I cannot update iOS on iPhone 6s. I'm getting the following error: "The iPhone could not be updated. an unknown error occurred (14). Is there any way to update the phone without doing a full factory reset recovery? If not, is there any way to recover the data prior to doing a recovery?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iPhone 6s, iOS 13
According to https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204770, error 14 likely indicates a hardware failure. The specific hardware component that has failed is not something that Apple has provided public information on, nor is it something that they offer to repair. If your device is stuck in recovery mode, then you can try to restore the device, but this will erase any and all data on your device. If data recovery is your priority, then look into a service such as Drive Savers, but beware, their services aren't cheap.
Surely if you have important data on the phone you made frequently backups, or, even better, enabled automatic nightly backups. Just restore the phone to factory settings, then restore your most recent backup.
And there is no way to recover data from the phone if you can’t even start it. Anyone who claims they can is scamming you. Have you tried a forced restart, by holding the HOME and POWER buttons at the same time until an Apple logo appears? You need to hold for 10-20 seconds.
I just got off the phone with Drive Savers and they indicate that they now have a solution for error code 14. Apple also appears to possibly have a solution for it as well
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211981
Don't want to give anyone false hope but here is what I did to FINALLY get mine to get unstuck from recovery mode and get my phone to turn back on without losing any of the data:
instead of restoring the phone and losing everything, I gave it one last try and updated to the latest iOS using a MacBook. It took a while to get it to work but perseverance paid off! After updating, the screen said "attempting to recover data" for a while and eventually turned back on just as it was before it crashed. Hope this works for you all as I know how upsetting/frustrating it is to think you have lost everything.
Just phoned Driver Savers. They are still working on a fix for error code 14. They said, correctly, that my phone was running out of space. Apparently it allowed me to continue to put data onto the phone until it failed. They have a long waiting list for people needing this repair. They estimate that it will take about 6 months to get the recovery software written to pull data off these phones.
Just wanted to add a comment here :) I ran into the same issue with my iPhone X... worked a week ago, then keeps stopping during update, stuck on the restore screen and throwing the Error 14 code... I also know it is a space issue as well...
Went into a Simple Mac store, woman immediately cut me off when I was trying to explain and said it was a brick and could only be restored, not updated to save data... but I’ve dug around the internet for days, felt a glimmer of hope that there HAS to be a fix since more and more people have experienced this issue recently.
When I saw your post about Driver Savers, I was crossing my fingers it was a legit thing, not a rumor - so I had to give them a call as well. CONFIRMED, your info was right!! The man I spoke to said they are aware of the error 14 during update, and they are writing the fix for it now... he advised to not try any extraction methods, and to not give up hope and restore the phone. They will hopefully have a fix soon enough... SO, if you can use another phone, hold off and set the troubled iPhone aside, do so!
Thanks again for the info about Driver Savers... I almost gave up hope!!! So stoked, hopefully many of us get our data back soon enough :)
Does Apple know about iPhone error 14?
Of course they do. They just choose not to do anything about it. Implementing a solution for them would be extremely difficult.
But Apple hasn’t been so forthcoming about the issue.
Apple’s support page for iOS update and restore errors has a section on error 14, but there is no mention that a full memory can trigger it.
Except Apple users have not been silent.
The apple discussion forum is filled with hundreds of threads about iPhones that were at full storage when they randomly crashed and froze while updating, resulting in an error 14.
The response to these threads is discouraging, with comments from other users acknowledging that they have the same issue and asking for any updates. In many of these threads, an Apple community specialist leaves a reply referring the iPhone user to Apple’s update and restore page (which does not address the issue) and encourages the user to contact Apple support before signing off with “cheers!”.
What happens when you contact Apple support about error 14?
Users who have contacted Apple support about error 14 report being told to restore their iPhone. This will get the phone back to working condition again, but all of a user’s data that is not backed up will be lost.
To this, Apple’s response is: not our problem.
If you have iPhone error 14, contact Apple support.
If iPhone error 14 applies to you, contact Apple Support.
Not because they can help you, but because they need to be made aware of the scope and scale of the issue. They won’t be interested in solving it until they are pushed to a point where it’s more beneficial for them to do something about it then to ignore it.
