URGENT! I need to unlock my phone to back it up (never used icloud) but screen LCD and touch screen are unresponsive

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Level 1

8 points

URGENT! I need to unlock my phone to back it up (never used icloud) but screen LCD and touch screen are unresponsive

I have had the worst experience, and it's all because my first ever iPhone hit the tile hard...

The glass and physical outside of the phone is all intact, not shatters, no cracks, nothing. But the LCD screen itself is all pixelated and has vertical stripes. I have never backed up my phone because my MacBook OS X was never updated. So, after going through that entire process, and now finally having the right version of iTunes (fancy), I go to plug in the phone and it says "iTunes could not connect to the iPhone “iPhone” because it is locked with a passcode. You must enter your passcode on the iPhone before it can be used with iTunes."

The absolute worst.

I can't type in my password, well, because I can't see anything on the screen. I kept trying to type it in, but then it locked.

I absolutely need to figure out how to unlock it. I cannot do a forced restore... that would defeat the whole purpose of backing it up in the first place.

Please, please, please, for the sake of my stored memories of these past 6 months with my first iPhone, someone out there help me!

iPhone 5s

Posted on Jun 8, 2014 1:29 AM

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Answer 1

gdgmacguy

Level 7

21,885 points

Jun 8, 2014 9:14 AM in response to tylr_jms

There's no help to be had. You broke your phone, and there's no way to back it up if you cannot enter the passcode. There's no workaround.

When you don't back up your data for 6 months, this is what happens. Unfortunate, but hopefully you've learned a valuable lesson.

BTW, are you backing up the data on your computer as well? Hard drives WILL fail. Just a matter of time.....

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Answer 2

tylr_jms Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 8, 2014 10:40 AM in response to gdgmacguy

Well that's incredibly unhelpful....

And false.

I went to the Apple store and they told me about second party data recovery places. So, in fact, there IS a workaround. Thanks for the hopeful response though!

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Answer 3

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,347 points

Jun 8, 2014 10:43 AM in response to tylr_jms

You might try data recovery services, and I'm truely surprised that Apple would recommend them. A 3rd party replacement of the screen could very well put your device into recovery mode, and if it does, then it has wiped the device and you will not be able to recover. There is no guarantee with data recovery services either, and understand they are expensive. Good luck.

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