"Error 53" from iTunes has made my iPhone unusable

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Level 1

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"Error 53" from iTunes has made my iPhone unusable

Hi everyone,

I have had an iPhone 6 with iOS 8.1.1 installed for a few months now. The issue began when I was not able to update to 8.4 through my phone; I would get a message saying "An error occured installing 8.4". I then decided to just update it through iTunes. I updated iTunes on my computer, plugged my phone in through USB, and began to update. Everything seemed to be working fine until I got an error message through iTunes saying "The iPhone "iPhone" could not be updated. An unknown error occurred (53)." I then disconnected my phone from the computer, and now it is stuck in recovery mode/ the iTunes screen. Nothing I do will get my phone to go back to normal. I have tried resetting the phone by pressing the home button and power button, and have even tried doing a factory reset through iTunes- I end up getting the same error message saying that my iPhone cannot be restored because of error 53. Has anyone experienced this problem and happened to actually find a solution? My phone is not jail broken and hasn't been modified in any way. Thank you!

iPhone 6, iOS 8.1.1

Posted on Jul 6, 2015 1:11 AM

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Answer 1

modular747

Level 6

19,656 points

Jul 6, 2015 1:28 AM in response to julia7005

Check for hardware issues

Errors: 1, 3, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 20, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 53, 1002, 1004, 1011, 1012, 1014, 1667, or 1669.

Your device or computer might have a hardware issue that stops the update or restore from completing.

Check that your security software and settings aren't blocking your device from communicating with the Apple update server.
Then try to restore your iOS device two more times while connected with a cable, computer, and network you know are good.
Make sure that your security software and settings are allowing communication between your device and update servers.
If you still see the error message when you update or restore, contact Apple support.

If you still see the error message, check for outdated or modified software.

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Answer 2

Jul 9, 2015 2:31 AM in response to julia7005

Julia

I have exactly the same problem and iPhone is currently unusable. The phone no displays to be connected to iTunes. When you do so, it goes into recovery mode and the only option is a restore. The restore goes through the Extracting Software and Restoring iPhone Software stages but fails at the Verifying iPhone Software every time with the "the iPhone could not be updated. An unknown error occurred (53)."

Looking at some other discussions, it seems this may be a hardware issue connected to the Touch ID home button. Mine was playing up before the 8.4 update so I suspect the update attempt tipped it over the edge.

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