June 25, 2015

How to Sync iPhone to iTunes after Passcode Forgot

When you forgot iPhone passcode,or iPhone is disabled, how can you sync iPhone to iTunes?
This is a representative problem below about syncing iPhone with iTunes after passcode forgot.

iTunes won’t let me sync my iPhone without entering that passcode, but I’ve forgotten my passcode. How can I get access to my iPhone and then sync to my phone with iTunes?

We know that when passcode is available, we could easily type passcode and sync iPhone with iTunes on computer. However, if passcode forgot, how can we sync iPhone to iTunes to make a backup in case of need? According to situation you face, select one of the following options to do.
sync iPhone with iTunes after passcode forgot

Option 1: Restore iPhone with iTunes and Sync iPhone to iTunes again


Syncing locked iPhone with iTunes seems more difficult for people to do. But you may be able to reset the passcode by restoring the locked iPhone.

1. Connect the device to the computer with which you normally sync and open iTunes.
Note: If iTunes prompts you to enter the passcode, try another computer that you have synced with. Otherwise, go to "If you have never synced your device with iTunes", below.

2. Right-click the device in the left column and select Back up.
3. When the backup is complete, select Restore.
4. When finished, restore from your most recent backup.

restore iPhone then sync iPhone to iTunes

If that doesn’t work, you will need to perform a factory restore to remove it. But you should consider whether you have backup for restoring iPhone data after factory reset.

The best scenario is that you have ever backed up your iPhone with iTunes every time it is connected to computer. So forming a habit of backing up iOS device at any time can prevent iOS data loss.

Option 2: Erase iPhone with "Find My iPhone" and Sync iPhone to iTunes


Make full use of "Find My iPhone" feature for iPhone to erase iPhone. iPhone forgotten passcode and data would be erased at the same time. Surely sync iPhone with iTunes would become available.
erase iPhone with Find My iPhone then sync iPhone to iTunes
If you enabled Find My iPhone through iCloud, follow steps to erase your iPhone.

1. Go to icloud.com/find and sign in with your iCloud Apple ID.
2. Click All Devices at the top of your browser window and choose iPhone you want to erase.
3. Click "Erase [device]" to erase your iPhone and its passcode.
4. Follow the Setup Assistant on your iPhone to restore the most recent backup.

Now you can reset passcode for your iPhone and sync iPhone to iTunes later as you like.

Option 3: Put iPhone in Recovery Mode to Restore and Sync iPhone with iTunes


If you have never synced your iPhone with iTunes, or haven’t set up Find My iPhone for your device, you can put your device in recovery mode, to restore iPhone as new one or from a backup.
restore iPhone in recovery mode then sync iPhone with iTunes
1. Hold down the Power button, then slide to power off to turn off your iPhone.
2. Hold the Home button and plug iPhone into computer, then turn it on.
Don’t loosen Home button until you see the Connect to iTunes screen on your iPhone.
3. In iTunes, you will be alerted that iPhone is in recovery mode. Click OK, and restore the device.

If iPhone cannot successfully go into recovery mode, try it again with above steps, or run free iOSBoot Genius to help put iPhone in recovery mode with one click.

enter recovery mode to restore iPhone for sync iPhone data to iTunes

After restoring iPhone from a backup in recovery mode, sync iPhone to iTunes would be no problem.

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June 10, 2015

How to Upgrade to iOS 8 without Losing Data

Under normal circumstances, after upgrading iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch to iOS new version, such as iOS 8, data on iOS device would be lost. This is not what we want really.

So which measures can we take to prevent data loss after iOS upgrade?

Measure 1: Create a iTunes backup for iOS device


Once you connect your iOS device to computer installed with iTunes, before iOS upgrade, you will have two choices to back up data on iOS data.

Choice 1: Back up iOS data manually with iTunes
  1. Open iTunes, and your iOS device (e.g. iPhone) is shown on the right bottom side of iTunes interface.
  2. Click it and go to its main interface.
  3. Under Summary option, click Back Up Now in Backups part.
Then back up message and progress can be seen at the top of iTunes window. The iTunes backup file is usually saved in these folders. You can go to check them.
  • Windows 7: C:\Users\isunshare\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup
  • Windows 8/8.1: Users>USERNAME>AppData>Roaming>Apple Computer>MobileSync>Backup
  • Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

Choice 2: Sync your iOS device to iTunes automatically once connected

If you would like to back up iOS device like this, you should set your iOS device automatically synced to iTunes when iOS device is connected to computer. 

The iTunes backup also saved in the same location as manually back up iOS device with iTunes.

Measure 2: Make a iCloud backup for iOS device


Before you back up your iOS device data to iCloud, please make sure iCloud Backup is turned on , and Wi-Fi and Apple ID are available. Your iOS device is not locked because of passcode forgot.

Navigate to Settings - iCloud - Restore & Backup - Back Up Now, while you have signed to iCloud with Apple ID. If not, sign in to iCloud when you are prompted.

With backup in hand after iOS upgrade, if we want the previous data on iOS device are still on it now, we have to restore iOS device data from backup.

However, how can we restore iOS device data after iOS upgrade from backup?
  1. Restore iOS from iTunes backup or iCloud backup is OK.
  2. But are there any other more effective ways to recover iOS data?
    Surely there are. For example, iOS Data Genius gives users privileges to scan iTunes backup file first to see what are saved in it, so users can choose what they want to recover, or recover all the data from iTunes backup file. This way prevents iOS device from restoring from wrong iTunes backup file and saves time.
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