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
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.
Happened with my iPad too
It was just in my bag for the night and this morning it was on security lockout screen
The only possibility is that it was still connected to my wireless keyboard
Security lock out
My iPhone is also in "security Lockout" after having it inside my coat pocket. This is very bad since I am traveling at the moment.
what type of iphone are you using?
What is security lockout and why this happened
My iPhone is on security lockout how do I get in it I know my passcode
Bcubedb3 wrote:
I actually think this behavior *****. 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.
Apple doesn't read here in this use-to-user forum for feedback and suggestions. You can let them know your thoughts here:
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!!!
“Brain-dead” is an undesired, unneeded, security lockout from an iPhone in a pocket. “Brain-dead” is the assumption tech users have 24/7/365 access to simultaneous WiFi and power, thence the cloud. These are “mobile” devices after all. Logging into iCloud on another device and allowing owner of devices and data to unlock their iPhone would not be “brain dead,” it would be smart. Instead, Apple’s software makes this accidental security lockout irreversible. That is “brain dead.”
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.
Or, someone could ambush you and turn your phone into a brick with a quick succession of attempts. This is why a user should be able to unlock the security wall through iCloud. What if you are far from WiFi and simultaneous power and therefore not backed up? Engineering fail.
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:
In areas where we pay through the nose to connect to the internet still and have the slowest speeds on earth, there is a reason why we cannot link daily to icloud backups. Too easy to have all our data taken for the month reducing us to not being able to do business online because corporations simplify backups to everything all the time. So backups need to scheduled about 6 monthly once we know the next lot of data is arriving and we have enough left to complete a full backup. But minority communities are not catered for as Apple and other corporations cant be bothered.
The simple fact is that the iphone screen should be able to tell between a shirt pocket and someone trying to open the phone. And should be using the 2 factor security to check and hold what is going on before going nuclear with a "Security Lockout". Whats the point of collecting all this personal information if the program cant ML to seek clarification on what is going on the screen!
K_Wren wrote:
In areas where we pay through the nose to connect to the internet still and have the slowest speeds on earth, there is a reason why we cannot link daily to icloud backups.
If you have trouble making a backup using iCloud, you can always use a computer.
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?
Security Lockout on iPhone
