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This is my story - Error 12

Hello, i got an 8month old iphone 5, just upgraded to ios 7 and it was great. After 2 days i lost my service provider. Usually for all sorts of problems, all i do is restore from a back up but this time it won't finish restoring and always gets error 12. I've done it to 3 different macs and all with the same error. Did anybody experience this? Im from the Philippines with a unlock iphone from Singapore.


Thank you for your time :)

iPhone 5, iOS 7.0.2

Posted on Oct 6, 2013 7:21 AM

Reply
43 replies

Mar 12, 2014 10:53 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

That wording does not contradict what I was told on the phone. I was told that it's generally no problem to repair iPhones in countries other than where they were purchased. The wording simply states that Apple reserves the right to restrict the warranty. Well, they didn't in my case and based on what I was told on the phone Apple generally do not excercise that right.


At this particular store on this occassion (because that's all I can comment on from personal experience) it was not done at the manager's discretion because the manager was not involved at all. The issue of which country the phone came from was not even raised, though they would have known from Apple records that it was not from Taiwan.


You made a straightforward assertion that Apple does not allow repairs for iPhones in other countries (but local managers may sometimes try to help). My personal experience contradicts that assertion in that Apple explicitly authorised the repair and specifically told me that it can generally be done. That is what I'm saying, nothing more and nothing less.

May 19, 2014 6:06 PM in response to desireelagos

This is happening to me right now.The day before yesterday- everything was fine, then yesterday I noticed that I didn't have any service, yet everyone else on my plan had their service and everything was working normally for them while I had "Searching".

I thought that maybe updating to the newest os would work 7.1.1 but, I think it just might have screwed it up even more as I am pretty much stuck on 'connect to itunes'. I try to restore the iPhone 5, looks like it's going to work when, near the end, while "restoring iPhone firmware" it just stops and gives me error 12!
I have tried using a different USB cable,USB port, a different computer, restarting...my itunes is updated to the newest update. Nothing has been working!

I got this phone from the apple store In the begining of the year, as a replacement for my original iphone which had a camera issue. I was still under 1 yr. warrenty then.
I have my photos saved and I do have a recent back up of my phone. So, I'm not really worried about losing data. However, I am worried about not having a phone, yet still paying for service and also having to pay for a new phone or replacement phone most likely. It's really frustraiting that Apple doesn't take care of this for us as it is not something we caused.

Jun 23, 2014 11:24 AM in response to bmsharon

As indicated in earlier posts, you can view information about this error here. Resolve specific iTunes update and restore errors


The thing is, error 12 is generally a hardware issue, and would require one to visit the Genius Bar or Authorized Apple Service Provider. Apple does not provide support outside the country of purchase for iPhones, despite what is written by one poster here. You can search the forum as well, indicated by another poster to find where the prevailing answer is you will need to send that device to someone you know in the US to take to Apple, or bring it yourself. You have found what one of the disadvantages to purchasing a phone in one country and trying to use it in another does to your warranty. Apple does not accept international shipments.

Jun 23, 2014 11:29 AM in response to bmsharon

Though many here disagree with me, if your country has an Authorised Apple Service Centre I would strongly recommend taking it there to see what they can do.


In my case, though I purchased my phone in the UK and was in Taiwan when this error occurred, the Taiwan Service Centre (which is not owned by Apple but is authorised to work on Apple products) happily replaced my phone after a quick in-store phone call to Apple. It's worth a try.


@ChrisJ4203 I can only reiterate my own experience, which is that I was told by the Apple employee on the phone that these kinds of repairs are common, and usually (but not always) allowed. If you really wish to advise people to mess around sending iPhones to the US without even trying at their local service centre first then that's fine I guess, but sometimes that hassle can be easily avoided.

Jun 23, 2014 6:08 PM in response to johnmapley

As others have stated, I am just reiterating Apple's policy. And, if you took the time to search the forum here, you will find numerous threads that support what I and other have had to say. While you may have been fortunate enough to get service, that is not the norm as you may think. While an authorized service provider may have some latitude in how they deal with products, the Apple stores do not. I am providing information to posters that is consistent with Apple policy, nothing more and nothing less.

Oct 1, 2016 4:15 PM in response to Hams125

hi, guys!

I know this is too late to reply, but this for all the people who will come to this page after typing in google smth like "error 12; iphone; omg please help me..."

Sooo, this is my story:

one year ago my iphone 5 was swimming in the toilet,i put it in rice, everything was working despite of back camera, but it was okay, and i didnt plan to fix it. I used iphone 5 for one more month and after that i got iphone 6. In like 2 month i connected my iphone 5 to itunes and i wanted to install the new IOS. And this **** happened... error 12, screen was white with apple logo, after it turned grey and then it turned off. I tried to google my problem, but nothing came out, so i forgot about this problem and just put my iphone 5 back in package.

After one year, so - today i remembered that i have this iphone and i tried to fix the problem again.

i put iphone in recovery mode few times, it didnt work, then i saw a video for another way, i downloaded ReiBoot, and tried there, it didnt work again, then i tried again in itunes - didnt work. Then i thought "okay, i try the last time, if it will not work - i give up".

I TRIED AND IT WORKED! I didnt do anything special... Every step that i did before i just repeated.

This is really weird, cause i actually thought that i 'lost' my phone one year ago, but now some magic happened.

I hope my story will help somebody. So if you have a lot of patience - just try again and again.

This is my story - Error 12

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