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IPhone Unavailable when I didn’t enter a passcode at all

I woke up this morning, having not touched my phone at all overnight. It says my iPhone is locked and to try again in one hour, a number that isn’t going down at all. I’ve turned it on and turned it back off, but all that has done is restart the timer to one hour. I don’t want to erase everything on my iPhone, but what are the alternatives here?

iPhone 11 Pro, iOS 16

Posted on Aug 30, 2023 2:27 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 27, 2024 4:00 PM

These answers don’t address the original question. Why is there a lockout when I did not enter wrong passcode? I pulled my phone out of my pocket and am locked out. It happened to me yesterday also. This is more than an inconvenience when boarding passes are on phone, etc.

6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 27, 2024 4:00 PM in response to mon140

These answers don’t address the original question. Why is there a lockout when I did not enter wrong passcode? I pulled my phone out of my pocket and am locked out. It happened to me yesterday also. This is more than an inconvenience when boarding passes are on phone, etc.

Apr 26, 2024 1:32 PM in response to SravanKrA

The same thing is happening to me. I have not done any of the items in 1 through 7. Just pulled the phone out of my pocket and it was 'iPhone Unavailable for 60 minutes'. Then it showed my location not even close to where I was and in the early morning hours a friend of mine received a call from my phone number but it was not me. Could this be a hacking situation?

May 31, 2024 11:18 AM in response to mon140

The same thing just happened to me. I left my phone screen upwards while I was working in the yard. I worst I thought would happen is the sunlight would shut off my phone, but I ended up with the iphone unavailable screen and had to wait 5 minutes. I was so confused, and to other commentors points, this could be really inconveniencing/downright inhibiting if this is a continuous random glitch. Though I'm sure mine may have been caused by overheating because no one had touched my phone or attempted to enter the passcode.

Aug 30, 2023 2:54 AM in response to mon140

If you feel an unauthorized person/app is remotely using, controlling or monitoring your device, then that is possible only if you have done one or more of the following Don'ts...


  1. Don't hand over an iPhone to kids or to a stranger without Enabling Guided Access
  2. Don't share Apple IDs
  3. Don't Jailbreak
  4. Don't share sensitive information pertaining to your device
  5. Don't give in to Phishing
  6. Don't plug in your device in Airports and Public places through third-party cables and trust the device. Beware of Juice Jacking. (Especially in India)
  7. Don't leave your iPhone unlocked and unattended in public places like offices, schools, malls, etc.


If one of the above is true then quickly change the Apple ID Password and Return iPhone settings to their defaults.



Aug 30, 2023 2:53 AM in response to mon140

Your data is not lost if you have a backup either on iCloud or iTunes.



If you see an iPhone or iPad unavailable message or "Security Lockout" screen


If you forgot your passcode, you can use your Apple ID and password to erase and reset your device without a computer.


Learn what to do if you see "[Device] unavailable" or "Security Lockout" on your iPhone or iPad.)



iPhone is disabled.


Following this process is the only way out if your iPhone is disabled. The steps given in this link will help you reset the passcode -> If you forgot the passcode for your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, or your ...



Regarding your data…

  1. If you have an iCloud or iTunes latest backup, then there is nothing to worry about. If not read more...
  2. You have synced your data to iCloud, then what you will get back is what you have synced to iCloud and uploaded to iCloud Drive; the information that is synced and stored in iCloud are, Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks, Mail, Notes, Voice Memosshared photosiCloud Photos*, Health data, call history, and files you store in iCloud Drive. (*-If you had turned on iCloud Photos, your content is automatically stored in iCloud.)
  3. You have imported your Photos & Videos to Mac/PC then they are safely residing there on Mac/PC
  4. You have uploaded some of it to Cloud Drives using the Files app (iCloud Drive, Google Drive, OneDrive, DropBox, Flickr, box, AmazonDrive, Adobe Creative Cloud etc). The data remains there.
  5. If you have not backed up or do not have the latest backup, nor imported nor you have synced or uploaded your data to cloud drives prior to the situation that you are in, then I am sorry, all your data is lost.


IPhone Unavailable when I didn’t enter a passcode at all

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