iPhone 101: How to Put the iPhone Into Recovery Mode
Welcome to iPhone 101, our helpful new how-to series for new iPhone users (or experienced users who want a handy link to send to their new-user friends and family!). Previously, we’ve shown you how to Force Quit applications to free up memory if things seem a little stuck or stalled. But what happens when your iPhone is completely non-responsive, even when connected to iTunes via the USB cable? Don’t worry, it’s not a time to panic, just time to put your iPhone into Recovery Mode. We’ll show you how… after the break!
Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes (8.0.2)
Plug your USB cable into your computer.
Turn your iPhone off by holding the power button down until you see “slide to power off”. Do as instructed.
Now press and hold the Home button while reconnecting the USB cable to your iPhone. After iPhone is connected it should power on the device.
Continue holding the Home button, you will see the Apple logo appear and then finally a “Connect to iTunes” will be displayed, now is the time to release the Home button. You will then see the following image:
You have successfully put iPhone into Recovery Mode. Now you will have to restore from a backup file or setup as a new iPhone.
January 29th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Oh cool. I didn’t know about this.
January 29th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I know this however this is a cool thing for newbies
January 29th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
I’ve never had to do this (yet). Is info lost after doing this? I think some people (including myself) sometimes get confused by all of the “restore,” “recover,” “reset” terms.
January 29th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
You will recover all the data you had from you previous backup. This is why it’s a good idea to backup regularly. I do it every night.
January 29th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Ooops… sorry, I didn’t see the last sentence. :blush:
January 30th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Instruction 2 is a bit garbled, making instruction 4 (which sounds awkward at best) unclear.
January 30th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
@Allan, 2 should be “Plug in your USB cable into your computer.”
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:59 pm
my iPhone wont do this I jail broke and all i see is the apple logo I tried recovery but when i plug it in it wont start or enter recovery??? HELP PLEASE :’(
June 3rd, 2009 at 4:12 pm
what if your iphone says connect to itunes and restore but you cant unlock your phone because it doesnt have a lock screen and itune want connect because your un able to put it in
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:31 pm
not on 3.0 0r 3.1
July 12th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Hey JJ How did you fix it “my iPhone wont do this I jail broke and all i see is the apple logo I tried recovery but when i plug it in it wont start or enter recovery??? HELP PLEASE :’(”
I still have this problem the recovery mode doesn’t show up. And i’m keep trying and trying ….!!
July 12th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
I got it…You have to turn off your phone first, then press the home button and conect it to the USB cable. The iphone it will turn on by itself and keep pressing the home button until the apple logo desapear and them release it.
October 4th, 2009 at 2:57 am
This directions work perfectly. Well-written, thanks!
November 4th, 2009 at 8:41 am
I’ve jailbroken my iPhone 3GS 3.1.2 with pwnage, it has been succesfully jailbroken but then in the settings tab, I’ve selected to delete all the data & settings. Now I cannot start my iPhone, just apple logo appears. Can’t connect to USB, cannot go to recovery mode.
PLEASE HELP
November 8th, 2009 at 6:46 am
i have delete all data in my iphon,now my phon is not working,when i conect for pc it see appli logo,plz help me what to do plz
November 8th, 2009 at 8:51 am
OK guys n gals…maybe i’m a little jaded here but the term ‘recovery’ is being misrepresented here and ‘restore’ should really be called ‘reset’…the situation i face is similar to those described – plug iphone into pc/proceed with update download via ‘itunes’/watch as your son freaks out because the update bar froze up/ try in vain to help your son/ talk to the freakin”geniuses’ who only smirk and calmly say ‘it needs to be restored’ ‘have you backed up your data’ – well yes…yes i have but the laptop which contains the itunes with which the back up was done fried and is in the shop on life support. The response from the ‘geniuses’; “oh”. That’s it? “oh” The end-all-be-all-of phone/email/internet/app gadgetry and some sub-standard coding which causes the download to hiccup and there is only ONE option, to start over? We are not talking about a simplistic flash-rom drive here…engineers designed and built this thing and they damn well know how to retrieve data from an iphone in ‘recovery mode’ or at least get itunes to recognize the iphone so that the download can continue. i do not feel that in this day and age we should expect anything less than actual, bonafide, tech-support. tell me i’m off base…why should my son or anyone else have to reset and lose anything, ever? that is weak. someone, somewhere give me a REAL solution – i will gladly pay for services