[Full Guide] How to Back Up Locked/Disabled iPhone

Did you accidentally lock your iPhone? If you enter the wrong passcode more than 10 times, you will get a warning saying that "iPhone is disabled, Connect to iTunes". To stop your iPhone from being disabled, you need to delete the old password by resetting your iPhone. In that case, all the data stored on your iPhone will be wiped out. You surely don't want that happens. So here comes the question: how to back up locked iPhone before erasing your iPhone? In this post, we will show you a step-by-step guide on how to back up locked/disabled iPhone with or without iTunes.

Part 1: How to Back Up Locked/Disabled iPhone (If iTunes Can Detect Locked iPhone)
1.1 How to Back Up Locked iPhone without iTunes
1.2 How to Back Up Disabled iPhone with iTunes
Part 2: Tips on How to Back Up a Disabled iPhone (If iTunes Can Not Detect Locked iPhone)

Part 1: How to Back Up Locked/Disabled iPhone (If iTunes Can Detect Locked iPhone)

Can you back up your iPhone if it's disabled?

The answer is yes. But there's a condition: your iPhone has synced to iTunes before and didn't restart since the last time connected, because in this case, iTunes will remember the password and won't require you to unlock the iPhone.

Understanding this, let's see how to back up disabled iPhone with iTunes or without iTunes easily.

1.1 How to Back Up Locked iPhone without iTunes

When it comes to the most effective solution on how to back up locked or disabled iPhone, you should try a professional tool -- Coolmuster iOS Assistant. It is one of the best software to back up iPhone/iPad/iPod to computer. It supports multiple files, including contacts, text messages, notes, calendars, bookmarks, music, videos, photos, books and apps.

Main features of Coolmuster iOS Assistant:

• Back up iPhone/iPad/iPod to computer without launching iTunes.
• Restore iTunes backup to iPhone.
• View and access data from iPhone on computer.
• Import various files from computer to iPhone.
• The transition between computer and iPhone is stable and the data retains the original quality.
• Supports most iPhone models, including iPhone 14/13/12/11 Pro Max/11 Pro/11/XS/XS Max/XR/X/8 Plus/7 Plus/7/SE/6s Plus/6s/6 Plus/6/5s/5c/5/4s.

Note: Please ensure to use a computer that trusted by the iPhone before. Otherwise the program can not detect the iPhone.

Download the free trial version of Coolmuster iOS Assistant on your computer and see how to back up a disabled iPhone with a few steps.

For those Mac users who want to know how to back up iPhone to Mac when iPhone is disabled, please download the Mac version of Coolmuster iOS Assistant and follow the same steps below.

Here's how to back up locked/disabled iPhone to PC without iTunes:

Step 1: Download and run Coolmuster iOS Assistant on your computer, then use a USB cord to connect your locked iPhone to the computer. After your iPhone is detected by the software, you will see the main interface as below:

Step 2: Select the Super Toolkit section and then click iTunes Backup & Restore. Click Backup and select the location to save the backups, then click OK to back up locked iPhone to PC with 1 click.

Tip: If you want to back up some specific files, just select the file types on the main interface > tick off the required items > click the Export button to save the files from locked/disabled iPhone to PC.

1.2 How to Back Up Disabled iPhone with iTunes

If you have been syncing your iPhone with iTunes, then it's very easy to back up disabled iPhone with iTunes. Here's how:

Step 1: Launch iTunes on your computer, then connect the locked iPhone to the computer with a USB cable.

Step 2: Click the device icon on the top-left and click Summary.

Step 3: Go to the Backups section, select This computer and then click Back Up Now to start to back up your locked iPhone to PC.

Tip: Now that you have backed up your locked iPhone, you can select Restore iPhone to remove the passcode. For more details of how to remove the passcode on a disabled iPhone, you can read this article: Three Ways to Easily & Safely Unlock iPhone Password

Can you back up a disabled iPhone to iCloud?

If you have turned on the automatic syncing of iCloud and have the Wi-Fi enabled, then the answer is yes. If you want to check and extract the iPhone backup on iCloud, you can visit iCloud.com on your PC and log in to it with your Apple ID and Password, then select the files you want and download them to PC.

Learn more:

5 Ways on How to Back Up iPhone to Computer (Latest in 2023)

How to Back Up and Restore iPhone with or without iTunes?

Part 2: Tips on How to Back Up Locked iPhone (If iTunes Can Not Detect Locked iPhone)

What if you haven't synced with iTunes before, thus iTunes can not recognize your iPhone? Here's a trick you can try to get into your locked iPhone without wiping out your data. But note that this is not 100% workable and only applies on a disabled iPhone that has enabled Siri.

Here's how:

Step 1: Press the Home button until Siri appears and ask Siri to show you the present time. When Siri shows you the time, tap the clock icon.

Step 2: Tap World Clock and then add another clock by tapping the "+" icon on the upper-right.

Step 3: On the Choose a City screen, type whatever you want in the search box and then tap Select All to trigger more options, then tap Share.

Step 4: Select Messages and type anything in the To column.

Step 5: Tap return on the keyboard and tap the "+" icon to create a new contact.

Step 6: Tap add photo and then select Choose Photo, then you will come to the photo library.

Step 7: Now press the Home button and you will enter the Home screen. By doing this, your iPhone is unlocked without losing your data.

Last Words

If you want to back up your locked or disable iPhone before wiping it out, we highly recommend you to use Coolmuster iOS Assistant. As you can see, unlike iTunes, which doesn't allow you to preview your iOS files before backing up, Coolmuster iOS Assistant enables you to preview and selectively export files stored on the locked iPhone to PC. Download it and give it a try, if there are any problems, let us know by leaving a comment below.

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