Summary

This post will show you 4 ways to fix the "iPhone is Diasbled" error.  If you prefer to get a method that is simple to operate and can quickly wipe screen passcode when you forgot it, the best way is to utilize Passvers iPhone Unlocker.

After you have entered incorrect passcodes to unlock your iPhone screen for multiple times, you may find your iPhone is locked and a message “iPhone is disabled” shows on your screen.

There are different situations when you see your iPhone is locked, which can be “iPhone is disabled, try again in 1/5/15/60 minutes”, or the crazy “iPhone is disabled for 24 million minutes”, or even like “iPhone is disabled, connect to iTunes”.

What’s the cause of the iPhone disabled messages? And how to unlock the disabled iPhone to get access to it again. Read on and learn about it.

iphone-is-disabled-message

Why is My iPhone Disabled/Unavailable?

Basically, your iPhone is disabled because of too many wrong passcode entries. If you enter incorrect screen passwords for certain times, your iPhone will be disabled or unavailable for the sake of security.

It can happen when you forget the iPhone passcode and enter different wrong passcodes up to 6 times, or you leave your iPhone to your kid, and she/he pushes the buttons of the locked screen randomly for lots of times, etc.

According to the particular messages you see, the situations are a little different:

When you see “iPhone is disabled, try again in X minutes”

Normally, if you enter 5 incorrect passcodes in a row, the iPhone will be disabled for 1 minute. And for 7 incorrect entries, 5 minutes; 8 incorrect entries, 15 minutes; 9 incorrect entries, 60 minutes. And for 10 incorrect passcode entries at a time, iPhone is disabled and asks you to connect to iTunes.

If you remember your passcode, you can simply wait for the minutes and try again, but you should try very carefully at the 10th time, which is the last chance for you to enter a passcode, or you have to restore your iPhone to enable it.

If you have forgotten the passcode, you can bypass the locked iPhone with the methods in the next part.

When you see “iPhone is disabled for X million minutes”

This exaggerated numbers usually appear when your iPhone has a broken screen or has been jailbreak. This happens because your iPhone resets its internal clock to midnight of January 1, 1970, or the Unix Epoch where Time = 0. In this case, the lock time can change from a few minutes to millions of minutes.

One of the common solutions is to insert a new working SIM card into your iPhone and it may get the current time. If this doesn’t work, you try the restoring methods with/without iTunes in the later part.

When you see “iPhone is disabled., connect to iTunes”

As we say above, this message or the similar “iPhone is disabled, connect to a Mac/PC” (for iOS 14) appears when you have 10 incorrect attempts. You don’t have to be too worried because it’s still recoverable, but unfortunately, you cannot fix it without losing data because it requires you to restore your iPhone to wipe the passcode.

Now look at the 4 workable methods to get your disabled iPhone back to normal status. Please note that all the solutions will erase your data to recover your disabled iPhone, and you had better prepare a backup beforehand.

1. How to Unlock a Disabled iPhone Without iTunes [Easy & Fast]

Actually, Apple provides an official way to enable your iPhone by restoring it with iTunes. However, sometimes there may be some iTunes errors or you are not familiar with using iTunes and find it hard to operate.

If you want an easy and fast way to get into the disabled iPhone, Passvers iPhone Unlocker is a good way to try. It’s a handy third-party tool that focuses on helping you effortlessly unlocking your iPhone, including wiping the screen lock passcode, removing Apple ID, and retrieving Screen Time passcode.

It helps you unlock the disabled iPhone without passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID so quickly and safely that you will be surprised at how convenient it is. It's well compatible with almost all the iOS versions including the recently released iOS 16.

How to Unlock a Disabled iPhone with Passvers iPhone Unlocker

Step 1. Download Passsvers iPhone Unlocker on your computer.

Step 2. Enable the program and you will see three options on the homepage.

  • Wipe Screen helps you get into the disabled iPhone quickly.
  • Remove Apple allows you to reset the Apple ID or log in with a new account.
  • Screen Time enables you to retrieve the Screen Time and Restrictions passcode.

Step 3. Tap Wipe Passcode and connect your iPhone to the computer using a USB cable. Check if the information of your device is correct and click Start to continue.

Step 4. Then the program will show you the device information of iPhone. Click "Start" to confirm if it's right and it will begin downloading firmware package for the unlocking.

Step 5. When the firmware package is downloaded, a prompt will ask you to enter "0000" to confirm the unlocking. 

Enter it and click Unlock to continue. When the progress goes to 20%, you will need to put your phone into Recovery Mode to continue.

Step 6. When your phone enters Recovery Mode, the process will go on. Wait till it finishes and your disabled iPhone will be unlocked successfully.

2. How to Unlock a Disabled iPhone with iTunes

If your iPhone is disabled and asks you to “Connect to iTunes”, you can directly follow the instruction to connect your iPhone to iTunes and restore the device. A restore will erase everything on the iPhone, including its passcode.

Since restoring iPhone with iTunes will delete all data, you should connect the phone to a Mac or PC that you have previously synced your iPhone with (if you have) and make a backup before the restore.

