Home » DFU Mode, Recovery Mode

How to Get your iPhone (in/out of) Recovery Mode and DFU Mode

4 July 2009 232 Comments

Both recovery and DFU modes are often confusing which just adds to the frustration when accidentally put into either of these modes. You don’t have to restore completely in iTunes. That takes up a lot of time (around 20 minutes and if you have data, it may be longer to get it all back up and running). You can give the following combinations a shot and I have tested them both on iPhone 3.0.

DFU Mode :

Steps to recover from DFU mode :

  • Connect your iPhone to your computer.
  • Hold down the home button and the power button for about 10 seconds.
  • If your phone is connected to your computer you’ll hear a beep as when a USB device is disconnected.
  • Next just press the power button and your phone will startup as usual.

If you’ve accidentally put your iPhone in DFU mode, the steps mentioned above should do the trick.

If you’re in DFU and mid-way through a failed restore, then you will need a complete iTunes restore to get you out of the DFU mode.

Recovery Mode :

Steps to recover from Recovery mode :

  • Hold Power Button + Home button for 15 Secs.
  • Release buttons.
  • Hold Home button for 2 secs.

232 Comments »

  • mr_jxc said:

    hello, i have an iphone 3gs and recently i dunno what i done the phone has gone into recovery mode and when i've tried to use itunes to restore it keeps saying error 40 and i tried various things to kick it out of recovery like tinyumbrella, redsn0w, etc and even the guide above didn't help. any suggestions for why this is happening? i really don't wanna spend £400 on a new iphone =/ get ASAP please. thanks. also im running on windows vista x32

    # 22 January 2011 at 9:14 am
  • Josh said:

    Hey, if your talkin about the recovery mode that is like completely black screen that wont turn on or the connect to itunes thing, well that doesnt matter all you gotta do is hold down the power and home buttons at the same time and it will turn on (it wont look like its workin just keep holdin down the buttons and once you see the apple logo itll turn on)
    Hope i could help

    # 25 January 2011 at 9:56 pm
  • Naga said:

    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1275. Hey goto this support site and see specific error codes. and for Error 40 they have described as
    " These errors typically occur when security software interferes with the restore and update process. If you are using a PC, follow this article to resolve this issue. Error 40 may also indicate a hardware issue."

    # 14 February 2011 at 8:13 pm
  • shaikh latifur said:

    hi. friend i restore my iphone from the setting but before i didnt swith it off and i didnt take out my sim card also now which site in internet i can restore it.and i did nt find out the signal for the itunes.please send some eay way to restore.

    # 25 January 2011 at 9:21 am
  • madhur said:

    dude, I just got a new iphone 3GS for myself! and I am not able to activate it! could you please help me?

    # 25 January 2011 at 1:57 pm
  • jason Franklin said:

    is the 3g different from the 3gs when it comes to this process?

    # 24 February 2011 at 1:17 pm
  • seth said:

    Hi !! my name is seth. I use iphone 2G like my phone appears itune and usb cable which mean i have to restore it [ or not ?] then, i tried to restore it as soon as i apple picture appeared. my phone showed me to connect to itunes again. without having emergency screen.?
    can you please tell me what am i should do?

    # 24 February 2011 at 7:52 pm
  • Lam Sweetiepie said:

    then thats the restore mode

    # 4 March 2011 at 2:33 pm
  • karan said:

    hello every one
    i have a iphone 3g.i was trying to jailbreak it with the help of green poision,lamera1c.but all in vain.
    now another problem is their.while pressing sleep and home button it give me a apple logo and itune
    along with data cable pic. i think its in recovery mode.how to come out of this ?
    i have seen all those videos posted on this site abt recovery and dfu mode.but they are not working with my phone
    please help me out
    karanmcc@gmail.com

    # 10 March 2011 at 11:16 pm
  • Cole said:

    Hello, I had my Iphone 3G plugged into my sterio. I listening to music and i noticed the music stopped. My phone is now in recovery mode i did not put it in recovery mode nor was i trying to jail break my phone. Is there any way i can get my phone back to normal without having to restore it? Please Help if you know how!!!

    # 16 March 2011 at 11:08 pm
  • R Lonergan said:

    You can download a software called tiny umbrella that fix your phone

    # 2 April 2011 at 8:53 pm
  • nowhatefulofapple said:

    None of those "hold down these buttons, release these buttons, hold this button" stuff works AT ALL! i literally must've tried it 50+ times today, and NOTHING! It's a worthless disappointing lie!

    # 18 March 2011 at 9:36 pm
  • yyb said:

    Dude it works. Sure you didnt make a mistake?

