[Solved] How I fixed full storage related error 14 on iPhone X, 256gb

[Alex22222]

I initially wanted to make this post on the Apple Support Community forum but it kept being deleted
Despite this, I do believe the information in the post below may be valuable to some experiencing full storage related error 14.

Dear All,

Below you will find the method I used to successfully update my iPhone X 256gb, to iOS 14.4.2 and get it to start up with all my data so that I could then make a backup of it on my iMac.

I did not have a backup of my phone on iCloud and did not have a backup made through finder/iTunes either.

------ How the problem started ------

I was running low on storage on my iPhone X and recently decided to purchase a new iPhone 12 pro 512gb to relieve some storage to be able to make more pictures without deleting old ones as I have already went through all my pictures multiple times to select the ones to delete.

When setting up my new iPhone 12 it suggested I could transfer my data to this new iPhone with "Quick Start" (pointing the camera of the old phone to the purple cloud on the new phone). So I went on and did this. After which a message was displayed on the phone that it was preparing the data for transfer. As it was in the evening, I decided to leave both phones plugged into power next to each other for this transfer to complete during the night.

The next morning (10 hours later) when I checked both phones I noticed to my surprise that it was still showing me the message "preparing data for transfer", leaving me to believe it had not yet started the transfer.
At this point I decided to cancel the operation and try to start it again. At which point the camera of my phone X would not start to be able to capture the purple cloud. The frame in which I expected to see the camera feed was black so I continued to ask for a manual setup where you have to input the numbers instead of using the camera, but then I noticed the keyboard did come up but the touchscreen was unresponsive. At this point I decided it would have been a good idea to restart the phone.
The phone shut down but did not want to turn on anymore as it would show me the apple logo for a relatively long time (2-3min?) and then would disappear and then would show me the logo again. Over and over.

I decided to contact apple support and we tried restarting the iPhone in many different ways but the lock screen would not appear again despite our efforts. As a last resort I was advised to put my phone into recovery mode and to do a iTunes update (Not Restore) to iOS 14.4.2 which would retain my data and fix my problem. However it would give me error 14 when attempting the update. I found this relatively new article on error 14 on support.apple.com and I did try to flash the phone multiple times as the article suggests without any luck. At this point I contacted apple support again and was advised to either restore my phone which would unfortunately delete all my data on the phone or to go to an authorized repair shop to see if they can resolve this issue. I contacted both shops that were suggested but both shops could not guarantee that the data would be preserved and I decided to wait with my phone stuck into recovery mode until there would be a solution posted on the internet. Which I have luckily found and took detailed notes of for the people that are reading this with this problem having lost thousands of pictures, and the apple engineers that will hopefully read this and make a more streamlined solution within iTunes in the future.

------ Some remarks: ------

I can not guarantee or recommend these techniques that resulted in the recovery of my data and therefore fixing my problem. As the method is extremely cumbersome, potentially risky and very time consuming. You have been warned.

But if you are desperate and lost over 50 000 pictures of priceless memories of pre-covid times and relatives that are not around anymore, you will be desperate and will experience sleepless nights due to the disturbing and devastating nature of this issue. There have been no warnings, nor foreseeable signs that something like this could potentially happen as a result of having made a decision to buy a brand new phone to increase the storage on my old iPhone X.

Having said this I will share how I managed to fix this below in great detail so that if you decide to take the risk you could try to follow these steps. But the biggest reason I am sharing it here is to give the engineers at apple as much information as I could possibly give them so that a more safe and efficient method can be baked into iTunes to recover hundreds or even thousands of iPhones stuck in recovery mode experiencing error 14.

And to the people saying I should have made a backup using finder/itunes. I agree, but I think it is unfortunate that a single backup of around 250gb is a substantial amount of storage to be taken up on the majority of the more affordable computers (MacBooks, iMac or even Mac Pro) that apple sells currently. I would have loved there to be a time machine backup equivalent for iOS devices that would use Airport extreme or a local NAS for overnight backups but unfortunately at this point in time there is no solution like that available.

------ How I managed to fix error 14 ------

Again I have to say that do not recommend doing any of the things described below because of potential security risks and data loss.

What worked for me does not mean that it will work for you! You should proceed only at your own risk. If you are not willing to take this risk at this point you should wait for a solution from apple that will hopefully follow relatively soon in the future. I just want to share my story so that this official solution could potentially come quicker.

Useful links:

• Community around this problem: https://www.instagram.com/iphonelogoloop/
• The video that helped me fix the problem: https://www.youtube.com/wahttp://www.3u.com Particularly the comments under the video where people seem to be very kind and helping each other out.

Requirements:

1. A pc that runs Windows (I used Windows 10 via bootcamp on an iMac)
2. A Free Program Called 3u tools.
3. A genuine (undamaged) lightning to usb cable (some have experienced more/quicker success)
4. A usb port that plugs directly into computer. Not via a usb hub (some have reported more/quicker success that way)
5. I wouldn't believe I'd ever say these last two points but to have windows firewall turned off (more success? Try without turning it off first)
6. Turn off any antivirus software that may be running on the computer.

You should watch the video in the last link above (last one under useful links) that explains the use of 3u tools. It will get you started and will help you better understand information below. I read in the comments lately (I am writing this on the 22 of April 2021 so it might have changed since) that people were having more success lately with easy flash and iTunes flash through 3u tools which eventually led to a successful update to 14.4.2

I needed a total of over 85 flash attempts (lost the exact count) to recover my phone and data:
From the beginning I was using a brand new cable and I used Windows through bootcamp on an iMac to do everything.

