You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Stuck in Recovery Mode

Hi!


I downloaded iOS7 via a Wi-Fi network earlier today, and I've been waiting to install it until recently. However, I was having a couple errors when I tried installing it, so I turned it off and back on again, and it started installing just fine.


However, after a while, the iPhone 4 went into recovery mode (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1808) and I attempted to restore it on iTunes 11.1. The problem is that when the "iPhone Software Update" file finishes downloading, iTunes gives me the notification that my "iPhone is in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes." all over again.


I've repeated this process three times now. If anyone could give any assistance it'd be most helpful.


Thanks!

iPhone 4, iOS 7

Posted on Sep 18, 2013 4:58 PM

Reply
66 replies

Sep 14, 2015 10:41 AM in response to Richasir

The procedure you describe is the one I had to use when my iPhone 5S was only showing the white apple logo when powered up. iTunes left no option but to download an update and restore from a backup afterward. iTunes incorrectly told me that I wasn't connected to the internet after my first attempt at downloading the update, even though there was a window telling me it was downloading. Then I did the same thing all over again and this time made a guess that it might work. Inexplicably, there is no progress bar letting the user know that the software is downloading; the only feedback I could find was attempting to quit iTunes and getting a message that software is downloading. I backup to iTunes on a Macbook Pro, so I think the autoshutoff caused the iPhone to exit recovery mode. It takes a while for the update to download, so I left it alone for about 3 hours--but the download time may have been shorter--and came back and everything worked fine. I just went through the steps Richasir mentioned, I had to hold the power and home buttons down for a while to get it to power down...same with pressing the home button while inserting the sync cable. If iTunes stops recognizing your iPhone, try disconnecting and reconnecting the sync cable to the phone. In this case patience and doing the same things several times worked, typical Apple.

Sep 26, 2016 3:54 PM in response to PLPK17

is online iTunes able to detect recovery mode??????😟

PLPK17 wrote:


I had the same problem with my iPhone when i was restoring, it went into recovery mode and wasn't being detected by iTunes, so what i did was search around and tried lots of different methods, including the home and power button method (None of them worked for me) so i took my iPhone to the apple store near me and they said it carrier locked halfway through the restore and then they unlocked it and it was fine and finished restoring and was fine and i haven't had any further problems with it.


Hope that helps

Stuck in Recovery Mode

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.