Dear all,
My father passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly 2 weeks ago. He was the photo taker of the family and his phone is full of thousands of photos from over the years. We knew his passcode but it seems that a few weeks ago, perhaps due to an iOs update, his passcode was changed from 4 digits to 6 digits which means that we aren't able to get into the phone to retrieve the photos.
We took the phone to a local tech store and they said they would see what they can do. I think they must have tried some form of brute force attack to guess the code and apparently used software to get to the pictures. They essentially put the phone into recovery mode as a result and were not successful. After two more attempts by us to guess the 6 digit code the phone is now just showing a black screen and saying "iPhone is disabled. connect to iTunes".
I've managed to get some photos from his iPad via PhotoStream, around 350. But we know there's thousands on the phone. We know his appleId email but don't have the password, and after looking on the iPad which shares the appleId with the iPhone I can see the back up via settings which suggests that he didn't have iCloud photos turned on as the backup is just Documents & Data and Backups. He last backed up on 29th January 2019, two days before he died. We also don't believe he ever updated via iTunes as it isn't on his laptop.
Where, if anywhere, can I go from here? I really need some help. I don't care about the phone or being able to use it again, I just want the photos. My mum and sisters are fixated on getting these images. It underlines the importance of course of backing up regularly, but no one expects to die at 66. Is there any software I can use? Or suggests steps? It's an iPhone 7. We had thought of contacting Apple with the death certificate but I've heard the best they can do is transfer the iCloud ID to the next of kin, but if the photos weren't backed up to iCloud then there's little use in this.
My father passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly 2 weeks ago. He was the photo taker of the family and his phone is full of thousands of photos from over the years. We knew his passcode but it seems that a few weeks ago, perhaps due to an iOs update, his passcode was changed from 4 digits to 6 digits which means that we aren't able to get into the phone to retrieve the photos.
We took the phone to a local tech store and they said they would see what they can do. I think they must have tried some form of brute force attack to guess the code and apparently used software to get to the pictures. They essentially put the phone into recovery mode as a result and were not successful. After two more attempts by us to guess the 6 digit code the phone is now just showing a black screen and saying "iPhone is disabled. connect to iTunes".
I've managed to get some photos from his iPad via PhotoStream, around 350. But we know there's thousands on the phone. We know his appleId email but don't have the password, and after looking on the iPad which shares the appleId with the iPhone I can see the back up via settings which suggests that he didn't have iCloud photos turned on as the backup is just Documents & Data and Backups. He last backed up on 29th January 2019, two days before he died. We also don't believe he ever updated via iTunes as it isn't on his laptop.
Where, if anywhere, can I go from here? I really need some help. I don't care about the phone or being able to use it again, I just want the photos. My mum and sisters are fixated on getting these images. It underlines the importance of course of backing up regularly, but no one expects to die at 66. Is there any software I can use? Or suggests steps? It's an iPhone 7. We had thought of contacting Apple with the death certificate but I've heard the best they can do is transfer the iCloud ID to the next of kin, but if the photos weren't backed up to iCloud then there's little use in this.