It has taken me a total period of 5 days for the flash to work and go through. And it took me 3 days before I was seeing any progress whatsoever during the flashing process. During these initial 3 days I was always getting 35% in easy flash, and was seeing that the progress bar would always fail at the same place using any flashing technique. I have tried them all: Update in iTunes on the Mac, 3utools iTunes flash, multiple flash (recovery and dfu), pro flash (dfu). During these first 3 days I was doing mostly pro flash (dfu), and easy flash, and iTunes update on the Mac.

At this point I was already over 50 attempts in and I was losing hope that this method did not work for me. I shouldn’t have, and whoever is reading this shouldn’t! Keep hope and keep trying to do the process over and over again! I decided to take a break and turned off the phone pressing the power button and volume up for a long period (20-30sec?) to just turn the phone off for 24h.

During this day of reflection I came up with the idea that I should re-download the firmware files because when I downloaded them initially my windows firewall and antivirus were still active. So I deleted the firmwares and re-downloaded 14.4.2 and the one 14.5RC beta that appeared recently. Also I decided I was not going to use the update method in iTunes on the Mac as I heard a few stories about phones being wiped?! (Not sure if these people maybe misclicked??) And I was reading in the comments that people were having success with easy flash and u3tools iTunes flash lately.

During the first flash on 21 April 2021 (the last day of this wild adventure), in easy flash 14.4.2 I noticed that the percentage went up to 36% at failure! I was very glad to see this.

Also after the flash attempt and fail the Apple logo and bar would hang requiring a manual force reboot after every flash until specified otherwise below. And the bar under the Apple logo would only go to about 1/3 of the way as opposed to the days before where it would continue to over 1/2 but would fail at around 1/3, and reboot itself afterwards.

On 21 April 2021, I did not change the USB port on the iMac between flashes! It was not necessary once I noticed progress. (others have reported to have more success changing the usb port after each flash attempt)

I decided to alternate between easy flash and 3utools iTunes flash and noticed in the black window in iTunes flash that “Sending filesystem via ASR went up to 79%” (from 78% at which it was failing at before).

EF = easy flash
IF = 3utools iTunes flash ....filesystem via ASR % in the black window.

All flashed performed with non-beta 14.4.2 until specified otherwise:
EF 36%, IF 79%
EF 36%, IF 82%
EF 36%, IF 84%
EF 37%, IF 86%
EF 37%, IF 87%
EF 37%, IF 88%
EF 37%, IF 89%
EF 38%, IF 92%
EF 38%, IF 95%
EF 39%, IF 98%
EF 60% 2x, IF 100% -> unable to parse regex

At this point and from this point on the iPhone was rebooting by itself into recovery mode like during the days before. And it was writing the filesystem twice like the days before 0% -> 60% -> 20% -> 60% -> fail.

EF 60% 2x, IF error (-14) unable to parse regex.
EF 60% 2x, IF unable to parse regex
EF 60% 2x, IF unable to parse regex
beta 14.5RC: EF 39%, IF unable to parse regex

14.4.2: EF 60%, PRO FLASH (dfu) flash failed with retaining users (both writing filesystem attempts were successful but the flash failed after that)

beta 14.5RC: EF 39%, IF 98%
14.4.2: EF 80% -> fail: unable to restore iDevice(-6)

iPhone rebooted despite the fail and showed me to swipe up. Asked for my passcode 2x. Then the black Apple logo appeared with white background: “attempting to restore data” when this bar was almost done (98% I’d say) it started from the beginning and increased to (maybe 5%) then jumped back to 98% and stayed there for a while. I was getting nervous at this point but just keep waiting, the phone takes it’s time for the last 2%. Then after a while the bar under the logo disappeared and it asked me to do the update setup, after which the iPhone was back to normal.

After this I was able to plug in my iPhone X to my iMac and make a full backup via finder to later put all that data on my new iPhone 12.

------ Final remarks ------

In case any of the information above needs some more explanation I am happy to elaborate or to give more explanation/feedback in the few days to come.

I believe the majority of phones with full storage error 14 can be recovered using this method.
In the comments of that video I have seen the following models of iPhone being able to recover their data:

iPhone 11
iPhone XS Max
iPhone XS
iPhone X
iPhone XR
iPhone 8
iPhone 7 plus
iPhone 7

Kindest regards and good luck!
Alex

 

[dan_ger_dan]

Thanks so much for posting this. After 24 hours of anxiety, I've also just fixed mine (and recovered 3 months worth of my toddlers' photos and videos that hadn't yet been backed up).

There's a lot of bad information out there, and also what appears to be a lot of unscrupulous third party tools that claim to fix this, charge you money, but doesn't actually work (I never paid any of them to try, so this from what I've read).

This seems to defy Einstein's definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results, but it really is true. I tried numerous ways to flash my firmware (macOS finder update, iMazing, 3utools) probably over 20 times switching between USB ports, cables, etc (including a USB-C and USB-A lightning cable). And finally it worked. I think what explains why it seems to work after numerous attempts, is that after each attempt, the state of the phone (what's in hard memory etc) is actually slightly different, so it's a combination of the last attempt changing the phone in the right way, and the next attempt just happening to work. If that's right, then there isn't a magic formula (cable, flash tool, firmware version); rather, what matters is slightly changing the formula each time you try, and basically rolling the dice over and over until you finally get there.

A bit more on my own experience: had gotten the "low storage" warning probably for 12 hours, but had ignored it because I didn't have time to offload photos/videos. Then apps started malfunctioning/crashing (e.g. the phone app wouldn't dial out). I figured it was the storage issue, so I tried deleting some larger files through the files app, podcasts etc. But the deletes didn't seem to go through (my storage utilization on the settings app didn't go down). the the whole phone crashed (black screen, apple logo). I tried a few soft resets. Then I tried a hard reset. Then I hooked up to my Mac mini M1, restore mode, tried updating, and then started the cycle of Error 14 on updates. Then I started my research online.

