Recovering data from a dead iPhone: how it works, concretely
The children's photos, messages from a loved one: what we are asked to save is often priceless. Here is how we go about it, and where the limits are.
On an iPhone the memory is soldered and encrypted with a unique key locked inside the processor. No laboratory can read that chip on another board. Recovering the data therefore necessarily means repairing the original logic board, at least long enough for a copy.
The steps
- Diagnosis: we find why the board won't boot (short, power chip, memory, processor).
- Minimal repair: we replace or bridge what is needed to get a boot, even an unstable one.
- Copy: you enter your passcode, and we back up to a computer, a drive or your new iPhone. We don't look at the content.
- Afterwards: if the board can be repaired for good, we finish the repair; otherwise you leave with your data and a phone to replace.
The passcode
Without the unlock code the data stays encrypted, here as everywhere. We never ask for it in writing: you type it yourself at the workshop, or give it to us by phone for a mail-in, and it is erased afterwards.
Price and turnaround
149 € for a smartphone or tablet, whatever the model. Nothing is charged if we recover nothing. Allow two days to a week depending on the state of the board. And above all: don't try to switch it on or charge it if it got wet, and don't hand it to someone without a microscope.
Also worth reading
iPhone screen, compatible or original: how to choose without regret
The price varies twofold. What “premium compatible” means with us, what the Apple screen adds, and for which models the difference really matters.
Galaxy Z Flip and Z Fold: folding screen, hinge, and what can be repaired
A bubble on the fold, an inner screen half dark, a creaking hinge: the typical faults of foldable Galaxys and what we can do at the workshop.
iPhone dropped in the pool: the first 48 hours decide everything
Summer in the Gers means the pool and the lake. An iPhone that falls in isn't lost, provided you do the right things fast, and above all don't do the wrong ones.