Ipad Disabled connect to Itunes / Deceased Uncle

Unfortunately it's very doubtful that anyone can get into it. You could try to guess his passcode....however if he set it up then 10 incorrect tries could wipe the data. (it's an option that you can turn on)

You could call your local apple store and have them advise you, but I doubt they have anything they can do beyond a court order making them do something.

If it has a PIN you can try cracking it, iOS devices below 8.1 are vulnerable to an attack that uses a specific piece of hardware - it also gets around the 10 failed attempts…

http://9to5mac.com/2015/03/18/iphone-passcode-hack/

Passcodes may be impossible (or take many years to crack).

Obviously this will void any warranty & requires specialist knowledge and hardware but you should research it if you are serious about getting the data. I imagine someone may be offering it as a service somewhere.

Otherwise iOS devices will save backups to a computer. If you can't find iTunes backups on his work computer then you may be out of luck. iTunes backups can be read via third party tools to extract files however they can also be encrypted which will prevent that. See 'iTunes Preferences > Devices tab' for a list of any backups.

Devices will not sync when the device is locked, iTunes creates a 'pairing record' that ties the device to the computer. If the store still had the pairing record (that was made during setup) you would still have to unlock the device before syncing or accessing any data. I seriously doubt a store would keep the same OS & computer around - they have probably erased the machine or replaced it since then.

I suspect that the resident "Genius" at the Apple Store will be able to assist you IF you can provide incontrovertible proof (proof that will stand up in court) that you uncle was the original owner AND that your mom is the executor of the estate.

qcullen wrote:

The problem is that the iPad is not allowing me to type in a pin/passcode even though my computer is connected to the iTunes account associated with the iPad.

If you fail to enter the correct PIN you will get time delays between the next time you can enter an unlock attempt, they will pass eventually and you should be able to retry. It is also possible that he enabled the 10 failed attempts = erase device setting, so you should avoid trying randomly – once it is erased the decryption keys are deleted from the device, the OS is reinstalled & the previous data will be totally inaccessible.

qcullen wrote:

It is just confusing... The iPad says connect to his iTunes account after messing up the pin so many times, but then requires the pin to actually recognize iTunes and bypass the pin. I mean if we knew the pin we wouldn't need to bypass it. This is a clear problem.

Sorry, but this is part of iOS's security model. The idea is to limit how easy it is to access data. If you could just 'turn the lock off' it would be pointless.

The problem here isn't iOS, but the fact that you don't have the PIN. I understand it is frustrating but you need to avoid the possibility of accidentally erasing (you can't know if the 10 attempts = erase setting is active).

Apple have been claiming that they are unable to access locked device since iOS 8 which is why I suggested exploiting a known flaw that could work. iOS 8.2 fixed the issue, but his device may still be on an earlier OS. I would power it off & hope he had auto updates turned off.

I hope the staff can help you at an Apple store, but I fear you may be disappointed.

qcullen wrote:

We can easily prove that he was the owner of the ipad; and it was very clear that he left my mom to handle his belongings. If we can prove this, would apple be able to recover the data?

My words were "I suspect." You'll have to speak to Apple to find out for certain.