Q: I really need help

Hi, mckennafromlouisville!

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. After reading your post, I see that your iPhone is prompting you to connect it to iTunes, and that you are concerned about losing content. I definitely understand wanting to maintain your data and regain access to your iPhone, and am happy to help.

When your iPhone is prompting you to connect it to iTunes it means it is in a state where the data cannot currently be retrieved, and to regain access to the phone you must connect to iTunes on a computer. To help get back into the iPhone, follow the steps in the article below (even though the title isn't exactly what you're experiencing, it will still help you regain access to your iPhone).

If you can‘t update or restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
 

While it may be possible to regain access to the iPhone without losing any data through those steps, there is also possibility that your data will be erased. In that event, if you have a recent backup in iTunes or iCloud, you will be able to recover your data later. If you use iCloud, you still may be able to recover most, if not all, of your data even if you don't have a backup. Additionally, purchased content, like apps from the App Store and songs or other media from the iTunes Store, can always be re-downloaded after signing in with your Apple ID.

Once you've regained access to your iPhone, I would suggest starting a regular backup routine so you know your data is safe in the event something like this happens again. If you're not familiar with using iTunes or iCloud to backup your iPhone, you can get some helpful information and instructions in the following articles.

To find out more information about backups in general, and what each type of backup (iTunes versus iCloud) does, you can check out this article: About backups for iOS devices

To get help creating a backup, use the steps in this article: How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Have a good day!