Recovering data from an iPhone
An iPhone holds a remarkable concentration of somebody's life — photographs, messages, notes, contacts and app data — and Apple's encryption, which is exactly what makes the device secure, is also what makes recovery from one a specialised job.
Where the data can come from
- The handset itself, where it still powers on and can be unlocked
- An iCloud backup associated with the account
- A local iTunes or Finder backup on a computer, including encrypted backups where the password is known
- A computer the phone was previously synced with, which often holds more than the owner realises
What we can usually retrieve
- Photographs and video, including recently deleted items
- Contacts and call history
- Messages and attachments
- Notes, reminders and calendar entries
- Data belonging to individual applications
A device that will not switch on
A handset that has been dropped or has suffered water damage may still hold entirely intact data. In those cases the first task is to establish whether the fault is in the power path, the display or the board itself — a phone that appears dead because of a failed charging circuit is a very different proposition from one with board-level damage.
What to avoid
Do not restore the device, do not reset it, and do not update iOS while data is still missing — each of those can permanently remove what you are trying to recover. If the phone has been in water, do not charge it. Bring it in and let us assess it first.