ipadpassword
My 7-year-old daughter mistakenly set a 4-digit passcode on the iPad and doesn't remember what it is. Now it is locked and useless. What are my options to recover it (if any)?
The answers I have seen online all say to "connect it to the PC or Laptop that you usually synch with for iTunes". But I never used iTunes. I never synched it with a PC or Laptop. When I just connected it to my MacBook Pro, I got the following message:
iDevices are designed to be linked to an iTunes library where they get their content. If you've never trusted iTunes before and been manually copying items onto your iDevice then you're just making it hard on yourself.
Synchronizing your files and upgrading the iOS are separate steps. I would recommend you get the iPad linked to your iTunes library properly and synchronization figured out before trying to upgrade lest you lose your iPad content in the process.
First, make sure your iTunes and your iPad are registered to the same AppleID you used to download your apps and other iTunes store items. (This may already be the case if it's telling you about purchases, but check.)
Next, download your past purchases to your Mac.
For other items like your own music and video files, the synchronization is one-way. If they're not in your iTunes then they won't sync back from your iPad.
Try using manual mode for those items if you're happy leaving well enough alone with keeping those items on your iPad.
Otherwise, you'll have get these from your original source (ideally) or use a third-party utility to extract the files from the device. It's been a while since I've had to do that myself, but as I recall it was a bit messy since the files lost their original filenames when they were stored in the device's filesystem/database. At least I think you can get them out somehow, but yes, it might be buggy.
The key is to have everything in iTunes before allowing the iOS upgrade to remove anything from the iPad. In my own experience, everything was right back where it was after the iOS upgrade, even though I had some similar warnings, but if you don't already have the items in iTunes then it might be a different story.
Ah!!! Resetting the iPad by holding down the button on the top and on the front did.
Phew!
Best Answer
Put your iPad into recovery mode by pressing home and power button simultaneously. When your iPad turns into recovery mode, connect it to your PC or laptop. Then your iTunes will display a dialogue box stating that your device is in recovery mode. Click OK. Then you can restore your device via iTunes.