How do I restore my passcode-locked 4S?

Question

How do I restore my passcode-locked 4S?

I am locked-out of my retired iPhone 4S (iOS 8.1.1) and can't restore it in iTunes.

Last October I upgraded to an iPhone 6+ and retired my trusty 4S, which has sat unused for five months. Yesterday I decided to use it as an iPod Touch. I charged the battery, powered it on, and was confronted with the Enter Passcode screen telling me that "iPhone requires your passcode after restarting". I do not remember what passcode I had set prior to putting the 4S aside. Following the procedure spelled-out in the iOS 8.1 User Guide, I tried Restore iPhone in iTunes (version 12.1.0.50) only to be advised:

Find My iPhone must be turned off before "DEBE V" can be restored.

Go to iCloud Settings on your iPhone and turn off Find My iPhone before restoring your iPhone."

(DEBE—acronym for Does Everything But Eat).

What we have here is Catch 22: I can't get into my 4S without restoring it and I can't restore without getting into it. Any ideas?

iPhone 4S, iOS 6.1.3, 16 GB

Posted on Mar 27, 2015 3:21 PM

Reply

Answer 1

petermac87

Level 5

7,447 points

Mar 27, 2015 3:24 PM in response to Lightning George

Use your iPhone 6+ to remove the 4S from iCloud.

Pete

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Answer 2

Ethan7988

Level 4

1,749 points

Mar 27, 2015 3:26 PM in response to Lightning George

You'll need to turn off Find my iPhone in iCloud. If it is your iPhone linked to your Apple ID, you should be able to do this.

https://www.icloud.com/

-Ethan

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Answer 3

Ralph9430

Level 7

21,768 points

Mar 27, 2015 3:58 PM in response to Lightning George

You can use any browser on any device or computer to sign into your Apple ID and password at iCloud.com. Once you are signed in there you will see a list of devices and you can then select and remove your iPhone 4S.

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Answer 4

Mar 28, 2015 4:25 PM in response to Ralph9430

Tried it. My iPhone 4S does NOT appear among my devices in iCloud settings. (Just two devices: my 6+ and my iMac.)

Your serve.

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Answer 5

Mar 28, 2015 4:28 PM in response to Ethan7988

Pardon my ignorance, but how do I determine if my 4S is linked to my Apple ID? (It does NOT appear among my devices in iCloud settings.)

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Answer 6

Mar 28, 2015 9:02 PM in response to Lightning George

Courtesy a senior adviser at Apple Support, the secret to overriding the "turn off Find My iPhone" roadblock is power-cycling the iPhone in recovery mode. Problem solved. Thank you one and all for your suggestions.

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