Howto DFU mode/Recover your iPhone/iPod
This is a question i hear a lot.
First of all, why do you need the DFU mode?
Dfu stands for Download Firmware Update and you need this to recover your iPhone or iPod touch.
Her’s a quick guide.
1) Start your iTunes and connect your iPhone or iPod touch to your mac/pc.
2) Keep holding the sleep/wake and home button for about 10 seconds. Release the sleep/wake button, but keep holding the home button. you will hear some sounds.
3) If you did it correctly iTunes will tell you that it has detected an iPhone or iPod touch in recovery mode.
4) If you see the iTunes icon and cable on your iPhone, your device is not in DFU mode, but in recovery mode. Your device’s screen will be black when you are in DFU mode. I always have to try this several times so succeed.
5) Connect your device back to your Pc/Mac and press SHIFT+CLICK (pc) or COMMAND+ CLICK on the restore button.
6) Select the firmware version you’d like to install 1.1.4 (you can find it on our firmware page).
7) Wait for a couple of minutes and your iPhone/iPod will be as new.
enjoy ….
Oh, and one more thing, if you need to purchase an iPhone, head over to Smarthphoe Genie, who include reviews and cheap deals for the iPhone 4 and 4S
May 28th, 2008 at 5:52 am
Buenas noches, necesito ayuda con mi iphone…compre mi iphone con la version 1.1.4 y como no tenÃa el icono “installer” me recomendaron hacer un downgrade para luego instalarlo….al querer hacerlo bloqueo el iphone y ahora al encenderlo solo veo la imagen de iTunes como el conector. Trate de entrar al modo DFU pero no tengo suerte. Creen poder ayudarme por favor?
Gracias,
Fernando.
June 11th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Hi, does this work on unlocked iphones to update the firmware without locking them? Thanks,
annie
July 17th, 2008 at 1:27 am
:oops: :razz: :roll: :wink: :cry: :eek: :lol: :mad: :sad: :!: :?: :mrgreen: :neutral: :twisted: :arrow: :smile: :???: :cool: :evil: :grin: :idea:
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:37 am
I’m using window vista. How or where can I find the “COMMAND” key at? Sorry I’m not a computer geek. Please help!
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:50 am
hahaha…never mind I figured out what you saying. Thanks a lot!
August 23rd, 2008 at 10:14 am
I did everything that you instructed, but at the end it gave me this message: The iphone could not be restored. An unknown errors occurred (20). What is this mean? Or what should I do from here? Keeps try it again and again until it works?
September 14th, 2008 at 3:21 am
:oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:
October 4th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Can some body help me with my iPhone problems…
1) Sound is missing after I applied ibrickr fix.
2) PC suite is crashing immediatly after connecting iPhone..
Kindly requesting all to help me ..
October 14th, 2008 at 8:45 am
What button do you mean when you say “click”. There is no such button on a pc.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:18 am
@jay: Right next to the ANY key! :mrgreen:
April 17th, 2009 at 2:38 am
My friend wants me to put songs onto his iPod Touch and he somehow locked it, but he doesn’t know the code for it. so we can’t unlock it and i’ve tried to restore it, but every time i plug it into my computer, this message comes up:
iTunes could not connect to the iPod “Kay” because it is locked with a passcode. You must enter your passcode on the iPod before it can be used with iTunes.
But he doesn’t know the passcode and i can’t restore it! Help me please! what do i do?!?!?!?!
-Nancy
April 18th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
OMG thanks! I’ve been trying and trying to restore my iPod but it didn’t work, but now it does, thanks to you! You rock! :D
May 15th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
did you ever get it fixed ?
