iPhone Restore without iTunes
Okay, so this is going to be long but bear with me
My grandmother is having an issue remembering the (6 digit) passcode for her iPhone (she has onset Alzheimer's and forgets things often)
When she got the phone, her live-in daughter (my aunt) set up the phone for her, and set up all the accounts, passwords and passcodes, as well as setting up FaceID among other things, I wasn't around during setup (I live in a different city)
Recently, my aunt has passed away, but left a bit of a scavenger hunt as it comes to accounts and passwords, and for what we do have, we don't know what goes to what (nothing's labeled properly)
Not long ago, an auto-update hit her phone (auto downloaded and installed), restarted, and in turn restarted Secure Enclave, asking for her 6 digit passcode (that those among the living can't seem to figure out)
Now I should probably mention at this point, I'm probably the most tech savvy person in my entire family, and I know when to stop, others in my family don't, and keep trying to "help", making matters worse, and downright refuse to listen to me. In this case, they just keep trying passcodes trying to find one that will work, now they did it one too many times and disabled the phone
My grandmother and I went to the Apple Store near her, and due to COVID-19 precautions, they won't even let us enter the store without an appointment, I schedule an appointment (which I was unable to honor) and left, at this point, we were trying to keep the data on her phone, so we were avoiding anything that would wipe it
While we were at the Apple Store, the guy said if we were willing to wipe the data (which we didn't at the time), we could restore it by plugging it into a (any) computer and restarting it in restore mode, I mentioned that all available computers we have at the moment (not including my personal computers, which I don't have access to right now) were (Windows) PCs and don't have iTunes installed (and we will not be installing iTunes, or any other extra software, on them), he said "that is fine, it will work on Windows, and iTunes is no longer required, just plug in the iPhone to USB, restart in recovery mode and BAM, done, you have a factory reset iPhone"
Time goes by and my cousin (the deceased's daughter) takes our grandmother to the same Apple Store, and they say "oh, no problem, we can back that up" and they set up and appointment, they go to the appointment, see that the iPhone is disabled and go "Ooooh, its disabled, yeah we can't back that up", back to square one
I then, while using my phone, remembered that my phone was backed up to iCloud, I later found out that even my mother's iPhone was backed up to iCloud, and it hit me, what if my grandmother's iPhone is already backed up to iCloud? She wouldn't lose anything in a factory reset anyway, it would all be on iCloud at least, and we could eventually get into that
In the meantime, my cousin (same one), finds our grandmother's old iPhone, which contains some of the same apps and photos, so at least she still has access to them... Phew
Anyway, we all decide to just factory reset the phone and erase everything, so I go back over, get her phone and go back to that Apple Store, which again they wont accept walk-ins due to COVID-19, so I planned an appointment for next week, but while discussing it, we figured I could just take her iPhone home with me and use one of the computers here
Here's the problem, nothing they said at the Apple Store seems to be true, I plugged the iPhone into a computer (with Windows 10) that doesn't have iTunes installed and is not currently connected to the internet (but according to the guy at the Apple Store, he never said an Internet connection was required), after getting the iPhone into recovery mode, it just gave me a URL to go to (support.apple.com/iphone/restore)
So I grab my Windows tablet I have available (also Windows 10, and also without iTunes, but is connected to the Internet) and with the iPhone in recovery mode and connected via USB to the tablet, I go to that URL, and read the only part that seems to pertain to what I am trying to do
iPhone 8 or later: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button. Press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo.
Which I do, but it doesn't work, all it does is bring me back to the "This iPhone is deactivated" screen
What can i do to reset this iPhone using Windows 10 without iTunes or any other software?
iPhone 11
