iPhone restarts right after unlocking, any way to recover photos?

Had a client come in today with an iPhone that powers on and boots to the lock screen, but the second she types her passcode, a spinning wheel shows up, then the phone restarts.
No icloud backup. All photos are local. She’s coming back tomorrow, and I’m supposed to try a data recovery, but honestly, I’ve never done one on iphone before. Any chance it’s possible?

Tagged: Bootloop iphone

iPhone

All Replies

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

Jack

Participant

July 16, 2025 at 11:30 am

I’ll give that a shot. Any idea if those tools can access files before full boot?

Jace Elric

Participant

July 16, 2025 at 10:28 am

Try using iphone data recovery software with a “crash recovery” or “iOS repair” mode. If the phone stays on long enough post passcode, it may pull data before the reboot kicks in.

Silas Vane

Participant

July 16, 2025 at 8:42 am

That’s the tricky part because once passcode is entered, ios mounts the data partition. If the system crashes there, it could be a corrupted file or directory.

Jack

Participant

July 16, 2025 at 7:07 am

Yeah, I was thinking something similar. It’s weird because it stays on just fine until the passcode is entered.

Hogan

Participant

July 16, 2025 at 6:16 am

Ah yes, the classic ‘no backup, everything’s local, and it crashes on unlock’ scenario, the ideal situation for a first iPhone data recovery attempt.
Should be a breeze. 😅

Mira Lennox Lennox

Participant

July 16, 2025 at 6:14 am

Sounds like a boot loop triggered post authentication. Seen it once after a corrupt update. Data recovery might be possible if the system isn’t totally wrecked.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)