June 13th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
I need some help. I have a 2G iphone and I had it unlocked to take back to iraq with me (i am in the army) and I had it jailbroken…I shut it down and when it try to reboot it kept cycling and never booted up. Then I did a restore, now when I try to restore it I get an unknow error (6)…HELP please!!! I am using 8.0 itunes and tried several different firmware. I have had other people try and it still didn’t work. HELP PLEASE
July 14th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Its not command on your pc its CNTRL on your keyboard
October 7th, 2009 at 1:10 am
thanks so much m8, finally customed my firmware
October 13th, 2009 at 9:38 am
DFU Mode Animation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aES6bEY18F4
October 29th, 2009 at 2:30 am
its cinda late but i need help it loads the firmware but when it finishes it says slide for emergency and i tunes say lets get started but its already set up with att
October 30th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
i am holding the sleep/wake button and the home button, but nothing is coming up on my itunes or iphone. could it be because i am using a pc?
October 30th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
ok i got to the stage of the itunes icon thinggy to come up on my iphone but i dont know what you mean by
“Connect your device back to your Pc/Mac and press SHIFT+CLICK (pc) or COMMAND+ CLICK on the restore button. “
October 31st, 2009 at 7:42 am
OMG AWESOME
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
November 20th, 2009 at 4:34 am
My phone must be seriously fucked up because NOTHING works…DFU, Restore, Nothing…Error 9…file must be corrupted beyond repair and not letting iTunes restore. I hate you iPhone!!!
January 8th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
thank you so so very much!
itunes is downloading the latest 3.12 for my phone….will it still be unlocked?
January 10th, 2010 at 1:45 am
I want to jailbreak my iphone, but my parents got me a warranty with my phone. They paid a lot of money for it.I was wondering if the people would be able to tell if it was jailbroken (not unlocked just jailbroken)? Wouldn’t this restore wipe all of that off?
January 13th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Hi, I’ve been trying to unlocked my Ipod but I cant. My little was playing with it and he locked it with 5158865 mins, I know the code but I cant put it on it. I need your help… please Help!!!!
January 14th, 2010 at 5:39 am
I need help. My boyfriends iPod went into a random recovery mode like state after I restarted it where it has the screen that shows the cable going into iTunes. I plugged it into my computer, attempting to connect it so that it would work again, but it said “iTunes cannot connect to iPod “noor” because it is locked with a passcode.” I know the passcode but I can’t put it in because it won’t leave the ‘connect to iTunes’ screen so that I can. I have no where TO PUT a password in. I have tried resetting it and all that, but it still returns to the ‘connect to iTunes’ screen. I try reconnecting it to iTunes, but it still doesn’t work, and brings up the error screen again.. How do I put in the passcode so that I can get this thing to work again? Or better yet, make that screen go away?
January 15th, 2010 at 12:36 am
i dont understands step 6…….can someone please explain….should go to the firmare tab??if so which one do i download???…..i have a iphone 3GS
March 10th, 2010 at 5:32 am
i tried to do the downgrade from 3.1.3 to 3.1.2 but I ended up getting the “connect to itunes logo” I NEED HELP PLEASE!!!
May 10th, 2010 at 10:40 pm
hey people this trick is so good
July 17th, 2010 at 1:34 am
Thank you! This is very useful. I also followed along with this how-to video for help:
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-put-unresponsive-iphone-into-dfu-mode-259739/
Once I got the “connect to itunes” logo, I was able to restore. All I needed to do is plug it into my computer, open itunes, and click the restore button to get it working again.
November 19th, 2010 at 12:18 am
OMFG! THANK YOUUUUUUUUUU! :-).
December 10th, 2010 at 2:51 am
can some 1 please help me i jailbreaked my ipod touch 8 gb and now it wont go into dfu mode and if i plug it into itunes it turns off my ipod and untill i unplug it it wll not turn on can some one please reply me with some help
February 27th, 2011 at 6:53 pm
Just a quick thank, dude! ;)
March 16th, 2011 at 1:47 am
will it delete every app & contact on my phone if i do this ?
