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Security Lockout on iPhone

My iPhone says "Security Lockout" and won't let me enter a password to get in; how do I open my phone without erasing it?

iPhone XR, iOS 15

Posted on Feb 3, 2022 2:44 PM

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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.

Posted on Feb 3, 2022 2:55 PM

63 replies

Jan 2, 2023 8:43 PM in response to aparnadas

If anyone knows how to get in the iPhone on lockout please help I have photos on there I need of my father whom passed my granddaughter kept playing with the camera and somehow locked me out I’m assuming touching the numbers on the keypad because she just smirked when I asked she’s 5 it’s my own fault for leaving it out so I deserve the smirk

Jan 3, 2023 7:15 AM in response to Max905

There are many ways of preserving photos and videos. Did you do any of these?


  • emailed, texted or messaged the photos to friends or family
  • iCloud photo sync
  • Manual iCloud backup
  • Automatic nightly iCloud backup
  • iTunes backup
  • Transfer your photos to your computer via USB cable
  • Apple Photo Stream
  • Sync to Google Photos
  • Sync to some other photo archiving service such as Shutterfly
  • Sync to Dropbox
  • Sync to box.com
  • Sync to Microsoft OneDrive
  • Sync to Amazon Photos
  • back up to Livedrive
  • Backup to any other backup or archiving service


A final option is if you synced your photos to iCloud, you have a Mac, and you use Time Machine to back up your Mac automatically, you can open Time Machine and restore the photo library to an earlier date. To do this on your Mac open Finder, then click on Pictures in the sidebar and launch Time Machine. Go to a time before the photos were deleted and restore

Photos Library.photoslibrary. (If you had ever changed the name of the photo library restore that file instead).


If the answer is no to all of the above your photos are gone forever.

Security Lockout on iPhone

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