a passcode, don't forget it,
and you are all set. "Guided Access" started. Triple click the side button to exit. Right,
so then you have to enter that "Guided Access" passcode again; your kids can't lock it out
of your entire phone. Yep. To leave "Guided Access," triple click the side button again,
enter my passcode, and we're done. Tap in the upper left hand corner of the screen;
"Guided Access" ended. Give Daddy the phone back, Johnny! Give Daddy his phone back,
otherwise, as David said, he's gonna lock you in a closet or something. And now that you've
gotten your phone back, learn how to keep hackers out too by watching our next video.