Last night I put my iPhone to charge, and went on to do something. I usually charge it at night and I switch it off, but this time I did not because I was sending some messages. After I finished what I was doing, I got back to my phone to see my messages, respond to them and switch it off.
As I switched on the light in the room, I noticed light coming from the phone and I knew that those were messages just coming in. No, there was no message on my phone but the iPhone logo was on. I found this rather strange, but I ignored it and decided to switch the phone off. The phone could not switch off no matter how hard I pressed it. I removed it from the charger, nothing! I put the charger back, I plugged into a different iPhone charger and still the logo didn’t move.
I decided to ignore it, by now it was past 10pm and I don’t have my phone on at night. At about 4am as I went to the bathroom and I could see a little blue light:) the logo was right there! I kind of got upset but I said to myself “it will be gone soon”. At 7am the logo was still on my iPhone! I played it cool and went on to do what I do in the morning, I do not get on my phone until after 9am in most cases.
I decided to go to my phone service provider to ask for help. But before I went I looked up the issue on YouTube. I was relieved that I found the issue on there and that it had a solution. The solution was in two phases, whereby if the first phase doesn’t work you apply phase two. I did not have the requirements for phase two which included iTunes (I thought this was specifically to download music?). So off to my phone service provider I went. She looks at it, opens it, takes the sim card out, types somethings on her computer.
She could not help me, she referred me to a Best Buy store 40 minutes drive away. That store could contact Apple and order me a new phone. She asks me for my Apple ID and I couldn’t remember it. She told me that those people will help get my phone to work BUT in order for me to recover whatever I have on iCloud, I need to have my password. At this point I was starting to get upset but not showing it because it was not her fault.
My husband had gone to get groceries so when he got back I asked him to help take me to Best Buy. I decided to call before we went to make sure we don’t need an appointment. As I followed the automated prompts on the phone call (which I really DISLIKE!), I decided to google places which repair iPhones, and I see that Cell Phone Repair (CPR) is open!! I thought they are closed on weekends. I called to make sure they were open, but no one answered. I decided that we go there first and we can continue to Best Buy just in case.
We have used CPR before and they have helped us quite well. We walked in and there was no wait. Jeremy, the person who has helped with our laptop computers before was available. He explained that it could be the battery or that he may have to reboot (that is not the exact word he used)and this would require me to know my PASSWORD (dear God!) in order to get my backed up stuff from iCloud. He went on to explain that (I already know this Jeremy!) I can recover my PASSWORD but if I fail, I can get a new one BUT I will lose EVERYTHING on the phone. WHAT!!!
We waited as he went to see if the issue was with the battery. He came back shortly to report that it was not. In this case he asked us to give him an hour to reboot, or reset the phone. As we walked away I said a prayer in my breath, I asked God to help him fix it. We came back and he came out and said “it failed on me twice but I’m trying it the third time”. When he went back to the back room where they do the repairs from, I looked at my husband and said “did he say that it failed on him twice”?. My husband replied “that is what he said baby”. It is about 1:10pm and I want to use my phone. Even if I choose one day a week to have it off completely but because it was not my choice for it to be off, I wanted to use it so bad!. Like most of you, I use my phone for work, and to keep in touch with my family among other things.
In less than 10minutes Jeremy came back to the front and he said “I guess third time is a charm, it worked”. He handed it to me, and I grabbed it (gently but still kind of grabbed it)! I asked how much I needed to pay and he said “don’t worry about it”. I told him God bless you and we left. And now I had to set up my phone afresh.
After we ran some errands, when we got home I embarked on setting up my phone. I went as far as face recognition and I think it was after that that it asked for my Apple ID. I had written it somewhere so I got it, put it in but it didn’t work. I called Apple and they directed me to the website where I could get help. I explained to the person helping me that I had put the email addresses that I remember using but none worked. At this point I was frustrated to the point of crying. This person told me that I can keep putting in different emails as I remember them and when I put the right one it will work. Really!
He said that that was as far as he could help me, he said I could get a new password BUT I will lose whatever is backed up on iCloud. I thanked him and I think I hanged up on him (I’m sorry). I stayed on the Apple website on the page to recover my PASSWORD. At this point I was crying, and asking God to please help me with this. “God I have a lot of things on this phone, God my pictures, God my contacts, God…” I pleaded while real tears flowed. But I kept telling myself “do not cry for something like this” then I would stop and start again (one of my brothers will have a very good laugh at this).
BUT THEN GOD! I felt led (it had to be God through the Holy Spirit) to call Apple AGAIN so I did. I got a person named Gabriel and after we exchanged greetings, in sobs I said “Gabriel I hope you can help me. I’m sort of regretting why I got an iPhone but anyway let me not throw up on you, I know you are here to work”. He said that he hopes he can help me. I explained to him (I knew the sobbing and showing that I was upset was pathetic and unhelpful here) calmly my situation and he was calm and professional too. He asked for my phone number and I told him that route didn’t work. I told him I had put both my names in different ways until I was blue in the face (not those exact words but..) but nothing worked.
Then he asked me “have you tried both your names”? I replied that I had not BUT I do not remember it being like that!! But let me try it. AND IT WORKED. I requested him to stay with me on the call as I was getting a new PASSWORD and WRITING IT DOWN! After I was well on the way to set up my phone, I thanked him and let him go. I thanked God for helping me, and I’m not going to be in this situation again. I determined to be more responsible and take note of my PASSWORDS.
I’m so grateful to God, Jeremy and Gabriel. I asked if this is something that happens and the lady at our service provider told me that in a day they get 1-3 people with an iPhone stuck with the logo on. I have only used the iPhone since 2018 I think and this is the first time it has happened to me.
Please share with me how you remember your PASSWORDS and if this issue has happened to your iPhone or if you have had an issue that locked you out of your phone. I would love to read your experiences. God bless you!
YesWeDid.... 