March 22nd, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Hi, i have a iPhone 2, and it is locked in recovery mode, no matter what i do, nothing seems to work. I have tried: iRecovery, limera1n, & blackrain. but all i still have on the screen in the USB cable to Itunes, i only bought this second hand yesterday, it was working, i connected it to itunes to back it up, but it said i was required to recover, so i pressed recover, and it has been stuck like this since.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
April 7th, 2011 at 11:34 pm
hey put it into dfu mode then restore it u will lose all ur stuff but it better then not haveing an ipod
April 14th, 2011 at 1:36 am
y wont my ipod go into dfu mode? . its a second generation ipod touch
June 22nd, 2011 at 2:00 am
Yes, yes it would.
June 22nd, 2011 at 2:00 am
Are you sure you’re doing it correctly?
Try again.
June 23rd, 2011 at 7:38 pm
We bought an Ipod touch 3rd gen 8 gb and have tried all of the above but it still won’t get out of initializing mode. It shows the Apple, with a faint circle going around it and a coloured line about half an inch from the right corner. Any ideas what to do? I am so sick of trying to do this but my son worked his butt off to save up to buy it so I want to help him.
July 1st, 2011 at 12:12 am
Hi, my daughter has an ipod touch 2g, 4.2.1, but when she did the update in itunes to get to 4.2.1, the ipod got messed up somehow. Now it won’t play anything. I can see the songs, but when I press play, it looks like it might play then it pauses and the song doesn’t play. I tried to fix it through Apple phone support, but that didn’t help. Does anyone have any suggestions? I want to try everything I can before I consider this thing a glorified paperweight.
July 20th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
hey i done all the steps and my iphone wont turn on i downloaded firmwire on step 6 but when i click the restore button and pick my installed wirefirm it then says after a short time of waiting
“the iphone cannot be restored at this time because theiphone update server cannot be contacted . please try again later.”
please help!!!! i dunno what to do at this point!
August 21st, 2011 at 7:26 am
hey man yeah the restore would completely wipe the phone so there would be no trace of it ever being jailbroken in the first place. :)
September 9th, 2011 at 11:17 pm
Thank you so much…I read many forums before finding this one and this is the only thing that worked!!
September 23rd, 2011 at 1:44 pm
Thanks so much, i think i hav been successful so far with restoring my ipod touch but my problem has to do with the firmware type. mine is 4.3.3 and it tells me that my chosen firmware is not compatible. what shd i do?
October 3rd, 2011 at 5:05 am
i tried using your way but i doen’t work i tried downloading 4.3.3 but it doesn’t work so i downloaded the newer one which is 4.3.5 but both says that it’s not compatible! what should i do??
October 15th, 2011 at 11:23 pm
okay so i am trying to jailbreak my iphone 4 but it wont go into dfu mode it just keeps going into recovery mode!
October 17th, 2011 at 4:50 am
Hi! I tried to upgrade my i-fon but it says i-tunes cannot connect to your i fon because it is locked with passcode .And says must have to enter your passcode on the i fon before using..Please help me regardin this matter.
October 28th, 2011 at 7:47 am
wheni try to restore my i phone with the latest firmware it says ” the iphone could not be restored because the firmware file is not compatible” how do i fix this??
November 4th, 2011 at 6:54 am
hey my iphone 4 is locked while updating 5.0 so i folllow u is it fine after i do as u say, will my iphone will be unlock or not plz answer me soon.?
November 11th, 2011 at 3:33 am
i have a 3gs IOS 5 redsn0w tethered jailbreak, i jailbroke it on another computer and when i tried to reboot it on mine with redsn0w it says i need the ios5 ipsw but ive tried downloading but my internet is to slow and it times out, i want to just retore it but it says i have download the update first? is there anyway i can bypass the update? ive already tried shift+ restore but i cant find my backup files :( please help
November 12th, 2011 at 4:23 am
hi im scared to jail break my 4.3.5 4th generation ipod touch cause if i mess up idk what to and i wont have a ipod touch anymore i am not willing to take that risk but i want to jail break so bad and if i mess up my mom will k0! me because i broke the ipod touch that she tryed getting for 3 months straight for me so please answer back thanks pce out
i appreciate everything sincerely andres
p.s. dude yes or no that i can turn my ipod touch back to normal if i jailbreaking messes my ipod touch up
November 12th, 2011 at 8:02 pm
i restore my ipod touch 4 and now it in recovery mode so i lost my charger i need help so how can i get to the normal ipod screen
November 12th, 2011 at 11:47 pm
hey i needhelp my itouch 4 is on recovery mode but i lost my usb cod so i need to on recovery mode please help
November 13th, 2011 at 3:34 am
Wheres the firmware page!?
