How to Restore Your iPhone or iPad When you Forgot your Passcode

Can not unlock your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch device? You need to put your device in recovery mode and then restore it to factory settings. This will erase all the content and settings from your device when you restore it to factory settings or restore it from a backup.

Prerequisites

• Make sure you have a compatible data cable and a Mac or Windows computer. If you don’t have a computer, go to the Apple Store or any of Apple’s Authorized Service Provider.
• You can use Finder if you are using macOS Catalina on the Mac. You will use iTunes if you have an older version of macOS or using a Windows computer.
• You must have a local or iCloud backup of your device if you want to restore a backup.

Enter recovery mode

iPhone X or later, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus:

1. Press and hold the Side button and of the Volume buttons. Keep holding the buttons until you see the “slide to power off” your device screen.
   
2. Drag the slider and turn off your device.
3. Now, hold down the side button and then connect your device to the computer either Mac or Windows. Keep holding the side button until you see the recovery mode screen.
   

iPad with Face ID:

1. Press and hold the top button and Volume-up / down button, until you see the slide to power off screen.
   
2. Drag the slider to power off your iPad.
3. Hold down the top button and connect your device with the computer, keep holding the top button until you see the recovery mode screen.
   

iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, or iPad Touch 7th gen:

1. To turn off the device, press and hold the side button or the top button until you see the Slide to Power Off screen.
2. Drag the power off slider to turn off the device.
3. Hold the Volume-down button and then connect the device with the computer, keep holding the Volume-down button until you see the recovery-mode screen.
   

iPad with a Home button, iPhone 6s or earlier, and iPod Touch 6th Gen or earlier:

1. Press and hold the side or top button until you see the power off slider. Drag the slider to turn off your device.
2. Now, hold down the Home button and connect your device to the computer. Keep holding the Home button and release it when you see the recovery screen.
   

Restore to factory settings

Now, you will see how to restore your device to factory settings.

1. If Find My is enabled on your device then make sure you have an iCloud password ready.
2. On your computer, you will see the option to restore or update your device in Finder or iTunes.
   
3. Click the Restore button and then the Restore and Update button to confirm it. (this will erase your device and restore it to the factory settings.) You can restore iCloud of computer backup later once the restore process is done.

You need to be patient in the restoring process, because this may take some time to download and install the latest version of iOS or iPadOS on your device. Your device will exit recovery mode if the download takes longer than 15 minutes and you have to put your device in recovery mode again by following the steps above in the recovery mode section.

Once the restore process is completed, it will restore your device, and don’t disconnect your device from the computer while it’s restoring.