Thanks again Alex (OP), Kirill on Youtube (

), the iphonelogoloop Instagram account, and the iPad rehab YouTube account and its comment section which is the path (in reverse order) of information sources that I came to the solution that worked.

Dan

 

[Geminiwave]

So a super kind user on Reddit messaged me based on a post I made many months back on this very issue. iTunes error 14. All of the first year photos of my son. My wife didn’t make any backups. The whole nine yards. Apple told me there’s nothing that can be done. Data recovery places said to sit tight and then pay 2k some day. Well a kind user on Reddit sent me a message the other day linking to this post. I read it and thought it was…dubious at best. But I had some time and worked at it. I got it working significantly faster than OP but it DID WORK. Kill the firewall and anti virus. Download the firmware directly through 3uTools. Alternate between current and beta firmware options and alternate flash methods as advised. Aaaaand IT WORKED!!! All of the photos are saved. I seriously can’t believe it. Apple really needs to take a harder look at this issue because it’s caused by another bug that they have where your memory constantly is filled up with “other”. As you delete more, the data falls into that “other” black hole and never gets swept. So you run out of storage and have no way to clear it. It’s a nightmare. Now if you have a backup you can just restore and it works, but that shouldn’t happen in the first place.
Anyway have hope everyone. This process worked for me on an iPhone 11 Pro with full storage in a boot loop getting iTunes error 14.

 

[maswawan]

I initially wanted to make this post on the Apple Support Community forum but it kept being deleted
Despite this, I do believe the information in the post below may be valuable to some experiencing full storage related error 14.

Dear All,

Below you will find the method I used to successfully update my iPhone X 256gb, to iOS 14.4.2 and get it to start up with all my data so that I could then make a backup of it on my iMac.

I did not have a backup of my phone on iCloud and did not have a backup made through finder/iTunes either.

------ How the problem started ------

I was running low on storage on my iPhone X and recently decided to purchase a new iPhone 12 pro 512gb to relieve some storage to be able to make more pictures without deleting old ones as I have already went through all my pictures multiple times to select the ones to delete.

When setting up my new iPhone 12 it suggested I could transfer my data to this new iPhone with "Quick Start" (pointing the camera of the old phone to the purple cloud on the new phone). So I went on and did this. After which a message was displayed on the phone that it was preparing the data for transfer. As it was in the evening, I decided to leave both phones plugged into power next to each other for this transfer to complete during the night.

The next morning (10 hours later) when I checked both phones I noticed to my surprise that it was still showing me the message "preparing data for transfer", leaving me to believe it had not yet started the transfer.
At this point I decided to cancel the operation and try to start it again. At which point the camera of my phone X would not start to be able to capture the purple cloud. The frame in which I expected to see the camera feed was black so I continued to ask for a manual setup where you have to input the numbers instead of using the camera, but then I noticed the keyboard did come up but the touchscreen was unresponsive. At this point I decided it would have been a good idea to restart the phone.
The phone shut down but did not want to turn on anymore as it would show me the apple logo for a relatively long time (2-3min?) and then would disappear and then would show me the logo again. Over and over.

I decided to contact apple support and we tried restarting the iPhone in many different ways but the lock screen would not appear again despite our efforts. As a last resort I was advised to put my phone into recovery mode and to do a iTunes update (Not Restore) to iOS 14.4.2 which would retain my data and fix my problem. However it would give me error 14 when attempting the update. I found this relatively new article on error 14 on support.apple.com and I did try to flash the phone multiple times as the article suggests without any luck. At this point I contacted apple support again and was advised to either restore my phone which would unfortunately delete all my data on the phone or to go to an authorized repair shop to see if they can resolve this issue. I contacted both shops that were suggested but both shops could not guarantee that the data would be preserved and I decided to wait with my phone stuck into recovery mode until there would be a solution posted on the internet. Which I have luckily found and took detailed notes of for the people that are reading this with this problem having lost thousands of pictures, and the apple engineers that will hopefully read this and make a more streamlined solution within iTunes in the future.

------ Some remarks: ------

I can not guarantee or recommend these techniques that resulted in the recovery of my data and therefore fixing my problem. As the method is extremely cumbersome, potentially risky and very time consuming. You have been warned.

But if you are desperate and lost over 50 000 pictures of priceless memories of pre-covid times and relatives that are not around anymore, you will be desperate and will experience sleepless nights due to the disturbing and devastating nature of this issue. There have been no warnings, nor foreseeable signs that something like this could potentially happen as a result of having made a decision to buy a brand new phone to increase the storage on my old iPhone X.

Having said this I will share how I managed to fix this below in great detail so that if you decide to take the risk you could try to follow these steps. But the biggest reason I am sharing it here is to give the engineers at apple as much information as I could possibly give them so that a more safe and efficient method can be baked into iTunes to recover hundreds or even thousands of iPhones stuck in recovery mode experiencing error 14.

And to the people saying I should have made a backup using finder/itunes. I agree, but I think it is unfortunate that a single backup of around 250gb is a substantial amount of storage to be taken up on the majority of the more affordable computers (MacBooks, iMac or even Mac Pro) that apple sells currently. I would have loved there to be a time machine backup equivalent for iOS devices that would use Airport extreme or a local NAS for overnight backups but unfortunately at this point in time there is no solution like that available.

------ How I managed to fix error 14 ------

Again I have to say that do not recommend doing any of the things described below because of potential security risks and data loss.

What worked for me does not mean that it will work for you! You should proceed only at your own risk. If you are not willing to take this risk at this point you should wait for a solution from apple that will hopefully follow relatively soon in the future. I just want to share my story so that this official solution could potentially come quicker.

Useful links:

• Community around this problem: https://www.instagram.com/iphonelogoloop/
• The video that helped me fix the problem: https://www.youtube.com/wahttp://www.3u.com Particularly the comments under the video where people seem to be very kind and helping each other out.