November 13th, 2011 at 6:01 pm
use iReb to escape the recoverly loop if it doesn’t work you’re screwed. iReb is in ih8sn0w.com
November 13th, 2011 at 8:19 pm
http://iphonefreakz.com/iphone-firmwares/
November 18th, 2011 at 9:28 pm
Hi, I cracked my screen on my 3GS and after installing a new screen and digitizer, my phone won’t go past the apple logo. I have restored it and all I get is the spinning icon or the apple logo. Any help or suggestions would be so very much appreciated…
November 30th, 2011 at 6:53 am
Have a 3gs and in dfu mode it gets all the way to the end of the restore and comes up with error (-1) what do i do?
December 6th, 2011 at 8:47 pm
ive the same problem as nancy but once i put it in dfu mode nothing comes up
December 9th, 2011 at 5:58 am
Hi, Follow Correct instruction then you can get good result. No mistake.
December 9th, 2011 at 6:16 am
Hi,
I have a 3gs and I was confused about DFU & Recovery mode.
First you find correct problem of your iphone.
How you know ur iphone in DFU mode? it is black screen?
1.DFU mode- black screen
2.iTunes icon and USB cable – Recovery mode
3.Apple logo………..- Have to restore. If you don’t have backup in iTune then you hv to dwnld upgrade vrsn or same not dwngrd.
then follow correct instruction, you will get your new iPhone.
7) Wait for a couple of minutes and your iPhone/iPod will be as new.
December 11th, 2011 at 5:05 am
click means enter ,shigt and hit enter or double click on your mouse (click )
December 22nd, 2011 at 2:44 am
If an itouch is restored on a different computer, do you have an option of keeping the pass code the same or will it just reset it after you use the itouch?
December 28th, 2011 at 8:26 pm
hey i just got my ipod touch 4gen on christmas and its stuck on recovery mode and i tried to restore and this is what pops up, the ipod ipod can not be restored.an unknown error occured 1611
i need help im new to the ipod
please help
daniel
December 28th, 2011 at 10:46 pm
Are you using the correct firmware version? Make sure you are using the iOS version that is made for the iPod Touch 4G.
January 2nd, 2012 at 2:43 am
HELPPPPP MY IPHONE 3.1.3 IS OFF.. IT KEEPS TURNING OFF AND TURNING ON AND WHEN IT DOES TURN ON THE SCREEN IS WHITE AND THEN IT TURNS OFF AND WONT TURN BACK ON FOR A FEW DAYS.. HELP PLEASE I TRYED TO FOLLOW YOUR STEPS BUT ITS NOT WORKING.. HELP PLEASE!@
January 4th, 2012 at 3:24 pm
help ipod touch 4G The iPod “iPod” could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (21) when in recovery mode .. what to do ?????
January 11th, 2012 at 3:58 pm
You are the master of of iPhone. Thanks a aaaaaaaaa lot.
January 13th, 2012 at 12:23 am
thankyou soo much these steps worked my ipod was stuck on apple logo and it woeked
January 13th, 2012 at 5:54 am
hello i have tryed several times and my ipod is still locked can you help me and if i dont get it unlocked i hve to call the apple store so any way you can help plaese say yess
January 13th, 2012 at 5:56 am
same with me
January 18th, 2012 at 1:23 am
how long should my ipod stay in dfu mode
January 19th, 2012 at 2:33 am
OMFG THX SO MUCH!!! ok first off i fuck up my jailbroken ipod touch BIG TIME by interrupting a cydia download.. then for the whole day it would ONLY show the apple logo:: Then I got around to finding the Itunes logo AND finally I SHIFT+CLICKed the restore button and put in ur firmware document. HOPE IT WORKS :)
January 20th, 2012 at 4:11 am
Should be called Don’t Fuck Up mode.
