ANY ONE KNOW WHAT IS ERROR 3 IN ITUNES WHEN I TRY TO RESTORE IPHONE 5 TO IOS 7 IT STUCKS IN THE END AND AFTER 30 MIN THIS COME OUT "UNKNOWN ERROR 3" CAN SOME ONE HELP ME PLZ

Hey Kenneth,

I myself have been stuck for a while now since ios 7.0.2. I have tried everything in the forums, and even your freezer trick. I tried the restore right after I took it out the freezer and still got an error 3. When you wrote to apple, did you email them or send them an actual letter in the mail? If by email, may I please have the email address that was used. I'm about 2 mins away from emailing tim cook about this...This is an issue that needs to be addressed!!

Thank you.

This sounds like a good method (me being desperate). I tried your method of storing the device in the freezer for a duration of 40 min in a freezer bag with rice. I took it out immediately and restored with the now latest version of ios 7 (7.0.4). It appears to have no change in pattern during the restore (fails more than half way). I will retry this method again since apple has not taken responsibility for this mess.

It was the "Customer Satisfaction Survey" that Apple sends out after a visit to the Genius Bar which failed to solve the problem. After the last "check the box" question on the survey, they give you a big text box to type in as much as you want, then asks for your phone number and a good time to call you after you complete filling in the text box.

I wrote a pointed argument as to how Apple should be responsible for "bricking" devices with their software iOS updates, regardless of warranty status, the same way I would hold my car dealership responsible to fix my car if they updated the engine OS and after the engine software update, the engine wouldn't start. If my car dealership said to me the same words the Apple Genius and store manager said "Sorry the OS update bricked your engine, but your car is 222 days out of warranty, so we'll sell you a used car or engine at full price" - well, would you accept that? I don't think Tim Cook would and Apple customers shouldn't either. I didn't drop my iPad 3 and break the screen - that would be my responsibility. Apple pushed an iOS update to my device and bricked it. That's their responsibility as I see it.

I've been told that Apple reads every one of these customer survey and takes them seriously, so we'll see if they respond.

Thank you for the info. I smell a class action lawsuit coming real soon if nothing happens. It almost seems like they know about this issue but yet claim its a hardware issue. I keep getting pointed to a document on here for help from the so-called apple people telling me how to restore. I have tried every step they have told me to do, have done all the steps on the forums, I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING. I have been a developer for 3 going on 4 years. I thought it was classic when the "genius" told me that us developers are smarter then they are, we have no clue what error 3 is.

I tried everything inculding freezing the iphone for 45 min with and without zip bag , but still during firmware restore i get the same " unknown error (3)"

Move to new version of iOS 7.0.4 and see.

Do a full clean restore.

As an IOS software (new version) can prevent my machine to finish the restoration. So why are the available versions 7.0.2 and 7.0.4 now can not installed on my iPhone, how can anything be corrected. There's something wrong with the IOS version 7 it is because some started to have the same problem the ERR (3), may even be conincidencia, but there's something wrong in the air and has not yet been discovered. Remains is to have more people having the same problem and Apple resolve to contribute to the solution team.

GUYS.......

I have been in contact with a few AppleCare Senior Advisors, and one AppleCare IOS Senior Advisor. I spent a good 3 hours last night on the phone with them, they are now aware of this problem. We are working on a solution to a fix, as the engineers are now on board with this. I will keep you all updated with the findings. Stay tuned.

I repeatedly had error code 3 as well as multiple other ones depending on which method I was trying to restore my third-generation iPad. Took it to an Apple Store last week and they replaced it with a new unit but same generation. Pretty sure they know something is up… But **** frustrating to say the least.

Thank you very much kennethyoung! I made ​​your guide. Now my ipad works very well

I wanted to let everyone know that when I did the freezer trick, I was dealing with an ipad that was not covered under warranty and I had nothing to lose by putting it in the freezer. If you have a brand new ipad air and error code 3 happens, I would probably make an appontment at a genius bar and get your problem resolved face to face with them. I do not think I would have frozen my ipad if it was under warranty even though the freezer trick did work.

Well I tried again with the freezer trick with no luck. I just glad Apple finally knows about the problem. Hopefully the fix this probably asap ive been without my iphone since the 7.0.2 update 😟

I have an iPad 3 as well and I updated to 7.0.4 over the air and it failed. Tried restoring it from my Mac several times with error code (3). I tried my roommates Windows computer and it failed with error code (3). I called Apple Support and they tried to walk me through the restore process and it failed with error code (3). They said the error code had something to do with the network settings on my computer, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I took my AT&T SIM card out of the iPad and tried restoring and it and still got error code (3). The lady from Apple support didn't seem to be aware of this error code at all, which is kind of disappointing. I have an appointment at a Genius Bar on Monday, so hopefully they can either get it fixed or give me a replacement. These things are too expensive to only last a year and a half! In the meantime, my iPad is in the freezer. I'm really hoping this works. It sounds crazy, but it does make sense.

After trying the freezer, the restore got much farther than it had ever gotten, but it still failed and gave me error code (8) this time. Couldn't find any information online for this error code :/ I'm going to try it again and see what happens.

I had to create an account here just to say thanks to Kenneth for the freezer trick.

Makes sense that the only way to shut off a chip is by removing all sources of energy, be it thermal or electrical.

In my case, I stuck the phone in the freezer for about 3 minutes, right in front of the freezer's vent blasting on the phone (not recommended because you could trigger the moisture sensor paper and void your warranty) - but it worked like a charm.