Earlier we wrote an article in which we showed you that it is very easy to reset your iPhone/iPad to factory settings. But what if there is something wrong with the software that makes your iOS device unresponsive? In that case, there is another way to restore the device, which is using the recovery mode, also known as DFU mode (Device Firmware Upgrade).
Firmware
When it comes to upgrading the firmware (the basic software that runs hardware) of devices, there has always been a golden rule: if something goes wrong while installing the firmware, you can throw the device in the garbage, because you it's no use anymore.
Fortunately, that is a situation that is slowly but surely changing, and Apple has been the trendsetter in this: you can't break software on an iOS device. Unless something is broken on the hardware of your iPhone/iPad, the software can always be repaired. That also means that if you've been messing around with jailbreaking and something went wrong, you can go back to Apple's original software. Although we are not in favor of jailbreaking, it is good to know that this is not an irreversible process.
Firmware of an iOS device cannot be broken, a nice science.
In DFU mode
To put your iOS device into DFU mode, connect it to a computer with iTunes with the cable and launch iTunes. Make sure the device is turned off (which should cause little problem if the software stops responding). Now press the home button and the Standby button on top of your iOS device at the same time and hold both for ten seconds.
After ten seconds (it's best to sit next to it for half a second, don't stress) release the Standby button, but keep the Home button pressed for a while. The reason you had to connect the iOS device to a computer in iTunes is because when this process is successful, iTunes will immediately tell you that an iPhone/iPad has been found in recovery mode, letting you know that your attempt was successful.
You can now easily restore your iOS device to working condition via iTunes by installing new firmware. If the device does not respond at all to these steps, or if strange stripes appear, then unfortunately it is not a software issue and there is something wrong with the hardware.
iTunes will instantly recognize an iOS device in recovery mode.
Get iPhone/iPad out of DFU Mode
Normally, you get the iOS device out of DFU mode by restoring it through iTunes, but in some cases that means you'll lose all content (make sure you always have a backup, not just when things go wrong). But what if your iPhone/iPad has accidentally entered DFU mode (little hands sometimes play magic tricks) and you don't want to restore at all? Then you can also get it out of DFU mode manually.
Keep the home button and the Standby button pressed again at the same time. After 12 seconds, release the Home button, but hold the Standby button until the Apple logo appears. You have now taken your iOS device out of DFU mode with no further software or content changes.