January 21st, 2012 at 12:14 am
how did you get the Error 9 fixed ? what did you do ? help please.
mine is stuck doing this as well.
January 25th, 2012 at 10:08 am
thnx i recovered my ipod
January 26th, 2012 at 11:49 pm
i cant recover can you please help me i try whats on this site but its stillwhen i push presss sleep and wake botton its takes picture of screen
January 31st, 2012 at 9:30 am
Hi thx so much it worked!
March 4th, 2012 at 11:59 am
We can’t get past the dfu mode. We here the sounds but I tunes doesn’t see it and recognize it so we aren’t getting the message box. After we heard the sounds we went ahead and disconnected then reconnected and still nothing. Now what?
March 5th, 2012 at 10:31 am
i got an iphone with me( i am a techinician) which is saying iphone disabled connect to itunes.. when i do it is asking password.. phone is not allowing me to enter password.. it is not going into dfu mode..tried with redsnow and ireb and then manually as well it not working
March 8th, 2012 at 4:43 pm
You just need to try it 5 times or more, it’s not a piece of cake.
March 11th, 2012 at 7:20 am
Hey man, thanks a million, cuz for a sec i thought i have lost my iphone 4s… cheers mate..
March 12th, 2012 at 4:06 am
i have an iphone 3gs that was jailbroken with redsn0w, a few months back, today it started saying the storage was almost full, then after i removed some apps, it turned itself off, and now all it will do is show the apple logo, for about 5 seconds and then turn off. and i’ve tried to restore it thru itunes, but it gives a message that it can’t be restored. and i’ve tried the hard resets numerous times and still nothing. i have no idea what to try next?
March 13th, 2012 at 12:43 am
My iPod touch is third generation, 32 gigs and it wont go into DFU mode! I have done it correctly and tried everything, please help!
March 22nd, 2012 at 9:20 pm
So, everything goes fine until i get error 3194, after pressing shift and click and select the fimware. i updated my itunes, and tried a couple of other firmwares to ipohne 4, but nothing works. i still get the same error from itunes.
what do i do now?????
April 5th, 2012 at 1:42 am
My son “restored” his IPod touch after it mysteriously went into DFU mode. Now he’s lost everything except the basic apps it came with when we bought it new. All Itunes etc are gone. HELP???
April 27th, 2012 at 3:58 pm
nothing works on my iphone, it wont go into dfu mode or anything. it just goes blaack, then wont even turn on at all for hours!!!!
May 12th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
hello, so i’ve been reading your post, and the same thing happenend with me ! i just plugged my ipod into my pc and deleted the songs then downloaded them again. hope i helped :)
May 19th, 2012 at 5:07 pm
go to softpedia.com & search firmware then click on apple and look the firmware that ur phone is compatible to i.e. 3gs, 4s, 2gs… etc
good luck :D
June 5th, 2012 at 5:49 am
i know someone that has an iphone 3gs stuck in recovery mode. it just shows the connect to itunes screen no matter what. itunes says that the ipod must be restored for itunes to work with it. if it is started in dfu mod,e and we try the shift-click + restore will this wipe all data off the phone? genius didnt bother to ever backup anything on the phone.
August 6th, 2012 at 11:18 pm
hi i need help people. ive put my iphone 4 into dfu mode, but im stuck at the bit where it says “push CMD + click on the restore button”. ive downloaded the firmware but i just dont know how to do the commad bit on the restore button. nothing happens!
August 7th, 2012 at 5:05 am
Mine is doing the same thing do youknow or remember how to do it?? HELP
August 13th, 2012 at 6:25 am
I found an iPhone 4 but the person had a verizon account. I tried to erase all the data and selected de erase all data and setting option and when I tried to used it but it said that it couldnt because the server was not available. I asked a friend what I could do to make it work and recommended me de dfu restore mode, I did it but have the same result, what do I do now?
