Child Plays With iPhone And Gets His Mum Locked Out For 48 years

We don't think twice before handing our smartphones to our kids to keep them busy. But sometimes, this can result in disaster as one mum learned the hard way. Her toddler boy, who was playing with her phone, got mummy locked out of the phone for decades. To be precise, her child locked smartphone for almost 48 years!

Child locked smartphone of his mum for 48 years

Oriental Daily and a Chinese news site, Kanka News, reported that mum to a two-year-old, Lu, was shocked to find her iPhone locked for a period of almost 48 years. Lu had given the smartphone to her son so that he could watch educational shows online. And after that Lu went out for some time. 

But when she took the phone back, she realised that she couldn't re-enter her password. The device displayed that she could log in to her phone only after 25,114,984 minutes, that's around 47.8 years! 

While using the phone, her little one had mistakenly activated the iPhone's security system. He then proceeded to enter the wrong passcode multiple times, which led to the phone getting locked for such a long period. Each time a wrong passcode was entered, the time duration increased. 

Child locked smartphone: Here's what experts say

Lu was hoping that the problem would resolve on its own. But when that didn't happen for two months, she went to the Apple store. 

The Apple store informed Lu that the only way to unlock the phone was through reformatting. But that meant wiping all of her data. Naturally, she was unwilling to get the phone reformatted as she had not made any backups. But at the same time she knew she had no choice. 

Lu said: "In 47 years, I probably can’t use my phone anymore. I couldn’t really wait for 47 years and tell my grandchild it was your father’s mistake."

One of the employees at the Apple store confirmed that the problem was observed in iPhones that were running on older operating systems. According to a technician, Wei Chunlong, in some cases the phone had been disabled for 80 years. 

Child locked smartphone: tips for parents

Although this may not happen with everyone, the chances of kids locking gadgets in this manner are quite high. So, when the device is disabled, keep in mind a few things.

• Child locked smartphone: recovery tips for iPhone users

1. An iPhone device gets locked or disabled if you enter a wrong passcode six times in a row.
2. Any attempts to restore your phone means loss of any data that was not backed up.
3. You can try to restore the device from backup by connecting it to a synced computer. Click on the RESTORE button in iTunes and follow the instructions. Your device should ideally start in a few minutes. 
4. Another option is to try the Recovery Mode. 
5. If either of the above methods don't work, you can try the DFU Mode. This is an extensive version of the Recovery Mode.
6. You can also try iCloud and Find My iPhone. This method remotely wipes all the data and settings from your phone. 

• Child locked smartphone: recovery tips for Android users

1. You can use your Android Device Manager to restore your phone.
   - Visit the ADM link.
   - Login to your Google account that is activated on the locked device.
   - Select the locked device on ADM. Click on LOCK.
   - A window will pop up where you need to enter a temporary password. But there's no need to enter anything in the recovery message.
   - Once done, click LOCK again. You will see a confirmation if this is successful.
   - On the locked device, you will see a field for a temporary password. Entering the temporary password will unlock your phone.
   - Once the phone unlocks, disable the temporary password from lock screen settings.
2. If that doesn't work you can use Factory Restore Settings.
   - Turn the device off.
   - Pressing the volume down and power button together boot the device into a boot-loader. Understand that you've reached this stage when you see START with an Android lying on it's back.
   - Using the volume down button go through the different options and reach the Recovery Mode.
   - Enter the Recovery Mode by pressing the power button. To know that you are on the right track, check if you are seeing an Android on its back with a red exclamation mark.
   - Press and hold the power button, then press and release the volume up button. You will see Android Recovery when you do this step right. It has a few options.
   - Using volume down button go to Wipe Data or Factory Reset and choose it using power button. 
   - Choose Yes-Erase All User Data using volume down. Read all the notes carefully and then hit the power button to begin the reset process. 
   - Select the reboot option, and once the device reboots, you can recover the backed up data.

Sources: Asia One, Apple