my iphone 4s keeps coming up as unknown device since i upgraded to ios 7. it will not activate

Hi coops1983,

Thanks for visiting Apple Support Communities.

The steps in this article can help if your iPhone won't activate:

iPhone: Troubleshooting activation issues

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3424

Best,

Jeremy

Jeremy the steps in that article are completely useless and do not tackle our problem.

My iphone 4 like coops was working fine until it upgraded to ios7. I too get the unknown device message and cannot do anything about it. In fact i visited the apple store in newcastle and the tech guy said it was probably a hardware failure which is just ridiculous.

Apple need to give a proper solution to this!!!!!

have you managed to fix it? I have the same problem now..

I have the same problem as well.... Has anyone fix it yet??? 😟 I miss my iPhone

I also have the same problem....may apple help me ...to solve this problem....

I already restore my iphone 4s but my network still searching and complete setup.....hopefully apple can solve my problem.....

Has anyone managed to find the magic solution.😢 I am desperate. I have the same problem after i upgrade my iphone 4 to ios7. And it keep showing " unknown device" after I restore it to DFU mode. It lets me select the language and country. That is all.

Ok I just got pass the error CONNECT TO iTUNES and UNKNOWN DEVICE. I can not gurentee this will work for anyone else. This is what I did and it worked out:

CONNECT TO iTUNES error

1. I removed the sim card and put the device on charge for several hours, the display switch between the Apple logo and the connet to iTunes logo.

2. I launched iTunes and connect the device to the computer while the display was on the Apple Logo (not connet to iTunes logo).

3. I put the device in DFU while still on the Apple logo.

4. I forced a deliberate error while attempting to restore by selecting a older iOS firmware (iOS 6) and click restore (I got the error, maybe this step does nothing but things changed from here).

5.At this point the device remained in DFU mode and restored to the current iOS 7.0.4 firware.

UNKNOWN DEVICE error

6. After restore the device went into searching, at this point I put the the sim card into the phone

7. Select Language and Country, the device error Unknow Device (this might be as far as you can go).

8. I took the sim card out and let the phone rest. After an hour or so the device completed the search and read No Sim.

9. I put the sim card back into the phone and the phone activated.

I tried evething online and nothing worked. This is what worked for me. Hope this helps, good Luck!

UNKNOWN DEVICE error

6. After restore the device went into searching, at this point I put the the sim card into the phone

7. Select Language and Country, the device error Unknow Device (this might be as far as you can go).

8. I took the sim card out and let the phone rest. After an hour or so the device completed the search and read No Sim.

9. I put the sim card back into the phone and the phone activated.

I fixed it!!! Here's my story. After updating to iOS 7 I would get the "UNKNOWN DEVICE" error and I could never activate my phone. I tried it off and on for about six months and suddenly it worked. Then I made the mistake of updating to 7.1.2 and once again I got the "UNKNOWN DEVICE" error. I tried many many times to get it to work again but nothing seemed to work. After thinking for a while about why the it suddenly activated after six months I wondered if it was because it was winter and my home was very cold at the time. Then I stuck my iPhone 4s in the freezer for a few hours and tried again and viola, it worked! I'm curious to see if this little trick will work for others. Good luck!

I had the same problem and after many attempts this is how I solved it:

1.-Take the sim out and perform a restore using ITunes

2.-At the last moment Itunes will display a message that you need to disconnect the phone and insert a sim in order to activate it

3.-Disconnect the phone, DON't insert the sim yet and DON't reconnect it, select language, country, connect to a known wireless and try to activate it, a message saying that theres no SIM is going to be displayed and that you need to insert one .. (I press a couple times the option RETRY but probably that wasn´t needed)

4.-insert the SIM and then press the RETRY option and it will take you to the rest of the process so you can complete the setup!!!

Hope this works for you too... it should! 🙂

If you get 'Unknown Device' and you are attempting to activate over wifi, try activating using cellular network via the sim.

This worked for me (not sure if it will work for others)...

1. Unplug the device (not sure if this is necessary)

2. Put in the sim

3. Press the home button and choose 'Start Over'

4. Choose Language

5. If you have a wifi connection, remove it by pressing the ℹ icon and choose "Forget this network"

6. Now you should have the option to verify using cellular network (don't choose a wifi connection)

7. Continue and hopefully you will pass activation.

Hi I had the same problem and this is how I solved it. Disable wifi and choose activate with cellular. And it worked for me in 2 minutes 🙂 Hope this works for all of you because this is by far the simplest way to fix it. Cheers.