Requirements:

1. A pc that runs Windows (I used Windows 10 via bootcamp on an iMac)
2. A Free Program Called 3u tools.
3. A genuine (undamaged) lightning to usb cable (some have experienced more/quicker success)
4. A usb port that plugs directly into computer. Not via a usb hub (some have reported more/quicker success that way)
5. I wouldn't believe I'd ever say these last two points but to have windows firewall turned off (more success? Try without turning it off first)
6. Turn off any antivirus software that may be running on the computer.

You should watch the video in the last link above (last one under useful links) that explains the use of 3u tools. It will get you started and will help you better understand information below. I read in the comments lately (I am writing this on the 22 of April 2021 so it might have changed since) that people were having more success lately with easy flash and iTunes flash through 3u tools which eventually led to a successful update to 14.4.2

I needed a total of over 85 flash attempts (lost the exact count) to recover my phone and data:
From the beginning I was using a brand new cable and I used Windows through bootcamp on an iMac to do everything.

It has taken me a total period of 5 days for the flash to work and go through. And it took me 3 days before I was seeing any progress whatsoever during the flashing process. During these initial 3 days I was always getting 35% in easy flash, and was seeing that the progress bar would always fail at the same place using any flashing technique. I have tried them all: Update in iTunes on the Mac, 3utools iTunes flash, multiple flash (recovery and dfu), pro flash (dfu). During these first 3 days I was doing mostly pro flash (dfu), and easy flash, and iTunes update on the Mac.

At this point I was already over 50 attempts in and I was losing hope that this method did not work for me. I shouldn’t have, and whoever is reading this shouldn’t! Keep hope and keep trying to do the process over and over again! I decided to take a break and turned off the phone pressing the power button and volume up for a long period (20-30sec?) to just turn the phone off for 24h.

During this day of reflection I came up with the idea that I should re-download the firmware files because when I downloaded them initially my windows firewall and antivirus were still active. So I deleted the firmwares and re-downloaded 14.4.2 and the one 14.5RC beta that appeared recently. Also I decided I was not going to use the update method in iTunes on the Mac as I heard a few stories about phones being wiped?! (Not sure if these people maybe misclicked??) And I was reading in the comments that people were having success with easy flash and u3tools iTunes flash lately.

During the first flash on 21 April 2021 (the last day of this wild adventure), in easy flash 14.4.2 I noticed that the percentage went up to 36% at failure! I was very glad to see this.

Also after the flash attempt and fail the Apple logo and bar would hang requiring a manual force reboot after every flash until specified otherwise below. And the bar under the Apple logo would only go to about 1/3 of the way as opposed to the days before where it would continue to over 1/2 but would fail at around 1/3, and reboot itself afterwards.

On 21 April 2021, I did not change the USB port on the iMac between flashes! It was not necessary once I noticed progress. (others have reported to have more success changing the usb port after each flash attempt)

I decided to alternate between easy flash and 3utools iTunes flash and noticed in the black window in iTunes flash that “Sending filesystem via ASR went up to 79%” (from 78% at which it was failing at before).

EF = easy flash
IF = 3utools iTunes flash ....filesystem via ASR % in the black window.

All flashed performed with non-beta 14.4.2 until specified otherwise:
EF 36%, IF 79%
EF 36%, IF 82%
EF 36%, IF 84%
EF 37%, IF 86%
EF 37%, IF 87%
EF 37%, IF 88%
EF 37%, IF 89%
EF 38%, IF 92%
EF 38%, IF 95%
EF 39%, IF 98%
EF 60% 2x, IF 100% -> unable to parse regex

At this point and from this point on the iPhone was rebooting by itself into recovery mode like during the days before. And it was writing the filesystem twice like the days before 0% -> 60% -> 20% -> 60% -> fail.

EF 60% 2x, IF error (-14) unable to parse regex.
EF 60% 2x, IF unable to parse regex
EF 60% 2x, IF unable to parse regex
beta 14.5RC: EF 39%, IF unable to parse regex

14.4.2: EF 60%, PRO FLASH (dfu) flash failed with retaining users (both writing filesystem attempts were successful but the flash failed after that)

beta 14.5RC: EF 39%, IF 98%
14.4.2: EF 80% -> fail: unable to restore iDevice(-6)

iPhone rebooted despite the fail and showed me to swipe up. Asked for my passcode 2x. Then the black Apple logo appeared with white background: “attempting to restore data” when this bar was almost done (98% I’d say) it started from the beginning and increased to (maybe 5%) then jumped back to 98% and stayed there for a while. I was getting nervous at this point but just keep waiting, the phone takes it’s time for the last 2%. Then after a while the bar under the logo disappeared and it asked me to do the update setup, after which the iPhone was back to normal.

After this I was able to plug in my iPhone X to my iMac and make a full backup via finder to later put all that data on my new iPhone 12.

------ Final remarks ------

In case any of the information above needs some more explanation I am happy to elaborate or to give more explanation/feedback in the few days to come.

I believe the majority of phones with full storage error 14 can be recovered using this method.
In the comments of that video I have seen the following models of iPhone being able to recover their data:

iPhone 11
iPhone XS Max
iPhone XS
iPhone X
iPhone XR
iPhone 8
iPhone 7 plus
iPhone 7

Kindest regards and good luck!
Alex

I have been waiting this info for the last one year, I will definitely try this out.
Long reading eh ...
The YouTube video link on the useful links is not correct. Can you provide the proper link please? thanks

 

[superduperdad]

I initially wanted to make this post on the Apple Support Community forum but it kept being deleted
Despite this, I do believe the information in the post below may be valuable to some experiencing full storage related error 14.