    # 26 March 2011 at 4:20 am
  • Puneet said:

    Hi, I am facing this peculiar problem here. I decided to sell my iPhone 3G. When I erased everything from my iPhone by going into Settings. But after that it got stuck into apple iPhone logo screen and a rotating circle below that. And when I searched internet for this problem I came to know that after entering DFU mode I can come out of this issue. But my phone is not coming into DFU mode either 🙁
    I've tried so many times since last 5 days but I am not able to enter DFU mode.
    Can you or any one please help. I would be thankful.
    iPhone 3g 3.1.2 BB 05.15.04 Win 7
    puneetjuly30[at]gmail[dot]com

    # 3 April 2011 at 8:31 am
  • Kiran said:

    You will need sn0wbreeze for Windows to achieve the DFU mode.

    Once you put in DFU mode, restore it to 3.1.3 to fully erase the data and sell it. 3.1.3 is the best known firmware for 3G iPhones (unlock and jailbreak). You may also try my custom ipsw 3.1.3 to activate it and jailbreak/unlock your device!

    # 3 April 2011 at 10:12 am
  • Stephen Elliott said:

    my iphone is stuck with the apple sign on it, what do i do now??

    # 3 April 2011 at 8:26 pm
  • Evan said:

    hi i was restoring my jailbreaked ipod touch 4g with an ios 4.2 to the same ios using tinyumbrela but while going through this my ipod kept going into pwnd dfu mode every time after i restore it i even tryed restoring it with ios 4.3
    and didn’t even work
    i think that this issue have some something related to pwn dfu mode (black screen) it keeps looping after i restore it pls help me 🙂

    # 10 April 2011 at 3:56 pm
  • jake said:

    i have the same problem with a green poison jailbreak. it switces the apple around to green poison icon and then the wirly thing gets white all over and stays that way. i really need help here.

    # 14 June 2011 at 10:20 am
  • Leo said:

    the same thing happened to my ipod touch 4g, i watched the videos and tried everything, but it hasnt worked. the only thing to do now is to restore your ipod to the original settings and hope for the best. if you have synced your iphone on your computer before then it will have created a backup. then just re-sync your iphone.

    # 22 April 2011 at 7:08 am
  • Alex said:

    Here’s the situation. My iTouch (2nd Gen, 32G, 3.1.3 FW, Jailbroken, currently using 16G) had refused to back up on itunes and takes an hour (Not and exageration) to reboot itself when I power of and power on so I decided to look for some help online. I found answer from someone saying to link up my itouch to the computer and hold home and power and continue to hold home. So I didnt it w/o knowing that it would but it into recovery mode. So now my itouch is in recovery mode and the last time I had backed it up was about a year ago when I had gotten at REFURBISHED itouch at the apple store (around March of 2010), because my old one had an internal problem. I had restored it then and got it working fine and everything and decided to jailbreak it. A few months later I synced it to itunes (while jailbroken) and everything was fine, and it turned on in about 30secs after reboot. The not backing up and slow reboot started about the January of 2011. So I dont know what went wrong and my Itouch is now stuck in restore mode and I want to get it out. So I followed the directions to get it out of restore mode but everytime I try, it will go to the apple symbol then an hour later (because of slow reboot) it will go back to the restore picture. Is there a way to get my itouch working again? Because it seems to be that I am the only one with this problem. And I refuse to go back and restore my itouch to my last years file because I’d be losing nearly EVERYTHING that I have because even with restore last to my refurbished itouch, I didnt have much at the time. PLEASE HELP!

    # 28 April 2011 at 4:44 pm
  • Olesya said:

    I just got my ipod touch 4g 4.3.2 8gb yesterday and i havent jailbroken it or done anything to it yet and the screen has the connect to itunes thingy on it and i tried holding power+home and then letting go and then holding them for 15 seconds and then holding only the home button but it still doesnt work

    # 30 April 2011 at 6:18 am
  • Johnny said:

    You need to connect it to the computer and open itunes to set it up for the first time. This is for every new unused device.

    # 15 May 2011 at 9:23 am
  • vikram said:

    hi,
    i have 3g and i was trying to upgrade itunes and the entire phone got stuck and was tryg to restore it and went into loop with itunes logo with cable connected on the screen.
    i downloaded i phone 4.1 firmware and made it to run, i can see atleast the "slide to unlock" screen
    but now the screen is stuck with emergency calls and itunes screen.
    how do i go to home screen. can someone help ?

    # 7 June 2011 at 1:09 pm
  • sandeep said:

    sir hello,
    i am sandeep..i am using iphone 2g with firmware 3.1.2…
    i updated my phone to latest version i.e:4.2…
    my phone went in to lock mode…
    i am unable to solve the problem…
    please help me in how to restore my phone to previous version..
    when i try to connect my phone to my pc(windows) there is an error message saying"the sim card inserted in the phone is not supported.."
    plz mail the steps to my emailid…..sandyvalapi@gmail.com
    plz help me in this issue…its important for me….

