Security Lockout on iPhone

I woke up this morning to see the Security lockout my iphone, even without attempting any wrong passwords, if my iPhone had disabled for 5 minutes to 1 hour as usual I don't think this should've occurred, I think this is a malfunction

My iPhone was in my shirt pocket at work, and apparently the friction through my shirt was enough to make my phone disable itself. This is NOT OK. I am a first responder and I get notifications through my phone. To have the software on an iPhone "automatically" force an erase of all data, even without a backup is ludicrous. I have critical images and videos from work on my iPhone that will be lost if I erase the phone. Why cannot iCloud fix this!? Total fail. Are iPhones only rated for indoors work in sanitary environments!? This is crazy!!!

This answer is not correct. You don't have to erase anything "If you don't have the option to enter the passcode after waiting, it's probably not coming back and the best you can hope for is to erase and recover from a backup." You can push the top volume, bottom volume, and the right side button and the Apple will come up and reset. Once you enter your passcode you need to wait 1 hour and enter your passcode you're fine.

I actually think this behavior sucks. If you can enter your appleid and password to erase your phone you should get at least one more chance to enter your pin. This happened to my husband as he left his phone in his pocket while playing pickleball. Evidently in the dark of his pocket it prompted for the unlock PIN number…. Enough times to get the final deadly security lockout. Unfortunately all his Disney pictures we just took got deleted because we had to erase his phone! Apple needs to rethink the final option.

That can happen if there are too many passcode attempts. It will actually delay when the next passcode attempt can be made, increasing the interval after a few times. Eventually it will say security lockout, and no longer give an option to enter a passcode. The only way it's ever coming back again is if it gets erased and the Apple ID credentials are entered.

I've heard of a few of these (especially iPhone Unavailable) especially with malfunctioning touchscreens where it's just randomly entering the passcode without human input. If you don't have the option to enter the passcode after waiting, it's probably not coming back and the best you can hope for is to erase and recover from a backup.

Yeah this is the exact reason I'm switching to android. Do you not think it's illogical how you have to enter your apple id password to reset the phone? Why not enter your apple id passcode to unlock the phone?

atiya100 wrote:

What is security lockout and why this happened

Too many attempts at a passcode. I believe the 10th unsuccessful attempt will permanently lock it out where the only way to recover is to perform a factory reset with activation lock (requires access to the Apple ID used to set up). However, it's not as if one can do it quickly. After a few attempts it won't allow a passcode entry for maybe 15 minutes. The last few might require a 1 hour waiting period.

I also have this problem. The phone was in my shirt pocket with the screen inwards for better protection. When I went to use it, it said security locked, try again in several minutes. Next time I tried a half hour or so later it said same thing with try again in a longer time. Each time it said in more minutes. Finally it simply said Security Locked. I wasn't trying to use the phone at all between each of these times. This is an iPhone 13 Pro Max which I had about two months.

I had the same thing happen a year or two ago with my iPhone 11 Pro Max, but I was able to catch it before it was fully locked. I think it said iPhone unavailable each time rather than security locked.

I am most concerned whether someone could be trying remotely to unlock it and have remote access. If that is not possible, then I will have to erase and restore and try to find a way to turn security off on it. It isn't worth it.

aparnadas wrote:

My iPhone says "Security Lockout"

This is somewhat unusual. What did you do to cause this?

If it’s caused by your Apple ID being locked or disabled, read and follow the article linked above. Otherwise, tell us the reason for the message.

i cracked my phone about 2 months ago, but haven’t been able to get it fixed. Yesterday the ink or whatever it was started showing up from the top by my camera and eventually everything started glitching and delaying. i tried putting my passcode in maybe once or twice but then it started automatically clicking random button and eventually it just said security lockout and i don’t know what to do now.

1990SE30 wrote:

What if you are far from WiFi and simultaneous power and therefore not backed up? Engineering fail.

What if you set your phone down and a piece of space junk fell out of the sky and landed on it when you hadn't backed it up? One can always come up with hypotheticals. The reality is we live in a world of choices, compromise, and a balance between things like security and ease of use. There will never be a perfect answer.

Additionally, Apple isn't reading here for suggestions or feedback. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

My girl friend phone is have security lock It have do we get In the phone

erynw45 wrote:

i cracked my phone about 2 months ago, but haven’t been able to get it fixed. Yesterday the ink or whatever it was started showing up from the top by my camera and eventually everything started glitching and delaying. i tried putting my passcode in maybe once or twice but then it started automatically clicking random button and eventually it just said security lockout and i don’t know what to do now.

Have you considered getting it repaired?

If it is in the moronic security lockout mode, one CANNOT backup their critical data. This is a huge flaw in iPhone software.

erynw45 wrote:

Plus, if i get it fixed, how will i know how to get out of security lockout without losing all my data and erasing my iPhone.

Losing all your data is virtually certain. That’s why backups must precede catastrophes.

I have considered getting it repaired but i don’t know where to go.

iPhone Repair - Official Apple Support