Dear All,

Below you will find the method I used to successfully update my iPhone X 256gb, to iOS 14.4.2 and get it to start up with all my data so that I could then make a backup of it on my iMac.

I did not have a backup of my phone on iCloud and did not have a backup made through finder/iTunes either.

------ How the problem started ------

I was running low on storage on my iPhone X and recently decided to purchase a new iPhone 12 pro 512gb to relieve some storage to be able to make more pictures without deleting old ones as I have already went through all my pictures multiple times to select the ones to delete.

When setting up my new iPhone 12 it suggested I could transfer my data to this new iPhone with "Quick Start" (pointing the camera of the old phone to the purple cloud on the new phone). So I went on and did this. After which a message was displayed on the phone that it was preparing the data for transfer. As it was in the evening, I decided to leave both phones plugged into power next to each other for this transfer to complete during the night.

The next morning (10 hours later) when I checked both phones I noticed to my surprise that it was still showing me the message "preparing data for transfer", leaving me to believe it had not yet started the transfer.
At this point I decided to cancel the operation and try to start it again. At which point the camera of my phone X would not start to be able to capture the purple cloud. The frame in which I expected to see the camera feed was black so I continued to ask for a manual setup where you have to input the numbers instead of using the camera, but then I noticed the keyboard did come up but the touchscreen was unresponsive. At this point I decided it would have been a good idea to restart the phone.
The phone shut down but did not want to turn on anymore as it would show me the apple logo for a relatively long time (2-3min?) and then would disappear and then would show me the logo again. Over and over.

I decided to contact apple support and we tried restarting the iPhone in many different ways but the lock screen would not appear again despite our efforts. As a last resort I was advised to put my phone into recovery mode and to do a iTunes update (Not Restore) to iOS 14.4.2 which would retain my data and fix my problem. However it would give me error 14 when attempting the update. I found this relatively new article on error 14 on support.apple.com and I did try to flash the phone multiple times as the article suggests without any luck. At this point I contacted apple support again and was advised to either restore my phone which would unfortunately delete all my data on the phone or to go to an authorized repair shop to see if they can resolve this issue. I contacted both shops that were suggested but both shops could not guarantee that the data would be preserved and I decided to wait with my phone stuck into recovery mode until there would be a solution posted on the internet. Which I have luckily found and took detailed notes of for the people that are reading this with this problem having lost thousands of pictures, and the apple engineers that will hopefully read this and make a more streamlined solution within iTunes in the future.

------ Some remarks: ------

I can not guarantee or recommend these techniques that resulted in the recovery of my data and therefore fixing my problem. As the method is extremely cumbersome, potentially risky and very time consuming. You have been warned.

But if you are desperate and lost over 50 000 pictures of priceless memories of pre-covid times and relatives that are not around anymore, you will be desperate and will experience sleepless nights due to the disturbing and devastating nature of this issue. There have been no warnings, nor foreseeable signs that something like this could potentially happen as a result of having made a decision to buy a brand new phone to increase the storage on my old iPhone X.

Having said this I will share how I managed to fix this below in great detail so that if you decide to take the risk you could try to follow these steps. But the biggest reason I am sharing it here is to give the engineers at apple as much information as I could possibly give them so that a more safe and efficient method can be baked into iTunes to recover hundreds or even thousands of iPhones stuck in recovery mode experiencing error 14.

And to the people saying I should have made a backup using finder/itunes. I agree, but I think it is unfortunate that a single backup of around 250gb is a substantial amount of storage to be taken up on the majority of the more affordable computers (MacBooks, iMac or even Mac Pro) that apple sells currently. I would have loved there to be a time machine backup equivalent for iOS devices that would use Airport extreme or a local NAS for overnight backups but unfortunately at this point in time there is no solution like that available.

------ How I managed to fix error 14 ------

Again I have to say that do not recommend doing any of the things described below because of potential security risks and data loss.

What worked for me does not mean that it will work for you! You should proceed only at your own risk. If you are not willing to take this risk at this point you should wait for a solution from apple that will hopefully follow relatively soon in the future. I just want to share my story so that this official solution could potentially come quicker.

Useful links:

• Community around this problem: https://www.instagram.com/iphonelogoloop/
• The video that helped me fix the problem: https://www.youtube.com/wahttp://www.3u.com Particularly the comments under the video where people seem to be very kind and helping each other out.

Requirements:

1. A pc that runs Windows (I used Windows 10 via bootcamp on an iMac)
2. A Free Program Called 3u tools.
3. A genuine (undamaged) lightning to usb cable (some have experienced more/quicker success)
4. A usb port that plugs directly into computer. Not via a usb hub (some have reported more/quicker success that way)
5. I wouldn't believe I'd ever say these last two points but to have windows firewall turned off (more success? Try without turning it off first)
6. Turn off any antivirus software that may be running on the computer.

You should watch the video in the last link above (last one under useful links) that explains the use of 3u tools. It will get you started and will help you better understand information below. I read in the comments lately (I am writing this on the 22 of April 2021 so it might have changed since) that people were having more success lately with easy flash and iTunes flash through 3u tools which eventually led to a successful update to 14.4.2

I needed a total of over 85 flash attempts (lost the exact count) to recover my phone and data:
From the beginning I was using a brand new cable and I used Windows through bootcamp on an iMac to do everything.

It has taken me a total period of 5 days for the flash to work and go through. And it took me 3 days before I was seeing any progress whatsoever during the flashing process. During these initial 3 days I was always getting 35% in easy flash, and was seeing that the progress bar would always fail at the same place using any flashing technique. I have tried them all: Update in iTunes on the Mac, 3utools iTunes flash, multiple flash (recovery and dfu), pro flash (dfu). During these first 3 days I was doing mostly pro flash (dfu), and easy flash, and iTunes update on the Mac.

