Being an owner of an iPhone, many times you might stumble upon a situation where the phone gets stuck or doesn’t behave normally. Although the most straightforward way to fix the issue is to restart your device, if the solution fails to help, you must choose the harsh approach of Recovery Mode. But what if iTunes is not detecting iPhone in Recovery Mode either?
Well! This is not the end.
In the following sections, you will learn a few methods to resolve the problem of iTunes not detecting iPhone in Recovery Mode with the help of some tweaks, and if things don’t go well, by using a third-party app to get the job done.
What You Can Do If iTunes Is Not Detecting iPhone In Recovery Mode
There are a couple of solutions that you can try if iTunes fails to detect your iPhone in Recovery Mode. Although these solutions may look simple, they are quite effective as long as you have the latest version of iTunes installed on your computer.
Solution 1: Unplug and Reconnect
Many times, iPhone gets stuck due to minor fluctuations in the power supply or some malfunction in iTunes while communicating with the device. Unplugging and then reconnecting the phone restarts the entire process from scratch, thus fixing the issue. The step-by-step procedure is given below:
- Disconnect your iPhone (iPhone 8 and above).
- Press and release the Volume Up button.
- Quickly press and release the Volume Down button.
- Press and hold down the Sleep/Wake button until the screen goes black and the Apple logo appears.
- Release the Sleep/Wake button.
- After iPhone is force-started, reconnect it to the computer, and try getting into Recovery Mode again.
Note: For iPhone 7, press and hold down the Volume Down + Sleep/Wake buttons to force restart, and to do the same with iPhone 6S and earlier models, press and hold down the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons.
Solution 2: Check the USB Cable and Port
Your iPhone may even get stuck at some point if it cannot communicate with iTunes due to a faulty cable or USB port. Replacing the cord and/or connecting the phone to a different, correct USB socket ensures undisrupted information transfer between the two nodes, thus allowing you to resolve the problem with ease.
- Try connecting your iPhone to a different USB port on the computer.
- If the above approach doesn’t help, try using a different USB cable on the same, and then on a different USB port.
Solution 3: Use a Different Computer
iTunes may fail to access iPhone if the PC has some issues such as the presence of malware, faulty or obsolete operating system, damaged USB ports, unavailability of the latest device drivers, etc. Using a different computer with the latest version of iTunes installed on it can make the troubleshooting process smooth.
- Grab a different computer.
- Download and install iTunes if it is not already present.
- Use your favorite web browser to go to the https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT210384.
- Try putting your iPhone in Recovery Mode again.
Solution 4: Check for iTunes Updates
Many times, your iPhone may fail to connect to iTunes if its version is obsolete. That said, you can follow the steps that are given below to check if there is a new version of iTunes.
- Launch iTunes.
- Click to open the Help menu from the menu bar at the top.
- Click Check for Updates.
- If a newer version is available, follow the on-screen instructions to update iTunes.
- Try putting your iPhone in Recovery Mode again.
Solution 5: Reinstall iTunes
After trying the above solutions, if the issue of iTunes not detecting iPhone in Recovery Mode still exists, you can remove it from your PC and reinstall a fresh, latest, and error-free copy of the program. This ensures that there are no glitches in iTunes itself, and it can smoothly communicate with your iPhone upon successful connection. The instructions that follow will help you get the job done:
- Go to Start.
- Expand the iTunes container.
- Right-click iTunes.
- Click Uninstall.
- On the Programs and Features window that opens up next, locate and click to select iTunes.
- Click Uninstall.
- Click Yes on the confirmation box.
- Follow the on-screen instructions from there to continue with the uninstallation process.
- Next, use the method given in Solution 3 to download and reinstall the latest version of iTunes.
- Connect your iPhone to the computer.
- Try putting the phone in Recovery Mode again.
Solution 6: Put iPhone in Device Firmware Update (DFU) Mode
DFU stands for Device Firmware Update. When you put your iPhone in DFU mode, it downloads and installs a fresh copy of the firmware, thus removing any issues that the currently installed instance might have. However, the process of putting your phone in DFU mode is a bit tricky, and the method is given below:
- Update iTunes on your computer.
- Use the USB cable to connect your iPhone to the PC (iPhone 8 and above). You can refer to this guide to put your iPhone into DFU mode.
- Use the method given in Solution 1, and continue holding the Sleep/Wake button for 10 seconds until the screen goes black.
- Release the Sleep/Wake button before the Apple logo appears.
- Quickly press and hold the Volume Down button for another 10 seconds until the iPhone enters into DFU mode.
- Use the DFU mode to restore your iPhone to fix the issue(s) of iTunes not detecting iPhone in Recovery Mode.
Note: For iPhone 7, release the Sleep/Wake button but continue pressing the Volume Down button until the phone enters into DFU mode. Likewise, for iPhone 6 or earlier, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button for 3 seconds, release the button, press and hold the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons together for another 10 seconds, and release the Sleep/Wake button but continue holding the Home button for 15 more seconds until your iPhone enters into DFU mode.
Solution 7: Use an iTunes Alternative
iTunes is quite capable of fixing almost all the issues that your iPhone may encounter, agreed. However, being a program that is a jack of all trades, it is hardly a master of one. Simply put, although iTunes is an efficient software when it comes to fixing iDevices’ issues, it doesn’t always work, even if the situation is as simple as iTunes not detecting iPhone in Recovery Mode.
Therefore, it becomes imperative to use a third-party application that has been designed and developed specifically for the purpose. Fortunately, one such tool called ReiBoot by Tenoshare is there for a rescue.
Any task that generally requires you to press several buttons on your iPhone simultaneously while using iTunes can be done with merely a single click with ReiBoot. A couple of things that the program helps you with include:
- Enter Recovery Mode (If your iPhone is not in a normal state, you cannot use this feature.)
- Exit Recovery Mode
- Downgrade iOS to an earlier version
- Reset your iDevices
- Fix more than 150 known issues that iPads, iPhones, Apple TVs, and iPods face during continuous usage
Furthermore, the most recent version of ReiBoot supports iOS 16 Beta and can recognize and troubleshoot all the variants of iPhone 13.
Now, regardless of the model, if your phone has any problem and even iTunes is not detecting iPhone in Recovery Mode, you can follow the steps that are given below to use ReiBoot to resolve the issue(s) within no time:
Step 1: Configure ReiBoot to Automatically Detect the Issue(s)
After downloading ReiBoot and installing it on your PC, use the USB cable to connect your iPhone to the computer. Click Start from the main screen, click to select Device Bug on the next window that appears and click Fix Now from the lower section.
Step 2: Pick and Set Up a Repair Method
Click to select Standard Repair on the next window, and click the Standard Repair button.
When the next screen appears, optionally choose a download location for the latest and error-free copy of the firmware (or leave the current folder selected), and click Download. Wait while ReiBoot downloads the correct firmware on your PC before moving to the next step.
Step 3: Repair Your iPhone
Once the download is complete, click Start Standard Repair.
Wait while ReiBoot repairs your iPhone, and click Done upon completion. Next, disconnect your iPhone from your PC and continue using it normally.
Conclusion
Although iTunes and the tweaks it supports are effective, they cannot fix all the issues that your iDevice may encounter over time. With that said, any time you come across a situation where your instance of iTunes not detecting iPhone in Recovery Mode, you can go for an effective and reliable tool like Tenoshare ReiBoot to troubleshoot the problem with a few mouse clicks in no time.
