- If you get the iPhone is Unavailable message, it means that you’ve entered the wrong password or PIN too many times.
- Usually, if you wait some time, the message will disappear and you’ll be able to unlock your iPhone.
- This is a security measure and the main idea is to prevent others from accessing your device after they miss the password or PIN multiple times.
- To avoid this, keep your iPhone to yourself, watch out for accidental touches (pockets), and make sure to remember your passcode.
What does it mean when iPhone says iPhone unavailable?
If your iPhone says that it’s Unavailable, it means that it’s temporarily locked and can’t be unlocked for some time. This happens if you typed in the wrong password or PIN multiple times. The automatic response is to keep you on the lock screen. You can’t skip the timeout that will initially last 1 minute.
This is made so other people (especially if your device is stolen) will have a hard time guessing the password or PIN. With the 4-digit PIN, there are 10000 combinations so it’s already quite hard.
What to do when iPhone says unavailable on Lock Screen?
You just need to wait for a minute and enter the password or PIN. You can’t unlock your iPhone with TouchID/Face Unlock before you enter the password or PIN. It’s as simple as that unless you don’t know the password or a PIN.
If you forget your PIN or password, this can be quite problematic and you can say goodbye to your data. Sadly, a few available options require a factory reset that will delete all your data. If you have a recent backup, you can restore your iPhone with iTunes on your PC or Mac or delete it with Find My iPhone. You can restore it later on with your AppleID. But, have in mind that, you’ll still need your Apple ID to restore your iPhone.
To reset your iPhone with iTunes, power off your device and connect to your Mac or PC. Then you’ll need to put your iPhone in Recovery mode. Usually, you’ll need to press the Side button or Home button for some time until Recovery mode appears. Open iTunes and select your iPhone. Then select Restore and follow further instructions. You can later restore your iPhone from iCloud.
You can also navigate to Find My iPhone and reset your device from there. Although, we prefer the previous option.
That should do it. Thank you for reading and don’t forget to share your thoughts, questions, or suggestions with us in the comments section below. We look forward to hearing from you.
Editor’s note: This article was initially published in June 2022. We made sure to revamp it for freshness and accuracy.