At this point I was already over 50 attempts in and I was losing hope that this method did not work for me. I shouldn’t have, and whoever is reading this shouldn’t! Keep hope and keep trying to do the process over and over again! I decided to take a break and turned off the phone pressing the power button and volume up for a long period (20-30sec?) to just turn the phone off for 24h.

During this day of reflection I came up with the idea that I should re-download the firmware files because when I downloaded them initially my windows firewall and antivirus were still active. So I deleted the firmwares and re-downloaded 14.4.2 and the one 14.5RC beta that appeared recently. Also I decided I was not going to use the update method in iTunes on the Mac as I heard a few stories about phones being wiped?! (Not sure if these people maybe misclicked??) And I was reading in the comments that people were having success with easy flash and u3tools iTunes flash lately.

During the first flash on 21 April 2021 (the last day of this wild adventure), in easy flash 14.4.2 I noticed that the percentage went up to 36% at failure! I was very glad to see this.

Also after the flash attempt and fail the Apple logo and bar would hang requiring a manual force reboot after every flash until specified otherwise below. And the bar under the Apple logo would only go to about 1/3 of the way as opposed to the days before where it would continue to over 1/2 but would fail at around 1/3, and reboot itself afterwards.

On 21 April 2021, I did not change the USB port on the iMac between flashes! It was not necessary once I noticed progress. (others have reported to have more success changing the usb port after each flash attempt)

I decided to alternate between easy flash and 3utools iTunes flash and noticed in the black window in iTunes flash that “Sending filesystem via ASR went up to 79%” (from 78% at which it was failing at before).

EF = easy flash
IF = 3utools iTunes flash ....filesystem via ASR % in the black window.

All flashed performed with non-beta 14.4.2 until specified otherwise:
EF 36%, IF 79%
EF 36%, IF 82%
EF 36%, IF 84%
EF 37%, IF 86%
EF 37%, IF 87%
EF 37%, IF 88%
EF 37%, IF 89%
EF 38%, IF 92%
EF 38%, IF 95%
EF 39%, IF 98%
EF 60% 2x, IF 100% -> unable to parse regex

At this point and from this point on the iPhone was rebooting by itself into recovery mode like during the days before. And it was writing the filesystem twice like the days before 0% -> 60% -> 20% -> 60% -> fail.

EF 60% 2x, IF error (-14) unable to parse regex.
EF 60% 2x, IF unable to parse regex
EF 60% 2x, IF unable to parse regex
beta 14.5RC: EF 39%, IF unable to parse regex

14.4.2: EF 60%, PRO FLASH (dfu) flash failed with retaining users (both writing filesystem attempts were successful but the flash failed after that)

beta 14.5RC: EF 39%, IF 98%
14.4.2: EF 80% -> fail: unable to restore iDevice(-6)

iPhone rebooted despite the fail and showed me to swipe up. Asked for my passcode 2x. Then the black Apple logo appeared with white background: “attempting to restore data” when this bar was almost done (98% I’d say) it started from the beginning and increased to (maybe 5%) then jumped back to 98% and stayed there for a while. I was getting nervous at this point but just keep waiting, the phone takes it’s time for the last 2%. Then after a while the bar under the logo disappeared and it asked me to do the update setup, after which the iPhone was back to normal.

After this I was able to plug in my iPhone X to my iMac and make a full backup via finder to later put all that data on my new iPhone 12.

------ Final remarks ------

In case any of the information above needs some more explanation I am happy to elaborate or to give more explanation/feedback in the few days to come.

I believe the majority of phones with full storage error 14 can be recovered using this method.
In the comments of that video I have seen the following models of iPhone being able to recover their data:

iPhone 11
iPhone XS Max
iPhone XS
iPhone X
iPhone XR
iPhone 8
iPhone 7 plus
iPhone 7

Kindest regards and good luck!
Alex

I just managed to put my Iphone 11 into its first Soft Flash and the process stopped at 33%. However, the progress bar on the screen under the apple logo remained and now the phone refuses to go into the restore mode anymore ( up, down, power). The hard reboot (up + power) does not work either. Have you had similar problems and if you did, how you managed to put the phone into the restore mode again to attempt another flash?

Thank you.

 

[superduperdad]

Folks, 3utools truly works. It took me two attempts before I was able to flash and resurrect my iphone successfully. First, I tried to install the latest stable 14.7 firmware, which did not work. As I mentioned in the above post, the process stopped at 33% and became unresponsive. The progress bar under the apple logo did not disappear, and I could not restart the phone. I left it on overnight, the battery died, and I was able to put it into restore mode again.
Then I tried to use the latest beta version 15.0, which worked flawlessly. It only took about 20 minutes all in all. I used the original cable and did not switch the USB ports.
Good luck to everyone.

 

[Andre19]

Hey Guys. Something similar happened to me more than a week ago and I'm desperate (didn't have any kind of backup). iPhone XS 256 GB with iOS 14.6 GB reached full storage, I saw the typical full storage message at night (was too tired too start deleting stuff and left it for the next day). When I woke up, I unlock the phone and it's unresponsive (couldn't access any app, I could only swipe left and right around the wallpaper) I proceed to restart to start deleting things and when the phone restarts and asks for the pin code to unlock, once I introduce the pin the screen goes black and stuck on apple logo (for a few minutes) then restarts again and the pin unlock screen appears.. again. This happened over and over. I then try to update it on recovery mode using itunes and nothing happens, in fact, after a couple of attempts the phone is on a white screen saying "swipe up to recover". However, I can still press the buttons and access the recovery mode. I've tried flashing with 3utools switching between itunes flash and easy flash. I tried the latest beta version (iOS 15) and also the 14.7 and 14.6. Few times it has failed approximately before 20%. Nevertheless, most of the times I tried flashing with iOS 15 beta and iOS 14.7 the flash process was successful but when the iphone restarted it was still that white screen "swipe up to recover". I'm pretty sure if I swipe up I'll lose everything and it drives me crazy. If you guys manage to fix it doing the same. Why haven't I? I've disabled the firewall and the antivirus. Followed the instructions the exact same way. (Have tried restarting the PC and changing USB ports) The only thing I haven't done yet is the DFU mode but I'm not sure how risky it is for my data to be lost. Any help/ideas? All this data is priceless to me.

