hey i just broke my screen and im expecting a new phone in the mail but i dont want to loose all the stuff i had on my last iphone 5. i tried to back up the phone but itunes wont recognize my phone before i enter the password on my phone. the problem is i cant navigate through my phone because the screen is broken. HELP!!!
iPhone 5
It is not a hardware problem, it is a software issue. To all the genii out there saying this is otherwise, don't comment on what you don't know. If you can plug your lightning cord into the phone and into your mac and it recognizes the phone and is able to do the update of the phone than the data is accessible. The failure here is the failure of the software engineers to allow the phone to be remotely unlocked via the lightning cord. If you build an item that breaks regularly and you do not build in methods of access to workaround the frequently broken parts, then you are not very good at your job. And for the backup whingers, sorry all my picture were of grandma in a national park having her last wish granted and there was no cell service and no wifi - or the like.
Bad programming and design. Period.
ogdenrd-I have this same issue. Apparently when you update the software you have to "reauthorize" your computer to connect with your iphone/ipad. I cannot do it because the screen cracked. I USED to have it set up to back up automatically to the computer but it apparently lost that as well. Please let me know if you find a solution.
You seriously saved my life!!!
I completely smashed the screen of my IPHONE 6 PLUS. However it still worked and I was still receiving texts, calls etc but I wasn't able to enter my passcode to backup my phone. I usually do it monthly manually because I didn't want to fork over icloud fees.. but I officially now think the $3 bucks a month is worth avoiding this headache.... ANYWAYS. I came across you suggestion but I thought it was a long shot, so I tried to access info with several different data recovery but none could get past the lock AND hitting trust computer. I also tried voice over with Siri but she split on me too.
So I took your suggestion to the "Genuis" bar at the apple store to see if they had that keyboard I could use to unlock my phone. They had no idea what I was talking about and I even showed them the thread and they still looked at me like I was crazy and said "you can try it but we don't think it will work".
So I believed in you man, I ordered this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UTUDK26?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_deta ilpage_o00_s00
And followed your instructions to the letter, even without Siri working, it still worked! Then to bypass the "TRUST THIS COMPUTER" Issue I imported my photos using image capture (because it was the only application that didn't ask me to "TAP TRUST" just "UNLOCK" once I imported, I could now get into itunes and FINALLY BACK UP MY PHONE!!
Moral of the story, sometimes the long shot is the best one and $40 bux to fix this issue is far better than all the other options I ran into with data recovery and I now pay $3 bux a month to back up to automatically to icloud to avoid this future nightmare!
So thank you very much sir!!! 🙂
This was a brilliant suggestion (well, particularly as I already have the Camera Connection Kit). I did need to connect the keyboard to the iPhone via a powered USB hub as the keyboard (Apple Wired Keyboard) drew too much power, but once that was done it worked perfectly. iPhone is now happily being backed up. Thanks mmashburn85!
I was able to open my wife's iPhone 4s (iOS 8.4.1) with a smashed screen using these steps:
This is funny, since the phone is in Finnish (and Siri as well). The phone was not connected to WIFI or mobile network and if I tried to say anything else to Siri (in Finnish or English), she simply responded that the device needs to be connected to mobile network.
This worked like a dream. I have 5,400 pics on my 6 plus and I was worried that I had lost the 2 months worth of pics since my last backup before I broke my phone. I had no display and the touch screen did not work. I couldn't back it up in iTunes until I unlocked it by entering the passcode which of course I couldn't. I bought this exact keyboard from Amazon and it arrived 2 days later with Prime shipping. I plugged it into a different phone first to find the sequence of buttons I needed to press on the keyboard to get the passcode screen to come up (press the "Control" button 2 times) then put in the passcode. The first time I entered it, I was incorrect and the phone vibrated so I knew then that I was where I needed to be. I punched in the correct passcode and then I plugged my phone into my laptop with iTunes already opened. iTunes immediately went to work. It recognized my phone, I synced it then I backed it up. I was also able to transfer all my pics to the laptops hard drive.
I learned a valuable lesson. Back my phone up more often and transfer pics to somewhere else secure as often as possible.
Thank you jbuckner85. The idiots at the Apple Store said I was out of luck and offered no help at all. They just wanted to sell me a refurbished phone for about $350 and take my phone. I am so glad I waited and found your post. Now I'll probably go get that refurbished phone and restore it with my new backup file.
I would like to thank to all of you for the anwers and inputs you provided. It tooks me two days to finally backup a brocken iPhone and I had to combine several of your suggestions, however at the end the backup worked and I got back all the data. Let me explain what I did:
The iPhone screen was broken and my backup was three months old. What a bad luck! And I asked myself why have I not invested the time to establish a backup more frequent? Luckely the home button was still working and every time I started the iPhone the screen was visible for about 5 s. At first I tried to reboot the iPhone which was not a good idea at all, because now the iphone was requesting to type in my passcode! I looked up several blogs in the web and found at the end the following solution.
Tools used
- connector lightning to USB
- USB keyboard
- wireless keyboard
I hope that this will help some of you to get access to a broken iPhone.
I tried to turn on voiceover with Siri and realised that I had Siri turned off in my settings so at that point I was pretty screwed. I wondered if my touchscreen was still working, so when iTunes told me to enter my password I blindly swiped right and hit my password in the best estimate of where I thought the numbers would be sitting on the screen. This worked for me, so if people are really stuck, think their touchscreen might be working and don't have time/money to buy the keyboard try this out! It might work for others!
I had the exact same thing happen. I purchased a "Logitech Wired Keyboard - for iPad Lightning Connector" and was then able to enter my password on the keyboard and backup my phone. Worked like a charm and didn't lose a bit of my data.
This worked for me... Was challenging slow process but figured it out. i was told by Apple and a gadget guy there was nothing that could be done for my iPhone 5c which was turning on and working but the screen was black/non responsive after i dropped it.. No hardware fixes. This allowed me to navigate phone by voice to settings to turn on iCloud. All pics from my son's first two years were saved!!
I have this exact same question except that I cannot view the screen. So I can only use siri. What should I do?
I looked at countless forums and threads after I got my husband's phone wet and the touchscreen stopped working. Most provided very unhelpful responses like the one above ("If you didn't back it up earlier, it's too late now") but using your guidance I bought a Logitech wired keyboard for the iPad and was able to unlock the screen, back up his photos and contacts, all through Voiceover and the keyboard. I also would've never figured out how to "click" on an item without your post so thank you, thank you, thank you!
it did othing for me. I have a broken iphone 6, cannot access the screen at all, and nothing happens when i press & hold the home button. Please help!
There are no magic words that can overcome broken hardware. It's too late. You need to back it up before it breaks, not after.
So you're telling me that I will have to live with the idea of losing all my data on my phone and simply get a new one? 😢
Yep, if it's broken/failed, pretty much. Apple provides multiple methods to backup your phone. If iCloud backups are enabled, it will back up automatically, with no user intervention, when the phone is plugged into power, connected to WiFi, and locked.
If iCloud backups are not turned on, it will be backed up to your computer every time you sync the phone with iTunes.
Backup your iPhone with a broken screen
