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Phone can't unlock, reset or swipe!

Hi There,


My phone's been almost unusable for the past 24 hours, please see some of the problems I've been facing below. I have an iPhone XS Max.


Currently my phone can only be 'woken up', I can't unlock it or reset it. I can wake up the phone, tap and hold down on a notification and delete it, however I can't swipe it to the side to unlock my phone. If I hold the phone up it doesn't attempt to recognise my face, nor can I swipe up to unlock.


I've tried resetting the phone, with both the 'hold volume and power' method & the 'volume up, down then power' method, this causes the 'swipe to power off' screen to appear for a millisecond then disappear.


I've tried to unlock the phone via Siri, it prompts to enter my passcode after I give an order, I can enter my password but it immediately takes me back to the lock screen. The torch and camera options work, but when I go to the camera screen, I can't take a photo or switch to a different photo mode.


I've tried to connect the phone with my laptop, it prompts me to 'trust' the laptop, but no such prompt shows up on my phone.


Apologies for the blunt sentences! I've trying to get my thoughts out clearly as it's hard to explain.


It started around 24 hours from typing this up, and the only incident I can think that happened with my phone around then is that I sat on it?


Hopefully this makes sense, and if anyone can offer any advice I'd really appreciate it!


Thank you

iPhone XS Max, iOS 14

Posted on Dec 7, 2020 10:01 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 7, 2020 10:26 AM

You need to retry the 'volume up, down then power' method without any case on and when you press the power button keep holding it even if swipe to power off appears, do not let go until you see the Apple logo.


If that doesn't help you need to do these steps again, but while plugged into your laptop with iTunes (or Finder) open. This will put the iPhone into recovery mode to do a Restore. See the steps at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201263 Pay special attention to step #4 saying "Wait while your computer downloads the software for your device. If the download takes more than 15 minutes and your device exits the recovery mode screen, let the download finish, then repeat step 3."

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1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 7, 2020 10:26 AM in response to charlee194

You need to retry the 'volume up, down then power' method without any case on and when you press the power button keep holding it even if swipe to power off appears, do not let go until you see the Apple logo.


If that doesn't help you need to do these steps again, but while plugged into your laptop with iTunes (or Finder) open. This will put the iPhone into recovery mode to do a Restore. See the steps at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201263 Pay special attention to step #4 saying "Wait while your computer downloads the software for your device. If the download takes more than 15 minutes and your device exits the recovery mode screen, let the download finish, then repeat step 3."

Phone can't unlock, reset or swipe!

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