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Wondering how do you unlock a disabled iPhone? Did your iPhone just had an irreversible accident and broke its screen?
Is your iPhone touch screen not working? Try these tips to unlock your phone.
Is your iPhone completely shattered due to a cracked screen? Don’t worry; this article will guide you through the steps to be taken to unlock your phone and get a backup of your data before replacing it. There might be multiple reasons for your iPhone screen to turn unresponsive. The very first problem you have to face is how to unlock your phone as you cannot enter the passcode on the broken screen. In this article, we have compiled a few solutions to unlock your phone. Each method needs a specific requirement to be fulfilled to work completely.
How do you unlock a disabled iPhone?
It is easier to recover an iPhone having backup than a non-backed up iPhone. To avoid major losses taking backup of necessary data is preferable before replacing your phone’s screen or phone itself. Depending on your scenario you can choose solutions among the two approaches given below.
- Your iPhone has backup.
- Your iPhone is not backed up.
Follow these methods to unlock your iPhone if it has a backup.
You can use iTunes or iCloud to unlock your disabled iPhone by restoring it to previous settings. The restoring process erases all data from your iPhone, including passcode, data, and other settings. Find out detailed steps given below to unlock the iPhone if its touch screen is not working, but data is backed up.
1. Unlock disabled iPhone using iTunes
If you are really worried about, how do you unlock a disabled iPhone? Then try and relax because iTunes makes the work half done!
- Before connecting your iPhone to the computer, start recovery mode on your iPhone.
Note: A detailed step to start recovery mode is given on this link.
- Search your iPhone on your computer. You can search by methods given on this link.
- An alert dialogue box will pop up, notifying that your iPhone is not working correctly. In that dialogue box, choose the “restore” option.
- iTunes will search for the software for your phone and download them.
- It will take a couple of minutes to finish the procedure. Then you can change your screen and set up your iPhone.
2. Unlock disabled iPhone using iCloud.
iCloud service can back up, restore, erase all the data, and find the iPhone remotely. It can help you to unlock the iPhone having a broken screen by completely deleting the passcode. Follow the below-given steps and discover how do you unlock a disabled iPhone easily using iCloud service.
Requirements:
- “Find my iPhone” feature is enabled on your iPhone.
- Your iPhone data has back up on iCloud.
Steps:
- Type https://www.icloud.com/ in the browser of your computer to open iCloud.
- Enter credentials to log in to your iCloud account. (You might have done this earlier while taking your iPhone data backup on iCloud).
- Tap on the Find iPhone button and select your iPhone device from the list of devices available.
- Choose the Erase iPhone option to erase the passcode from your iPhone and unlock it.
If you want to unlock your phone to take a backup of essential data, you can try the below-given possible three solutions.
Follow these methods to unlock your iPhone if it does not have a backup.
While retrieving data with a backup appears easier, a damaged iPhone without backup can still be unlocked.
How do you unlock a disabled iPhone without backup? You can use Voiceover, USB keyboard, or third-party tools to unlock your disabled iPhone without losing any data. Find out detailed steps for each method in the following article.
1. Use VoiceOver to unlock the iPhone.
Voice over is a unique built-in feature on Apple devices. It reads aloud whatever is displayed on the screen when enabled on your iPhone. When your screen cracks and you cannot view anything on the screen, then a voiceover screen-reader can help you. In the following method, we have given detailed steps about unlocking the iPhone using a voiceover and Siri functionality.
Requirements:
- Allow Siri when locked is enabled.
- Press Home for Siri is enabled.
- Press Top Button for Siri is enabled.
- Some part of your broken screen is functioning.
- The home button of your phone is working.
Steps
- Press the Home button to activate Siri.
- Speak, “Turn on, VoiceOver.”
- Press down the home button two times to open the passcode screen or swipe up and keep your finger there till Siri notifies “Lift for Home.”
- Swipe left and right in the screen area, which is responsive to the touch to select the passcode digits. Voiceover will read aloud the chosen number, which can help if you cannot see your screen.
- To select the particular digit, you have to double-tap on the screen.
- Your iPhone is now unlocked, and you can connect it to your computer using a lightning cable.
- ‘Trust this computer’ alert opens as a part of the authentication process when your iPhone connects to your computer. Voiceover will notify you about this.
- Double-tap on trust to connect your phone to PC, and now you can backup your iPhone.
- Turn off voiceover by requesting Siri to “Turn off VoiceOver.” You can also go to settings->general->Accessibility->Voiceover->off to turn it off manually.
If your iPhone screen is entirely non-functional, then the above method won’t work for you and you have to go for the next method.
2. Use the keyboard to unlock the iPhone.
In this method, when your iPhone touch screen is not working, you can use an Apple keyboard or non-Apple keyboard to connect it to your iPhone and enter the passcode to unlock it.
Requirements:
- Apple or non-Apple USB keyboard.
- Lightning cable to USB adapter(you can buy it from Amazon).
- The home button of your phone is working.
- Allow Siri when locked is enabled.
Keyboard shortcuts used in this method:
- Right arrow key and left arrow key to navigate on the screen.
- Press the top arrow key + down arrow key to make selections.
- Cmd+Spacebar (Mac keyboard) or Windows key + Spacebar(Windows keyboard) to open Spotlight search.
Steps:
- Connect your iPhone and USB keyboard via lightning cable to USB adapter.
- Turn on VoiceOver using Siri on your iPhone.
- Using the arrow keys on the keyboard, you can now move on the screen of your iPhone.
- Press down the right arrow key to move down and enter your password.
- Once your phone is unlocked, press Windows key + spacebar to open spotlight search.
- Type “Backup” and use arrow keys and listen to Voiceover messages to turn on iCloud.
- Now you can backup your phone on iCloud before replacing your phone or screen.
Remember to make any selections using the keyboard, press the Up and Down arrow key simultaneously.
3. Use third-party tools to unlock the iPhone without data loss.
There are a few tools that can be used to unlock the iPhone without losing data when your iPhone touch screen is not working. You have to pay to use additional features of this software. We have listed down the name of a few software by which many users were benefitted. You can check the detailed steps to unlock the iPhone using this software on their respective websites.
Limitations:
- Limited features are available in the free version.
- Safety is not assured.
Wrapping Up
The iPhone screen is delicate, and if it gets accidentally broken, then it disables your iPhone. When your iPhone touch screen is not working, then replacing it with a new one is the only option left. To minimize losses, we have tried to give you five possible solutions to unlock your phone and take backup. Try to implement the above solutions to find out how do you unlock a disabled iPhone? It is best to get it repaired at the Apple store.