Unlocking iPad to access photos and other data

googler

OH's iPad has locked itself, stuck on the "connect to iTunes" black screen - like this but without the battery symbol

We've been through all the suggested solutions on Apple's help pages - holding power and home key down in various timing combinations, connecting to iTunes and attemping to reinstall the core software, etc. Tried different USB leads.

Some sites suggest that the problem is the battery temperature, so I've even tried sitting it on a heat source for a few hours, all to no avail.

I've tried a couple of third-party solutions that claim to be "free", but when we actually attempt to do anything useful with them, they prompt for payments of around £70 to unlock their functionality

Wondershare Dr. Fone, Tenorshare iReBoot, both tried already.

Anybody been through the same, and got a low-cost solution? Any third-party software that doesn't cost the earth?
Has anyone gone to their local Apple store and actually had the techs there successfully recover data from an iPad in a similar situation?

iPad model A1893

iTunes freshly downloaded middle of this year onto PC running Win10. It's the first installation of iTunes onto this PC.

Neil_Jones

If you set up the iCloud/Sync functionality then most of your photos at least should be accessible that way:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/icloud/mm73262d11fe/icloud#:~:text=You can view photos and,Photo Stream on iCloud.com.

googler

iCloud was enabled for part of the iPad's life, and a limited subset of photos etc. are there, but the majority are on the iPad itself, along with a few PDFs and other bits 'n' bobs that we're keen to see again ...

datostar

It's in Recovery Mode at present. The program iMazing can usually deal with this as well as getting the device out of DFU mode (Device Firmware Update) mode when the screen goes completely blank. It's available for both Mac and Windows and does have a free trial period although I'm not sure whether that would include these modes. I use it and it got me out of a problem with a failed iOS update. I find it well worth the cost. It has numerous useful functions especially if you have more than one Apple device in the family.

googler

iMazing says it can download iOS for it, but - once again - what I want to get done is not available in the free trial. At least it's "only" £29.99 for this one, as opposed to £70 for the others.....

It seemed to take it out of Recovery Mode, though, so I'm going to try reconnecting to iTunes and see if textbook methods can sort it....

MikeJXE

The best and cheapest solution is take it to an Apple Store and they will fix it for free

googler

MikeJXE said:

The best and cheapest solution is take it to an Apple Store and they will fix it for free

Seriously? For one which is out of warranty? Guaranteed to get all the data preserved?