what does -23

The Mac error -23 is an “unknown error”.

What were you doing, when you encountered that -23 “unknown error”?

Restoring macOS, as implied by the Related Article? Installing macOS? Resetting an iPhone? Running some app? Etc.?

Any other error-related information shown?

If a restore of a Mac, you were presumably having some other issue that led to trying the restore. What was that?

Have you run diagnostics on the Mac?

… Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

If you were restoring an iPhone or iPad, -23 is usually flaky or failed Mac hardware:

… iOS update and restore errors - Apple Support

In the Terminal:



How you got this error, as MrHoffman relates, is based on what you were doing on the Mac when the error occurred. Share that information.

VikingOSX wrote:

In the Terminal…

With odin, sure. But you’ll get inconsistent responses if you try that command on loki.

Ironically, that is the name of my 2020 Core i7 iMac… 😉