    # 17 June 2011 at 5:48 pm
  • Kiran said:

    Do you have a Windows or a Mac? Try the iPhone 2G post on this site…

    # 29 June 2011 at 8:25 am
  • Bony said:

    same problem 🙁
    please if u have solved it tell me how and please mail the steps to me at … bony104@hotmail.com

    # 9 November 2011 at 1:59 pm
  • Mayar said:

    Same Problem :/
    can you help?
    email me mshoaeib@hudsonhs.com

    # 25 November 2011 at 1:44 pm
  • neeraj said:

    you need phone book sim car to hactivate 2g iphones

    # 5 April 2012 at 10:09 pm
  • nare said:

    hi.My iphone is only showing the apple logo and doesnt sync with itunes.what to do?

    # 29 June 2011 at 3:51 am
  • Kiran said:

    I need more details to suggest a solution. You could try force rebooting the iPhone by pushing both the power and home buttons.

    # 29 June 2011 at 8:24 am
  • randy said:

    hello, i use ipod touch 4g, and its on recovery mode and your steps doesnt work,, can you help me?

    PLEASE

    # 12 July 2011 at 8:23 am
  • Kiran said:

    Try TinyUmbrella and click \’Kick it out of recovery\’ and see if it works.

    # 12 July 2011 at 8:25 am
  • Marinas said:

    does it work also for iphone 3g? I am trying to do this power +home button for million times, nothing works…

    # 17 July 2011 at 2:41 pm
  • Kyle said:

    Tinyumbrella doesn't work either my phone just goes blank and come back to that same logo

    # 16 December 2011 at 8:51 am
  • carmen said:

    i have the same problem itunes wont recognize my ipod an it wont get out of recovery mode

    # 11 September 2011 at 5:45 pm
  • jack said:

    mine is doing that too! nothing works im mad

    # 30 September 2011 at 10:46 pm
  • cody said:

    Try holding down the home button and then plugging in and holding both buttons

    # 12 January 2012 at 10:20 pm
  • Help me please!! said:

    hi there, i saw your video and tried to get out of the mode, but i am still stuck in recovery mode. i tried everything and its still stuck. i dont wanna restore, due to the fact i have lots of data and personal stuff. is there any thing you can do or possibly another way i can get out of recovery mode WITHOUT restoring it?

    Thanks and keep up the good work!

    iPhone 3GS, firmware, latest one (i think it's 4.3.3) and im on Windows

    # 22 July 2011 at 3:48 pm
  • Help me please!! said:

    send me a mail @ sp-33 at hotmail dot com

    # 22 July 2011 at 3:49 pm
  • Kiran said:

    Try TinyUmbrella and look for an option to kick it out of restore mode. Hopefully that will work.

    # 22 July 2011 at 4:05 pm
  • Help me please!! said:

    hi and thx for the reply. i alrdy tried that and it still goes back to recovery mode. any more ideas?

    # 23 July 2011 at 2:32 pm
  • Daniel Attard said:

    If you are still in DFU mode and have Linux get OpeniBoot,compile it and run it.Run oibc and type reboot.I hope it helps.

    # 28 July 2011 at 5:53 pm
  • Help me please!! said:

    2 things, first i'm in RECOVERY MODE NOT DFU MODE. They are 2 different things. Second, i have a PC. any MORE ideas?

    # 7 August 2011 at 6:50 pm
  • merehunt911 said:

    hi, me n my husband have just got 2 iphone 4 and i had to go through i tunes to more or less get it to work. The problem is i had done my husbands phone first and his is going good, but when i tried doing mine it wouldnt syncronise with itunes and now it comes up with " itunes has detected the iphone is in recovery mode you need to restore it. So i push restore and update but 3/4 of the way through it comes up with an error 9 has occured, so now i only have a usb cable pointing up to an itunes logo and i cant do nothing with my phone i tried pushing the power and the home button but it does not work can any one help

    # 3 September 2011 at 7:18 am
  • sharons said:

    I need help pls, I was accidently updated my jailbreak iPhone from iTune, after that my iTune show me the following message – "The Sim card inserted in this iphone does not appear to be supported." My goodness, how can i solve this?? Pls… My Iphone 3G is with 4.2.1 now.

    # 4 December 2011 at 5:24 am
  • Kiran said:

    That happens when you put in a SIM card that isn't supported by the iPhone. In this case, you have to unlock and you don't have to worry one bit. iPhone 3G is fully unlockable at any iOS version. Let me know if you want to troubleshoot.

    # 9 December 2011 at 1:46 pm
  • Kyle said:

    I did what you said for restore mode and after I let go of the power button and hold the home button, it just goes back to the same thig as before please help me

    # 15 December 2011 at 10:58 pm
  • NIKKI said:

    tHIS PAGE IS WORTHLESS

    # 20 January 2012 at 7:17 am
  • @AndeeeyM said:

    If you are stuck in restore mode, these instructions may work.
    However, I would suggest using the program 'RecBoot', which is specifically designed for this progress. http://jaxov.com/2010/05/recboot-iphone-recovery-…

    Thanks again and good luck to all!

    # 3 June 2012 at 1:08 pm
  • Josh said:

    Thanks, this helped me so much!

    # 2 July 2012 at 11:37 pm

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