 

[Gauste]

Wow!!! It worked! My iPhone was « bricked » for 7 month. When the error 14 happened, after reading on the web that there was no solutions, I bought a new phone and stored the old one in a drawer in hope of a solution. I just came upon this post, followed the YouTube video and voilà! 220 gb of photos that I thought lost just reappeared. The process can seem long but it is worth all the time spent

And I didn’t even had to use the DFU mode. The standard firmware flash in 3utools worked (the latest firmware failed but it succeeded with the latest beta firmware).

Since every case can be different, here is mine: my iPhone had low storage (very low) and I never made a backup. So I started a backup with iTunes and at some point, the iPhone closed and went in a repetitive bootloop. Did a hard reset and the phone went in restore mode. Many attempts the restore the phone on iTunes gave me the error 14.

So if you have the error 14 problem, watch closely the vidéo (the YouTube link in the first post does not work but someone put the video in a following post).

It is the ONLY working solution at my knowledge that works. Don’t believe all those scams that try to sell you an app. It doesn’t work (believe me, I tried). And Apple still says there is nothing to do.

I still can’t believe it worked! So thankful.

btw, be sure to remember your iPhone passcode. When you succeed to the attempt of data recovery (white screen) it ask you your passcode before starting the process (a 25 minutes long process) witch fails if you enter the wrong code and you have to start again.

 

[Gauste]

Hey Guys. Something similar happened to me more than a week ago and I'm desperate (didn't have any kind of backup). iPhone XS 256 GB with iOS 14.6 GB reached full storage, I saw the typical full storage message at night (was too tired too start deleting stuff and left it for the next day). When I woke up, I unlock the phone and it's unresponsive (couldn't access any app, I could only swipe left and right around the wallpaper) I proceed to restart to start deleting things and when the phone restarts and asks for the pin code to unlock, once I introduce the pin the screen goes black and stuck on apple logo (for a few minutes) then restarts again and the pin unlock screen appears.. again. This happened over and over. I then try to update it on recovery mode using itunes and nothing happens, in fact, after a couple of attempts the phone is on a white screen saying "swipe up to recover". However, I can still press the buttons and access the recovery mode. I've tried flashing with 3utools switching between itunes flash and easy flash. I tried the latest beta version (iOS 15) and also the 14.7 and 14.6. Few times it has failed approximately before 20%. Nevertheless, most of the times I tried flashing with iOS 15 beta and iOS 14.7 the flash process was successful but when the iphone restarted it was still that white screen "swipe up to recover". I'm pretty sure if I swipe up I'll lose everything and it drives me crazy. If you guys manage to fix it doing the same. Why haven't I? I've disabled the firewall and the antivirus. Followed the instructions the exact same way. (Have tried restarting the PC and changing USB ports) The only thing I haven't done yet is the DFU mode but I'm not sure how risky it is for my data to be lost. Any help/ideas? All this data is priceless to me.

I did what you did and if you succeed to the white screen, asking to swipe up to recover, you are almost there. I did and here what happens: you swipe and you’re asked for your iPhone passcode. Then a progress bar appears. I took 25 minutes for me to complete. The first time I entered the wrong code so the process failed and returned to the white screen asking to wipe up. Whit the good code, after 25 minutes, the iPhone was ok!

I can’t garantee it will work but me too I didn’t have to use the dfu mode: standard flash worked with beta 15.

Maybe I lost a little data because at the end of the process, my phone had 6gb of free space (for a 256gb phone ) and I’m pretty sure I had less before the error 14 happened but I recovers 220+ gb of photos.

Good luck

 

[Cemedine X]

Six months earlier I made my iPhone8 apple logo looping.
I tried regular iTunes update and those fake rescue tools over the internet several times, but progress bar went around 20% and iTunes kept saying "error 14" all the time. I spent a couple of days and gave up. The phone had been a metal brick for around 8 months in the closet.

On November 18 I came across this article, I tried again with 3utools on Bootcamp.
I used iOS 15.1 this time. You cannot select 14.x series now.
"error 14" did not appear. It turned to "error 1100" now, and 3utools was saying "failed retain user's data..." or some nonsense.
The progress bar on the phone screen never show progress. Looked like it got worse than before.
I tried quick flash, pro flash, regular iTunes update. All failed. At this point I was about to giving up again.

On November 19.
Before I give up, I tried 15.2 beta. Since my trouble was related to full storage updating, it was only natural I didn't expect to success with 15.2 unstable beta which is a little larger program size than 15.1 stable.
It was quick flash mode, it was 15.2 beta3, it was normal recovery mode (no DFU), and somehow the operation was successful.

I posted this to thank you all people here. It was because everything started after I read this article by chance.
Thank you very much!

 

[TLAWR]

Six months earlier I made my iPhone8 apple logo looping.
I tried regular iTunes update and those fake rescue tools over the internet several times, but progress bar went around 20% and iTunes kept saying "error 14" all the time. I spent a couple of days and gave up. The phone had been a metal brick for around 8 months in the closet.

On November 18 I came across this article, I tried again with 3utools on Bootcamp.
I used iOS 15.1 this time. You cannot select 14.x series now.
"error 14" did not appear. It turned to "error 1100" now, and 3utools was saying "failed retain user's data..." or some nonsense.
The progress bar on the phone screen never show progress. Looked like it got worse than before.
I tried quick flash, pro flash, regular iTunes update. All failed. At this point I was about to giving up again.

