iPhone (5) in "Recovery mode"

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Level 1

9 points

iPhone (5) in "Recovery mode"

Hello,

Yesterday my iPhone went black (ie, "dead"), and did not respond to my holding down the start button (on top). I had not previously shut down the phone. I found out that the way to bring a phone back up in that situation is to hold down both the start button and the Home button (bottom, front). This worked, but the phone went "dead" several more times. This method (holding down the two buttons) worked several times, and then it stopped working. Now, the phone is not responding to anything. I thought maybe the battery was at 0%, so I charged it overnight. But I can't tell how that went, since the screen is always black.

Next, I opened iTunes on my PC, and connected the iPhone to the computer. When I tried to run diagnostics, a message was posted saying that my phone is in "recovery mode." I'm not sure what that means. However, I read that if I choose to recover and update the phone, all my data will be erased. I have a backup of all the songs on the phone, but not all the photos. I certainly don't have a backup of text messages, contacts, etc. I didn't know one could back those up. Anyway, I clicked the "Restore and Update" button, and it told me that I would "have the option to restore contacts, text messages," etc. To be honest, I don't trust this message. Since I've never backed that stuff up, how will I be able to restore them??

My phone got into recovery mode once before, several months ago. I don't remember what I did, but I managed to get it back to normal, and I didn't lose any data. So I know that is possible. Could someone please tell me how I can bring the phone back up without destroying data? Thanks.

NOTE: I bought this phone new, sealed in the original packaging, in the summer of 2016. So it might be an older model, but it is not an old phone.

iPhone 5s, iOS 10.3.2, null

Posted on Nov 20, 2017 1:11 AM

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Answer 1

chris_g1

Community Specialist

Nov 20, 2017 5:15 PM in response to Joyce3

Hi, Joyce3,

Thanks for stopping by the Apple Support Communities. From your post, I understand that your iPhone 5s is in recovery mode, and has gone there on its own. You would like to know if there is a way to regain access to the iPhone without compromising data. I'd be happy to give you some information.

While we can try to recover your iPhone without losing any of the data, without a backup, there is no guarantee your content will not be affected. If you use iCloud, though, it is quite possible your information (like Contacts, Reminders, and Calendar events) is just fine, and safely synced at www.icloud.com , even without you remembering doing anything to make that happen. You may even have an iCloud backup you're unaware of, so I would recommend signing into iCloud.com with the Apple ID you use on your iPhone to check for content.

When you're ready, use the steps in the "Put your device in recovery mode and set it up again" section here: If you can't update or restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support . Even though the title of the article doesn't quite match your issue, and your iPhone is already in recovery mode, the steps are still helpful. Choose Update when prompted, and iTunes will try to restore the iPhone without removing any data.

If Update is not available, or does not work, iTunes will restore the iPhone to factory settings. In this scenario, your data will be removed from the iPhone. If you do have your content in iCloud, you'll be prompted to sign back in during the setup process.

Once you have access again, I would encourage you to create a backup of your iPhone in iCloud or iTunes, regardless of the outcome. This way you'll know your content is safe, should something like this happen again. It also makes transitioning to a new iPhone a snap! You can get more information on backing up here: How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support .

You can learn more about iCloud, and what types of content you can sync with it, here: iCloud: What is iCloud?

Cheers!

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Answer 2

Joyce3 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 20, 2017 8:42 PM in response to chris_g1

Hi chris_g1, thanks for your reply! I went to an Apple store in my area today, and they told me that as long as I have a backup in iTunes, I should be able to restore most of my stuff. I opened iTunes and clicked on Edit -> Preferences. Then clicked the iPhone icon under Devices in the dialog box. There is a backup shown for the iPhone, dated 10/31/2017.

I did not do this backup deliberately. However, every time I sync my iPhone with iTunes, it does a backup first. I didn't know exactly what it was backing up - I was only sync'ing a few song playlists. However, at the Apple Store today, they told me that the backup saves a complete mirror image of the entire contents of the phone, including contacts, apps, text messages, photos, etc., regardless of what is being sync'ed. If that is true, that means I do have a complete backup of my phone, as of 10/31.

So, 4 questions. First, can you verify that the above (second paragraph) information is true? Given what I've told you, do I in fact have a snapshot of everything that was on the phone as of 10/31/17? That's important for me to know. If I can count on that, I will simply do a reset to factory settings, and then restore all the data from the last backup on iTunes.

Second, is there a way for me to see a listing of everything that is in that iTunes backup dated 10/31/17?

Third, when doing the reset and update, will iTunes clear my backup out, or does it simply copy those contents onto the phone, and leave the backup intact?

Fourth, I don't use iCloud at all. So there will be no backup there. Will that be a problem?

Thanks. I'd really like to hear back about these questions, if you have the time.

Joyce

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