Trapped in "Press home to upgrade", please rescue my data.

Hi Asher Menezes,

Thank you for your reply. I have read the link carefully but my issue is not covered.

I know that restore will fix but I am not able to persuade myself to do it because the data is still there.

(I don't have iCloud or iTunes backup)

Hi Asher Menezes,

Yes, I have tried that tip you mentioned, but there are some differences.

When I press and hold the sleep/wake button, the phone just powers off directly without any messages like "slide to power off".

Then I power it on again, unfortunately nothing has changed, I still get the endless loop.

Hi Asher Menezes,

Thank you for your advice.

I haven't contacted Genius Bar before. Could they do a backup for me even if the phone is not able to run into its home screen?

I will have faith in them if thay are technical specialists instead of ordinary customer services.

Hi Asher Menezes,

Thanks a lot. You give me encouragement and faith!

I have the same opinion as you do. Here's the conslusion I deduce:

If data is physically gone, then storage is pure for iOS system (just like restored factory settings), so theoretically it can run into the home screen normally.

For now it is trapped, so I deduce the data is still there and can be brought back technically.

Hi Asher,

When you say "encryption key", do you mean the lockscreen password?

If yes, then I still have this. Because when the phone asks me to "press home to upgrade", after I press home, I have to input it.

I think it proves that my data is there.

Meanwhile, I am requesting Third-party Fixing Tool Support Team for help.

The Chinese means "Press home to upgrade"

Hi Asher,

Just come back from Genius Bar in Ningbo China.

They can do nothing but restore just as I supposed.

Now I am completely disappointed at Apple.

I am on my own now. Hope the third party repair tools can help.

Hi Asher,

As I mentioned in my first post: "Upgrading again under recovery mode by iTunes will not help."

Which means:

I have used iTunes to "upgrade" for many times, and it will succeed as long as it's not stuck at "Verifying".

And after upgrading, the endless loop still occurs.

This is weird.

And one thing I forgot to tell you is:

Before first time upgrading, it is iOS 8.4 without jailbreak. I used up Its storage and the phone becomes hot, extremely slow and can't be charged. In this situation, I shut it down. When I try to switch it on again, it is stuck at apple logo. Then about 45 secs later, blue screen shows for 1 sec and it restarts. Again it is stuck at apple logo then blue screen and restarts...

In this case, I use iTunes to upgrade it to iOS 11.4 and finally it is trapped in that endless loop.

Hi Asher, thank you for all your reply.

I had an accident today. When I tried to "upgrade" by iTunes, iTunes changed it to "restore"(I clicked "upgrade")

I stoped it once I saw the word "restore". But it seemed too late. When I upgraded it again, the phone name had been changed into "iPhone", and I realized all of my data may be erased.

After upgrading, I can only see this screen, the word means "iPhone is stopped to use"

This iPhone is my wife's, there are many photos of our family and many Wechat data of our family.

I am now in extremely major depressive disorder, I have nobody to share my mood since my wife is pregnant.

For now I want to klil myself, what should I do...

Hi Asher, you are so kind, thank you, really.

Yes, the Chinese on the screen means "iPhone is stopped to use / Connect to iTunes"

But under that screen when I connect the phone to my PC with iTunes running, it just vibrates for 3 times, then nothing happened.

I tried to "upgrade" it under recovery mode, it can be done successfully, but finally I got that screen again.

What I deduce is, the data on my phone is erased partly or fully(hope it is partly) since the name of my phone and lockscreen password are gone. And I know that once restored, there is no way to retrieve my data since apple is good at data security.

It is possible for a hard disk to recover data back after deleting or quick formating. But it is nearly impossible for an apple device to do that.

It is extremely rediculous that, one person is impossible to get his/her data back from an apple device.

After all those, I will not use that phone or any other apple device again.

Hi Asher,

I always click “upgrade” when I use iTunes.

The situation is that,when I try to upgrade, the process is always stuck at "Verifying". So I completely uninstalled iTunes and deleted ipsw file. Then I reinstalled it and left my phone connected under recovery mode while downloading ipsw. After it finished downloading, it asked me and I clicked "upgrade", but finally I saw "restoring" instead of "upgrading".

I don't know why.

It's hard to believe but, I am counting on the future technology which can time travel back to the past.

Hi Asher,

I made an appointment with Genius Bar on Sunday 7:30pm Beijing time. Let's see what they can do. Anyway, I will never give up saving my data.