On November 19.
Before I give up, I tried 15.2 beta. Since my trouble was related to full storage updating, it was only natural I didn't expect to success with 15.2 unstable beta which is a little larger program size than 15.1 stable.
It was quick flash mode, it was 15.2 beta3, it was normal recovery mode (no DFU), and somehow the operation was successful.

I posted this to thank you all people here. It was because everything started after I read this article by chance.
Thank you very much!

Hi, similar issue occurred to my iPhone 11 pro a few days ago. Instead of Error 14, I got error 1110 (not error 1100) most of the time - be it normal update via iTunes, iMazing, or iTunes Flash in 3utools.
May I ask whether your data is retained when running on quick flash mode? As you mentioned you were not on DFU so I guessed you chose "Quick Flash" under iTunes Flash in 3utools.
Thanks a bunch!

 

[Cemedine X]

I was confusing in some terms of this app.
It was "Easy Flash" mode, with "Retain User's Data" checked, when my phone was reborn.

And, after the rebooting, all of my data was completely intact.
I found phone's storage became roomy because most of the apps were deleted(only programs themselves. saved data were OK), so I didn't need to go deleting apps and datas manually.

 

[Larch]

Hi, similar issue occurred to my iPhone 11 pro a few days ago. Instead of Error 14, I got error 1110 (not error 1100) most of the time - be it normal update via iTunes, iMazing, or iTunes Flash in 3utools.
May I ask whether your data is retained when running on quick flash mode? As you mentioned you were not on DFU so I guessed you chose "Quick Flash" under iTunes Flash in 3utools.
Thanks a bunch!

Hi. Just wondering how you have got on as I am having the same error 1110 on my iPhone 6S plus And would be very grateful for any pointers. Thanks

 

[TLAWR]

Hi. Just wondering how you have got on as I am having the same error 1110 on my iPhone 6S plus And would be very grateful for any pointers. Thanks

I've been trying over 50 times using the method mentioned by the OP and others in the thread. So far there is no good news for me - always stuck at 20% in Easy Flash and 24% at iTunes Flash.

 

[Yo33]

I've been trying over 50 times using the method mentioned by the OP and others in the thread. So far there is no good news for me - always stuck at 20% in Easy Flash and 24% at iTunes Flash.

Hi, Im facing the same problem. Any luck?

 

[Yo33]

Hi. Just wondering how you have got on as I am having the same error 1110 on my iPhone 6S plus And would be very grateful for any pointers. Thanks

Hi, Im facing the same problem. Any luck?

 

[TLAWR]

Hi, Im facing the same problem. Any luck?

No luck - now i just leave it in a dusty drawer and hoping that one day other solutions would surface.

 

[mfcteam]

hello,

You can check this solution if it's 1110 error

How to Fix iTunes Error 1110 for iPhone 6s 7 8 X Xr Xs 11 12 13 and iPad by mfc software ? [Data Saved] | iMFC | MFC | iBUS | iPOWER X | Apple Watch Solution - by mfcbox.com

itunes 1110 error repair, Fix iTunes Error 1110 for iPhone based on ios15.x, Support iPhone 6s 7 8 X Xr Xs 11 12 13 and iPad, Fix 19% 20% 24% 37% error

www.mfcbox.com

br.,

 

[kokoyo]

My iPhone 11 Pro bricked yesterday, right after I purchased a new iPhone and was preparing to transfer the data.

I've tried to flash 15.2 and 15.3beta with Finder and 3uTools for ~10 times with no luck so far, having 1110 error.

Interestingly in the log of iTunes Flash, I am able to view the free space of the phone (which is 63MB).
It is located right before the list of "unable to parse regex" erorr.

Can anyone check to see if flashing multiple times/letting the phone reboot for awhile will have any effect on the free space? Could be very helpful to determine how many time it is required to flash!

 

[kokoyo]

For the record I was so desperate that I purchased Reiboot, it behaves just like a normal iTunes/Finder flash and obviously doesn't work.

 

[TLAWR]

For the record I was to desperate that I purchased Reiboot, it behaves just like a normal iTunes/Finder flash and obviously doesn't work.

Same here, I requested for a refund and they gave me a partial one.
Referring to your earlier question, I also found that in the log files. Sadly the said “free space” did not change a bit no matter how many times I run the flash.

 

[kokoyo]

Same here, I requested for a refund and they gave me a partial one.
Referring to your earlier question, I also found that in the log files. Sadly the said “free space” did not change a bit no matter how many times I run the flash.

How many times (approximately) did you flashed, and how much free space is there?

 

[mfcteam]

Use mfc software once did "repair" , iPhone will still stuck in recovery , but 1110 already fixed.

then force the iPhone reboot and do complete update (No matter which software .i.e itunes or so)

hope this will help you guys

 

[kokoyo]

Use mfc software once did "repair" , iPhone will still stuck in recovery , but 1110 already fixed.

then force the iPhone reboot and do complete update (No matter which software .i.e itunes or so)

hope this will help you guys

I can verify this. Just paid & used their tool to fix my phone. Now back to life.

At first they seem just like Reiboot or whatever scam it is out there. But since they’re the first one who claim to fix error 1110 and it costs like $60, I’m willing to give them a shot.

And it actually worked!

 

[mfcteam]

I can verify this. Just paid & used their tool to fix my phone. Now back to life.

At first they seem just like Reiboot or whatever scam it is out there. But since they’re the first one who claim to fix error 1110 and it costs like $60, I’m willing to give them a shot.

And it actually worked!

i have no idea about other software , but hope they will fix the issue

@kokoyo

thanks for your feedback , happy new year

Br.,
Denis