My phone has gone into recovery mode, but I want to save my pictures before I restore it. What do I do?

Oh you mean, because Apple wants customers to pay extravagant amounts of money to have a problem fixed... Got you...

<Edited By Host>

Does this work? I am desperate for help. I forced quit during the ios8 verification process on my iphone 5. When I tried to re-start, it went into bootloop. I can set to recovery. I am SUCH an idiot, I haven't backed up my phone - again, I get it I am an idiot. All I care about are my photos and videos. Can someone please help me!

Not sure what you mean by "bootloop" or "I can set to recovery". However, if your phone is not showing the connect to iTunes display, then you can try to reset it (nothing will be lost): Hold down the Home and Power buttons at the same time and continue to hold them down until the Apple appears (up to 30 seconds). If the reset is successful, the Slide to Unlock screen will display shortly.

Best of luck,

GB

Thank you Gail from Maine for your help! When I say "infinite boot loop", it's the apple then black, apple, then black....over again. and it never fully boots. I can put it into recovery (which is the connect to itunes display). But I can also take it out and re-boot it....then it goes back into the infinite boot loop. it is a 64GB iphone, is it possible that it's just going to take a while to reboot? I really am such an idiot - and advise anyone and everyone to back everything up regularly. If I could just get my photos and videos back....

Unfortunately, no. If it's stuck in a boot-loop, the only real option you have is to restore it. Anything that was on it is pretty much already gone.

So you tried the reset? It's not likely it would help, but any port in a storm, right?

As Tim has suggested, you are probably already at the point of no return. Your advice is exactly right - back up, back up, back up. It's not just this situation that would result in the same loss of your precious photos and data. A lost or stolen phone would put you in the same boat.

I would suggest just giving the reset a try. It certainly can't hurt at this point. But it is likely that you have lost those videos and photos....

Sorry 😟

GB

Hi! I haven't given up yet...been doing some research...a forensics data specialist suggested I take it to Mac and have them flash the firmware? Not sure what that means...but she said it could help me get out of boot loop without losing data. Have you heard of this? Thank you so much for any help you can offer....I really should walk around with a sign that says in all caps, "BACK UP YOUR DATA NOW IN 3 PLACES".... 🙂

No. It won't help you get out of it without losing data. The "forensics data specialist" you spoke to is an idiot. There's no other way to put it.

I cannot thank U enough Digital311...U are Godsend!! Everyone kept saying oh u will have to restore it but I still wanted to try my best. Yours was the last thing I tried, had to do it 2-3 times, but I kept trying to update it and third time got lucky. Phone was updated, working fine and no loss of data AT ALL.

& yeh I managed to impress a few ppl who thought I was being stupid and wasting my time ...so pretty much over the moon and I just wanted to make sure I came and thanked U. So those who are listening to others make sure they give this a shot, after all U r not selling any software 😀

Well thank goodness I DID NOT listen to you KiltedTim - because that is what actually FIXED my phone. They flashed the ios and the firmware and the phone COMPLETELY went back to normal -- all photos, apps, etc. I definitely learned a lesson about backing up. But, I also learned a lesson not to listen to "expert" naysayers in this forum who don't even know what they are talking about.

My phone has been in recovery mode for over a year. I have tried just updating it through Itunes many times with no success. How do I download the firmware other than in Itunes to get it to work?

You don't. Not legally, unless you're a member of the developers program. Maybe if you told us what the error you get when you try to update it, someone could help. We are not psychic.

I tried this and it said The iphone could not be updated. An unknown error occured (3194)

All I want is the pictures off my phone.. 😟

I tried this, but when the software is downloaded by iTunes and it tries to connect with the iPhone, it seems that the USB connection is broke for a second. The result is iTunes saying it's waiting for the iPhone response, while the iPhone shows the apple logo with a progress bar underneath, but it never actually fills, and iTunes ends up giving an error - either 9 or 27. Did that happen to you? I already tried in a windows PC and in a MAC but the same thing happened. Any clue how to fix this?

See: Get help with iOS update and restore errors - Apple Support