Phones

iPhone "Attempting Data Recovery"? What It Means and What to Do

Updated October 3, 2026 •6 min read

You started an iOS update and now your iPhone shows a progress bar with the words “Attempting Data Recovery.” It’s an alarming message, but it’s not a sign that your data is already lost. It’s iOS trying to protect it. This guide explains what iPhone attempting data recovery means, how long to let it run, and what to do if it loops, without accidentally erasing the phone.

What “Attempting Data Recovery” means on an iPhone

The message appears when an iOS update was interrupted or didn’t finish cleanly. Common triggers include:

The phone ran out of battery or was restarted during the update.
The update download or install was interrupted.
Storage was nearly full, which can make updates fail.
Something went wrong while the system files were being replaced.

When the iPhone restarts and finds the update in an incomplete state, iOS tries to finish it while preserving your data. That’s the “data recovery” it’s attempting. It’s not a tool for recovering deleted files, and it’s not erasing anything.

In many cases, it finishes on its own and the phone boots normally with all your data intact.

Step 1: Plug it in and wait

The most important step is the hardest one: leave it alone.

Connect the iPhone to power with a cable and charger you know work. If the battery dies partway through, you’re back where you started, or worse.
Don’t press buttons or force restart yet. Interrupting the process is how this problem started in the first place.
Give it time. It can take a while, especially on a phone with a lot of data. If the progress bar is still moving, keep waiting. An hour isn’t unusual.

Some people see a prompt such as “Press Home to recover” or “Swipe up to recover” when it’s done. If you see one, follow it. It typically restarts the phone and tries to complete the update.

Step 2: Force restart if it’s clearly stuck

If the progress bar hasn’t moved for a long time, say well over an hour while plugged in, try a force restart. This doesn’t erase anything.

iPhone 8 and later (including iPhone SE 2nd generation and later): press and release volume up, press and release volume down, then press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears.
iPhone 7 and 7 Plus: press and hold volume down and the side button together until the Apple logo appears.
iPhone 6s and earlier (including iPhone SE 1st generation): press and hold the Home button and the side or top button together until the Apple logo appears.

The phone may boot normally, or it may return to “Attempting Data Recovery” and try again. Give it another chance to finish.

Step 3: If it loops, use recovery mode and choose Update

If the phone keeps cycling through “Attempting Data Recovery,” the Apple logo and restarting, the next step is to reinstall iOS with a computer, without erasing your data.

Connect the iPhone to a Mac (using Finder) or a Windows PC (using the Apple Devices app, or iTunes on older setups). Make sure the computer is up to date.
Put the iPhone into recovery mode. Use the same button sequence as a force restart above, but keep holding the final button past the Apple logo until you see the recovery-mode screen (a computer and cable icon).
The computer will offer to Update or Restore. Choose Update.

Update reinstalls iOS and tries to keep your data. Restore erases the iPhone completely. If you have no backup, choosing Restore will permanently delete your photos, messages and everything else on the phone. Don’t click Restore unless you’ve accepted that, or you have a recent backup.

If the download takes more than about 15 minutes, the iPhone may exit recovery mode on its own. Let the download finish, then put the phone back into recovery mode and choose Update again.

Our guide to an iPhone stuck in recovery mode covers this step in more detail.

If the Update fails or shows an error

If the computer can’t finish the update, you may see a numbered error. Some are caused by the cable, port or computer. Others point to hardware. Try:

A different, known-good cable and a different USB port, plugged directly into the computer, not a hub.
A different computer, if you have one.
Checking that the computer’s macOS, Apple Devices app or iTunes is current.

If you see error 4013 or a similar error repeatedly, that often suggests a hardware problem on the phone’s logic board, not something software can fix.

“Attempting Data Recovery” often overlaps with other boot problems. If your phone moves on from it but gets stuck somewhere else, these guides may help:

When to stop and get help

If you’ve waited, force restarted and tried a recovery-mode Update more than once, and the phone still won’t boot, stop. More attempts won’t help, and the remaining option your computer offers is Restore, which erases everything.

At that point:

If you have a recent iCloud or computer backup, a Restore followed by restoring the backup gets you running again. You’ll lose anything created since the backup.
If you don’t have a backup and the data matters, a lab can try to repair the phone enough for it to boot and offload your data.

One important requirement: you’ll need your passcode. Every modern iPhone encrypts its storage, and that encryption is tied to the phone’s own hardware and your passcode. The data can’t be pulled off the chip and read elsewhere. Recovery means getting that same iPhone to start and unlock. Without the passcode, nobody can recover the data.

The bottom line

“Attempting Data Recovery” means iOS is trying to finish an interrupted update while keeping your data. Plug the iPhone in and wait. If it’s clearly stuck, force restart. If it loops, use recovery mode on a computer and choose Update, never Restore, unless you have a backup. If Update keeps failing, stop before you erase anything you can’t replace.

If your iPhone won’t come back and you have no backup, our iPhone recovery service can help. It’s one flat $1,200 price for a single device, with free prepaid shipping, and you pay nothing unless the recovery succeeds.