Get Around Try Again in 60 Minutes
I gave my mother an iPad for Christmas. She had a Mac in the past, simply after it died, she started using an old netbook running Windows XP that I had left lying effectually her business firm. The Asus 1000HE, dating from the commencement days of the Obama administration, was literally wheezing and I didn't even want to imagine what security vulnerabilities its copy of the long-abandoned Windows XP had.
The iPad was her start iOS device, and she was thrilled, particularly with Touch on ID. But I failed to explicate that Impact ID would require her to enter her passcode every few days. And when we had fix up the iPad, she had insisted on an alphanumeric passcode. So when it prompted her for a passcode, she entered her Apple ID password. And again. And again.
Until finally, the tablet seized up, displaying this bulletin: "iPad is disabled; connect to iTunes."
After I ranted almost this situation on Twitter and in our TidBITS Slack team, I discovered that most techies don't fifty-fifty know that this is something that happens, because they don't forget their passcodes!
Alas, I know this problem all as well well because I have a tech-befuddled toddler who likes to utilize the iPad Lock screen every bit a drum, then he disables his iPad regularly. And earlier y'all ask, no, this characteristic is not related to the Erase Data feature in Settings > Impact ID & Passcode that erases the data on your iOS device after 10 incorrect passcode entries. This is a congenital-in security characteristic that cannot be disabled.
How many incorrect passcode entries it takes before the iPad locks is up for debate. Apple's support document says half dozen. In my testing, that isn't true. It took only v tries with random passcodes to disable my iPad for 1 minute. Nevertheless, Apple seems to have measures in places to foreclose accidental disabling. I tried 1111 as a passcode over xx times without disabling the iPad. I and so entered 9874 some other twenty times with no problems. But after that it took only 3 random passcodes, without entering the right passcode to reset the count, to disable the iPad.
Once you kick off the process, it works like this: the device is disabled for 1 minute. There is no way to bypass it being disabled — you just have to sit in time out like a naughty kid. Once that time is up, you get ane chance to become the passcode correct or your device is disabled for five minutes. Get information technology wrong again and information technology's disabled for 15 minutes! The adjacent failure disables it for another 15 minutes. Afterwards that, 1 hour. Become information technology incorrect i more than time, and you won't be able to get in straight on the device ever once again. Your only solution at that point is to erase all content and settings and restore from backup.
As I've worked on my examination devices to replicate this behavior, I'm amazed at how persistent my mother was in inbound the wrong passcode. But I recall ane of the design mistakes Apple made here was in not explaining why the iPad is disabled. The more than technically adept will likely figure out what's happening rapidly, just it's not necessarily obvious to a less experienced user what's going on.
A more helpful message would be "iPad is disabled for five minutes for your security. Please verify that your passcode is correct and endeavour again." At the very to the lowest degree, that would ensure that the user had been told explicitly what they had washed wrong.
How I Fixed It — If your iOS device is disabled, the main way to set it is to use iTunes to erase information technology and restore from backup. So instead of this being a unproblematic confusion I could clear upwardly over the telephone, I had to head to her house with my MacBook Pro in tow. To add together insult to injury, since my MacBook Pro simply has Thunderbolt 3 ports and her iPad but came with a Lightning to USB cablevision, I had to dig out an adapter.
(To those who would point out that I could have loaded iTunes on my old netbook, no, that wouldn't have worked because the electric current version of iTunes requires at least Windows vii.)
If the device has been synced with iTunes, erasing and restoring is reportedly a relatively painless procedure. Only since her iPad had never been synced to my MacBook Pro, I first had to enter recovery mode by connecting information technology to iTunes and belongings the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button until I saw the Connect to iTunes screen. That technique works on all iPads, iPod touches, and older iPhones. If you have an iPhone 7 or later, the process is slightly dissimilar:
- iPhone 7 and iPhone seven Plus: Press and concord the Side and Volume Downward buttons until you see the Connect to iTunes screen.
- iPhone Ten, iPhone 8, and iPhone viii Plus: Press and release the Volume Up button, press and release the Book Down button, and then press and concord the Side button until you see the Connect to iTunes screen.
In one case I connected to the iPad via iTunes, recovery was as uncomplicated every bit clicking the Restore iPad button. You may see a prompt that says there was a problem with your device that requires it to be updated or restored. If so, click the Restore push button on that window.
Note that restoring your device requires iTunes to download the latest version of iOS, regardless of whether or not information technology's installed on your device already. And likewise note that your iOS device volition remain in restore mode for simply xv minutes, so if the download takes longer than that, you'll have to enter that mode once more. So having a fast Net connectedness is key during the restore process. Unfortunately, my female parent didn't have a peculiarly good Cyberspace connection at the time, so I had to go home to my fiber connexion, restore the iPad, and and so bring information technology back.
I after learned that there is another solution to this trouble that'south easier, doesn't crave a Mac with iTunes, and can be initiated remotely: Discover My iPhone, also known every bit Detect My iPad (the proper noun changes per device). You'll demand another computer or iOS device for this, but if yous open the built-in Discover My iPhone app, either in iOS or on iCloud, choose the disabled device, and tap Erase iPad, you can erase the device. Nevertheless, if Find My iPad wasn't enabled and you don't have access to a Mac with iTunes, yous'll have to drive to an Apple tree Store to get information technology stock-still. That's correct — the final-ditch solution is to accept your disabled device to the Genius Bar and get Apple to reset it.
Note also that if Find My iPad is enabled, that turns on Activation Lock. So, when you lot're setting the device up once again, you'll take to log in with the previous Apple ID credentials that were associated with the device to prove that information technology'due south not stolen.
Thankfully, this story had a happy catastrophe. I'd set upwards my female parent'south iPad to dorsum upward to iCloud and restoring that backup brought back all of her apps, already logged in, then it didn't take long to become back up to speed. I worked with her to fix a new numeric passcode and even turned on two-factor authentication for her Apple ID at her request. That was a few weeks agone, and so far, so good.
Further Thoughts — During this pocket-sized drama, I learned a few things almost setting up iOS devices for others. Don't set up an alphanumeric passcode, even if they asking information technology. Make them come up with a numeric passcode. It's merely as well easy to mix up the passcode and Apple ID password. Also, whatever security measures you fix upwardly, exist sure to explain them thoroughly.
I also have a few suggestions for how Apple could ameliorate this feature. Beginning, permit the states turn information technology off! I don't even see why it exists — iOS already has a feature that will wipe the device if the passcode is entered incorrectly plenty times. I sympathize and appreciate Apple'due south dedication to security, but some devices need less than others. My mom'southward and son's iPads take nothing on them that's more than sensitive than what kind of YouTube videos they like — a 6-digit passcode is more than enough security on its ain. And on top of that, I can wipe these devices remotely with Notice My iPhone.
Worse, this characteristic can render a device completely useless and potentially cause a user to lose data, if the device wasn't set to back upwards or its backups were failing for some reason. I've never seen a non-optional security feature that could brick a consumer-level device fifty-fifty if an authorized user could later authenticate themselves.
At least in theory, someone with admission to your iPhone or iPad could lock information technology in this way simply to be annoying. There should always be a manner for an authorized user to gain access to a disabled device without having to turn to another device or computer, possibly by entering your Apple ID credentials.
Source: https://tidbits.com/2018/01/15/what-to-do-if-your-ipad-gets-disabled-by-too-many-passcode-entries/
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