August 21st, 2012 at 8:58 pm
Hi Claudia,
You can’t do much things…
Unfortunately if your device is the iPhone Verizon version it does not have a SIM tray which makes impossible to use others SIM cards or activate using another wireless carrier.
You will probably need to contact the wireless carrier and create an account to use the phone feature.
September 19th, 2012 at 4:55 am
thanxx
October 8th, 2012 at 8:33 am
Thanks, my Iphone 3G is new again!
October 11th, 2012 at 6:26 am
I tried to restore my iphone useeing the dfu recovery method and when I tried to restore I got an error message “3194 cannot restore iphone unknown error”
October 19th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
hi, I reset my iphone to sell it to a guy, so as I did it in front of him to erase all content, the phone was asking to connect to itunes or internet, none of it was available, so the guy told me it wasnt a problem he would do it home. 2 days later he calls me that the phone cannot work without being plugged, so he wants the money back. he brings me the phone and i plugged it in the car and it shows like the battery empty but charging, after a few seconds there comes the apple, and than again battery, apple, and so on. it never turns on. i did the dfu recovery, everything fine, after 3h of working it finishes, and the same thing again.
the guy obviously lied about the phone being on on cable cause it isnt. it just keeps showing the low battery charging, the apple and after 5 secs again battery… it never turns on.
November 11th, 2012 at 4:10 am
he probably just gave you back a non working iphone cause he probably does that for a living………
or he tried to jailbreak it , and it’s a tethered jailbreak and you might need redsnow to boot the phone
February 28th, 2013 at 9:11 pm
i have an iphone4 and one day it just stopped working on me.. i was on a phone call while my phone was being charged at the same time.. then all of a sudden my phone was dead and could not get it to turn back on.. so once i plug it into the wall charger it powers and it shows the connect to iTunes screen but when i unplug usb to plug into my pc it don’t recognize it.. and also my iphone4 now says IMEI: unknown ICCID: unknown.. i have tried everything i could think of.. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ON THIS PHONE IS MY NEW BORN’S PICTURES @ THE HOSPITAL.. i never did back it up or anything so i am so freaking out cause i DO NOT want to lose my precious pics.. i have only kept this iphone for that reason.. its been since 2010 now its 2013 lol, when i get the EMERGENCY CALLS ONLY screen i can see the pic of my 2 yr old as a new born and i want to share these memories with him but now it seems impossible.. :( someone please HELP…….. I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING….
March 1st, 2013 at 2:19 pm
hey um my ipod 4 is in recovery mode and i put it in in dfu mode and when i plug it into itunes it downloads the lasted firmware for the ipod and then it says it can’t restore
Please Help
March 1st, 2013 at 2:20 pm
to my last comment would having an old itunes be the promblem
March 4th, 2013 at 1:23 am
hello, i need to restore my i phone because it keeps shutting down and will not be recognized in the computer but my home button is broken how can i restore it??????
March 22nd, 2013 at 8:43 am
We’re sorry, we are unable to continue with your activation at this time.
Please try again later, or contact customer care. how can i fix it .. i update my iphone 3gs 4.1 to 6 and it turns to that .. i stuck on activating my iphone .. please help me
March 22nd, 2013 at 9:53 am
i try to run DFU METHOD and i didnt download any firmare and run it .. but i all comes to We’re sorry, we are unable to continue with your activation at this time.
Please try again later, or contact customer care .. can anyone help me fix this problem please !!
August 14th, 2013 at 2:28 pm
We’re sorry, we are unable to continue with your activation at this time.
Please try again later, or contact customer care. how can i fix it .. i update my iphone 3gs and it turns to that .. i stuck on activating my iphone .. please help me
All I want is use this phone as ipod. I hav sim in it that I got it from AT&T. I did download everything from ituns.
Thanks