If you have synced your iPhone to iTunes before

Step 1. Connect the device to the computer with a USB cable (the one you've previously synced the device too). Then, open iTunes.

Step 2. Click your iPhone icon, then tap "Summary" at the left pane and click Back Up Now to create an iTunes backup.

Step 3. Click "Restore iPhone". Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the restore process.

Step 4. After restoring, your device will be wiped clean and restored as a new device. When the iOS Setup Assistant asks to set up your iPhone, choose "Restore from iTunes backup." Just select your device in iTunes and choose the most recent backup of your iPhone.

When you have no iTunes backup

If you never synced your iPhone with iTunes, you're going to see some errors: "iTunes can't connect to the device because it has a passcode applied. Enter the passcode before it can connect to iTunes". If so, you need to bypass the disabled screen with iTunes in these steps.

Step 1. Launch iTunes and connect your iPhone to the computer.

Step 2. Put your disabled iPhone into recovery mode. According to your iPhone model, the method is different, you can refer to https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201263 to look up how to let your iOS device enter recovery mode. If you successfully put your phone in recovery mode, you will see this recovery screen.

Step 3. Locate your iPhone in iTunes. When you see the option to Restore or Update, choose Restore.

Restore iPhone Recovery Mode Finder

3. How to Fix the Disabled iPhone with iOS System Recovery Software

If you can't use iTunes to unlock iPhone, Passvers iOS System Recovery is also a great alternative to fix the disabled problem, which is a useful iOS system recovery tool specialize in solving iOS system problems including disabled iPhone, update failure, iPhone black screen, and etc.

Step 1. Get iOS System Recovery on PC/Mac

Click the following button to get the program on your PC/Mac and move to the "iOS System Recovery" interface.

Step 2. Detect iPhone/iPad

When you connect the device into the PC, the program will detect it with ease. Thus, click "Advanced mode" to fix the disabled iPhone.

Choose Repair Mode

Step 3. Put Your Device into DFU Mode

To get started in this way, it is in need to get your iPhone into DFU mode so that the program will go on fixing your case.

Put Device in Recovery Mode

Step 4. Select Device's Info

After detecting, the program will show your device information. Double-check the details and confirm whether it is correct. Once it shows any wrong info, please select it manually.

Step 5. Fixing Your iPhone Back to Normal Status

In this step, you have to keep the mobile connected to the computer. The screen will display the repair process. As "Repair completed" comes, you can now access your iPhone

Downloading Firmware

4. How to Unlock a Disabled iPhone Without Computer

If you have "Find My iPhone" enabled on your iPhone, you can use "Remote Wipe" to erase the contents and passcode of your device. This method can help you to unlock disabled iPhone without iTunes or even a computer. You can erase your iPhone directly via iCloud.com or the iPhone app for iCloud.

Step 1. Go to iCloud.com with your Apple ID and passcode (the one you use with iCloud rather than your iPhone passcode that you do not remember).

Step 2. Click "Find My iPhone", then "All Devices" at the top of your browser window. Then, select the device you want to erase.

Step 3. Click "Erase iPhone" to remote wipe the device and its password.

Step 4. When iOS Setup Assistant on your iPhone asks to set up your iPhone, choose "Restore from iCloud backup" or "Restore from iTunes backup."

Restore iPhone from Backups
iPhone is Enabled!

Now the "iPhone is Disabled" error is fixed and the iPhone is unlocked. Nevertheless, if you don't want your iPhone to get disabled again because you forgot the iPhone passcode, you should either:

FAQs About the "iPhone is Disabled" Error

I have entered several incorrect passcodes in a row. How long will my iPhone be disabled?

Usually, your iPhone will begin to be disabled when you enter more than 5 wrong passcodes in a row, and the particular time length that your iPhone is locked depends on the number of your wrong entries. The message you will see will be accordingly:

  • Incorrect passcode for 6 times: iPhone is disabled. Try again in 1 minute.
  • Incorrect passcode for 7 times: iPhone is disabled. Try again in 5 minutes.
  • Incorrect passcode for 8 times: iPhone is disabled. Try again in 15 minutes.
  • Incorrect passcode for 9 times: iPhone is disabled. Try again in 60 minutes.
  • Incorrect passcode for 10 times: iPhone is disabled. Connect to iTunes.
 
As you see, when you have reached at 10 times, it will be a trouble, so be very careful to try your screen passcode entries after you see the warning appeared on your iPhone screen.

How can I fix the "iPhone is disabled" problem?

As shown in this article, you have 4 ways to unlock your disabled iPhone if your really forgot the screen passcode, for instance, restoring your iPhone with iTunes, erasing your iPhone with FMI on iCloud, or turning to third-party iPhone unlocking tool or system repairing tool for help. Using third-party software is recommended when you prefer a quick removal with clear instructions. 

However, it's noted that all your data will be erased once you choose to wipe your screen passcode and no way can avoid this unless you finally remember the passcode on your own.

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