If you updated from iTunes on Windows PC, check C:/Users/(user)/Apple/MobileSync for possible backup files. That worked for me.
I am in the same boat. My phone started having problems in October. I began deleting apps, large text attachments, etc. It got stuck on the Apple logo Oct 30. My photos are only backed up to Sept/Oct 2019, so I'd lose important photos of my daughter's 1st birthday, 1st steps, etc. Lesson CLEARLY learned of backing up consistently! I sent my phone into OnTrack, who told me my phone has the error code 14 over capacity error. I called Drive Savers and learned the same, that there currently is not a solution for this error message. Will hold onto hope that one of these companies will be able to come up with a solution for this..fingers crossed.
I just got off the phone with Drive Savers and they indicate that they now have a solution for error code 14. Apple also appears to possibly have a solution for it as well
Thanks for your help. Have you heard of anyone trying the Stellar iPhone Data Recovery software? Just wondering if that works or whether it has the potential of messing up the data on my phone. I need a non-invasive scan of the files on the phone to see if there is anything worth recovering.
Hi, I recently contacted Driver Savers and they emailed saying they would be unable to recover it. Is it true that they are still working on a recovery software? This Error 14 happened to me last night and I'm just so angry at myself for not backing up all my photos and videos.
I decided to set my old phone aside (and not do a factory reset) with the hope that Apple will come up with a fix at some point. What is needed is for them to create a recovery only iOS that puts onto the phone a minimal operating system that will let me retrieve my data. What they currently have is what got me in trouble in the first place, which is an operating system that takes up more space than is available on my phone. Why they are unable to write a piece of software that checks the data storage and stops an install if there is insufficient space is beyond me. Guess it's the same reason that when I finally bought into iCloud to back up my rather largish 256 GB of phone storage on my new phone, they want me to buy more than the 200 GB that I am paying for (even though my phone only has 11 GB on it). Are they really that incompetent, or is it just another way to get $$$ out of me? I can tell you that if someone came to me having written software that is that ridiculously clunky, I would not hire them.
I now have 200 GB of storage and am only using 42 GB. I tried to allow my family to share the space, but they were told the space was not large enough to share (although they only had ~30 GB to put on it). So, I have no idea why this was not allowed.
As for not backing up my phone, I backed up everything but my music and my photos. Had I realized that the monthly cost for 50 GB was so low, I would have purchased the space. As it was, I tried to do it on iTunes with my Mac. But I found iTunes to be annoying (syncing my phone, and then reinstalling music that I had deleted from my phone in order to make space). That was one of the reasons I found myself struggling for space. I assume there is a solution for this, i.e. a way to only sync certain music folders, but I never did master that. So yes, I should have backed up my phone but I did not. Apple did send me warnings that I was running out of space, but I thought the worst that would happen was that I would not be able to download email or take photos. I can handle that and would have made the time to backup/clean off my phone. But that isn't what happened. The phone filled up, presumably after an update. Now I have a corrupted iOS. Yes, I know I can do a factory reset. I was hoping that someday someone (don't care if it is third party software) can pull off my data. But you're right, Apple is not big on that, so it will probably not happen.
Most of my music was ripped from my CD collection. Those are backed up on my laptop. What I lost were photos from ~Sept of last year until July of this year. It would be nice to get those. There was a nice youtube posting on this Error 14 problem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQTObeAUzkQ
If this person is correct, there is no fix and this problem is happening quite often. But at least I didn't lose photos of a newborn (as she claimed one person did). This just tells me to back up my data (and stop taking photos since I will never have enough time to go back to look at them all anyway).
What is also a bit annoying is that I lost purchases that I made from my old Apple ID. I had an ID before they went to using an email. It now associates that ID with an email, but it does not recognize the password that was associated with it. They do not give an option to do a password reset while downloading a backup from the iCloud (or at least I didn't see one). So I was not able to put those old items on my new phone. I have no idea why Apple wouldn't merge the two accounts (other than it would take time and not gain them any money?) It's not a big deal, it's just indicative of their mindset (and it's disappointing).
The iPhone could not be updated. an unknown error occurred (14)
