"iPhone unavailable" message on lock screen

That’s exactly what happened to me on my iPhone XS Max 3 days ago. Now I’m here with my aunts phone but hers just says iPhone unavailable and only the option to erase everything. I’m stumped on what to do.

I had my phone in my pocket. Suddenly heard two people talking (coming out of it.) Looked at the phone and there was the message iPhone unavailable. Please try back in a minute. I only could dial for an emergency. Tried turning the phone off and back on at least two times. Finally it disappeared. WTH!

i have the same iPhone unavailable screen but because I am VERY rural with no WiFi I can’t do backups very frequently. I’m outside on porch with my sons phone just to get one bar signal. What about someone like me who has no current backup because they don’t have WiFi or have close access to public wifi? I have very important items for court on my phone put on there in the past few days. My newest backup is still 6 months old. They’re just gone?

You can do backups to your computer daily, if you choose to. Anything not backed up is gone forever. You can also sync important data to iCloud over cellular data; this is real time sync, so as soon as new content appears on your phone it will be copied to iCloud. Do you have any sort of broadband connection? If you do you can add a Wi-Fi router to it and have Wi-Fi. And you can also get a cellular Wi-Fi device (such as a “MyFi”) that will provide a Wi-Fi network through your cellular connection. None of this will help now, however; it is for the future.

That’s the problem , I don’t have a computer or any sort of broadband connection. The cell signal at home is nonexistent inside and one bar strength outside at best. I had to walk outside just now to check responses on here.

So this sounds like the best option for me-

“You can also sync important data to iCloud over cellular data; this is real time sync, so as soon as new content appears on your phone it will be copied to iCloud.”

How do I make sure it is syncing in the future? If it is - why is a separate backup necessary?

To enable sync go to Settings/[your name]/iCloud. You will see a bunch of switches, each controls syncing of one type of data to iCloud. Note that it is only data sync; it does not include any system or app settings. Backups include system data, app settings, phone settings, and any data that does NOT sync to iCloud. Thus, if you turn on Photos for syncing then photos will not be included in a backup; if Photos is turned off then photos will be included in the backup.

I'm so sad my baby's photo because I forgot my iphone and can only erase everything! This is such a failure! I lost my photos for years! Time cannot flow backwards, and the same cannot be photographed again! I am so sad! I find it suffocating that the iphone doesn't have a forgot passcode option

It does have a forgot passcode option but since it is a local passcode that doesn't leave your iPhone then you are the only one who knows it so it must be replaced to do a new one. It also has an easy option for backing up the phone.

You last hope would be a long shot that a hypnotherapist could help you to remember the passcode that you set.

One of the phones in my account apparently has a malfunctioning screen due to no fault of ours. It's an iPhone 13 and has been security locked after being in my husbands shirt pocket where one would normally carry a phone. We have spent literally hours on the phone and online trying to correct this without success. At this point we are resigned to the fact that our data cannot be recovered. That is our fault, we did not back it up nor sync it to our computer. We would just like to be able to use this thing. Our last attempt without being able to talk to a real live, service associate, led to receiving an email which said we had to wait till 10 days away to receive an email telling us how to restore our forgotten Apple password which is not the problem. This phone is used for business we can't wait 10 days for help. Am I considering switching my iPhone and carrier? yes!

To Lawrence Fish-no none of the videos in this thread or solutions helped with my phone. Don’t bother scolding me for not backing up or miss using my phone. I am over the fact that I’ve lost all the data and just want to get the phone back into use. Calling Apple, AT&T and our local (3 hrs away) Apple Store does not provide us with any information only recorded voices giving us any help. I can only get as far as the recovery screen if I try one of those video methods. The phone does not respond there is nothing on the screen except for the phone unavailable or a security lock is on your phone. Pressing erase phone does not elicit anything.

I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled iTunes, did literally EVERYTHING Apple support told me, got told it’s a windows thing, windows referred me to an Apple adviser and on top of all this I NEED THE DEVICE SINCE IT HAS MY accessibility stuff. Ugh I am so frustrated! I can’t just go to an Apple sprite since the nearest is very far from me and I’m legally blind/hard of hearing so couldn’t do that anyway, and to add to it none of my relatives can drive me. I. Keep getting the Apple unavailable screen and no erase options and all advisor sleep tell me it to go to iTunes iTunes… I am very familiar and comfortable with computers so if I call it genuinely there’s nothing anywhere or I’ve tried everything else first. HELP

This is the most useless feature on a phone I have ever heard of. Mine got to this screen because while the phone was in my pocket on a hike, the phone tried to unlock too many times.

I can't believe there's no fix for this from apple. I can't understand how they didn't think it would be a good idea for them to have a way to unlock the phone on their end. There are so many situations where a wrong passcode could be put into the phone too many times. I read it can happen when it's charging. Why didn't they write an update where they could unlock it? Now I have to get rid of months of data to unlock my phone. Do other types of phones do this? It might be time to start looking into Androids if Apple can't think ahead far enough to see how their "security" measures will inconvenience their users.

I had my phone as usual in a coat pocket while walking. When I went to use it, screen said “phone unavailable; try in 15 minutes”. I turned the phone off after a few minutes passed, waited a minute or so, and the same message popped up, re-starting the 15 minutes. No other message on the screen except a button for emergency call. Is something wrong w the update? Just updated earlier this week-Nov 16th

Dear Apple Support,

I just had my iPhone in my pocket and when I needed it and took it to my hand I’ve suddenly got message “IPhone Unavailable, try again in 5 minutes”.

As you can imagine there are the situations when you need your phone urgently, right now, not in 5 minutes.

Please switch off this functionality for me, it’s useless and got me into trouble.

I didn’t pay for this discomfort when purchasing an iPhone.

I had the exact same issue. Over six months ago, I woke up to my XR iphone saying "iphone unvailable" out of the blue. I have absolutely no idea what happened. It forced me to have to buy a new iphone. Went to Apple three times about this in the past half year and they give the same drill and the woman working there was practically shaming me for not knowing if it was linked to the my icloud or not. I mean, we become slaves to a cloud instead of basic common sense in this regard such as security questions, finger prints, face recognition, etc. They make it impossible and all I have learned from this experience is that nothing in technology is safe nowadays, the next new model that comes on the market seems to be more of an experiment that we get hooked on and then risk losing all of our information with a click of a button (which is what they proposed 3 times now because they couldn't guarentee it would be lost so I declined). I thought for sure a half a year later they would have something figured out! Radio silence, crickets. An outsourced company told me this is Apples error because they lock if for security purposes. Another company I went to said I need to prove the phone is mine, need to have serial #, receipt of purchase which I have, etc. so I have all of that from t mobile, useless so far. I am upset because all of my text and voice messages with family are in whataspp in that phone and yet it's like speaking to the abyss to get any assistance or a solid company who can get this figured out. I had another company say I could try to hire a forensics data retrival specialist so I guess l'll try that next. Apple, step up your game! :Z