How to Fix iTunes Not Recognizing iPhone in Recovery Mode

When I tried to update to iOS 17 with iTunes, my iPhone was stuck in recovery mode, and iTunes would not recognize my device. I’ve tried pretty much every trick I can, but the issue still existed and I still do not know what to do. Someone, please help me.

Recovery mode can be very practical, or even the only one, troubleshooting various iPhone problems you may encounter. iPhone recovery mode can be applied when performing a recent iOS update, your iOS device is stuck in a continuous boot loop or Apple logo, updating the operating system or restoring the device from backup but the process fails, etc.

But, sometimes when you seek to use the recovery mode to solve such problems, you may find that your iPhone in recovery mode is not recognized by iTunes like the user above. How does this happen? The reasons vary. However, you can try the following tips to fix this iTunes not recognizing iPhone in recovery mode.

5 Ways to Fix iTunes Not Recognizing iPhone in Recovery Mode

Tip 1. Ensure iPhone Is Sufficiently Charged

iTunes may not recognize iPhone in recovery mode if it is insufficiently charged. If the iPhone was low on battery power before putting it in recovery mode, you should wait at least 10 minutes after connecting it to the computer before trying to restore the device or other operations.

If this way does not work to fix iTunes not detecting iPhone in recovery mode, you need to think about whether it is related to the Apple Mobile Device Drivers. In the following, we will list how to re-install USB Driver and Recovery Mode Driver for this problem.

Tip 2. Re-install the Apple Mobile Device USB Driver

Sometimes, iTunes not recognize iPhone in recovery mode or does not detect the iPad in recovery mode because the Apple Mobile Device USB driver has something wrong. Considering the Apple mobile device recovery mode driver is unavailable for unexpected reasons, you can re-install it to check if the problem still exists. Here are the detailed steps to re-install the USB driver:

1. Disconnect your device from the computer.
2. Reconnect your device. If iTunes opens, close it.
3. Press the Windows and R keys on your keyboard to open the Run command.
4. In the Run window, enter %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers > Click OK.
5. Right-click on the usbaapl64.inf or usbaapl.inf file and select Install.
6. Disconnect your device from your computer > Restart your computer > Reconnect your device and open iTunes to check if iTunes detects your iPhone.

Tip 3. Use An iTunes Repair Tool

If the above methods won’t fix the iTunes not detecting iPhone/iPad not detecting issue, you should try a professional iTunes system repair tool to get it solved. As one of the top iTunes repair programs, AnyFix – iOS System Recovery tool will be the best choice to repair it since it can fix 200+ iTunes errors without skills or professional knowledge.

AnyFix offers you 3 different repair modes, Standard Repair, Advanced Repair, and Ultimate Repair. Each mode covers problems ranging from the most common ones to the most comprehensive problems. With this tool, you can fix almost all iOS errors you may encounter. Check some of its main features below:

Step 1. Free download AnyFix and install it on your computer > Connect your iPhone or iPad to the computer > Run AnyFix > Choose the iTunes Repair mode.

Step 2. Select iTunes Connection Errors and click Fix Now to fix the error “iTunes won’t recognize iPhone”.

Step 3. Continue the process, and it will take you some minutes to finish all the repairing procedures. And in the end, you will see a Repair Completed interface.

Tip 4. Install Recovery Mode Driver on Windows

You can also try to install the recovery mode driver on your Windows computer. Taking Windows 10 as an example, you can install the driver by referring to the following instructions.

1. Go to Device Manager > Go to View > Devices by connection;
2. Expand and search for the entry “Apple Mobile Device (Recovery Mode)”;
3. Right-click on “USB Composite Device” and choose Update driver software;
4. Choose to Browse my computer for driver software;
5. Browse to the path “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers” and click Next. This will install the Apple driver and iTunes should now recognize your device in recovery mode again.

When applying the above methods, some users complained that some of them did not work as they expected, or they couldn’t update the driver. So, to get away with such issues, we recommend you try some third-party professional software, like Driver Easy. Driver Easy will automatically recognize your system and find the correct drivers for it. You don’t need to know exactly what system your computer is running, you don’t need to be troubled by the wrong driver you would be downloading, and you don’t need to worry about making a mistake when installing.

You can update your drivers automatically with either the FREE or the Pro version of Driver Easy. But with the Pro version, it takes just 2 steps (and you get full support and a 30-day money-back guarantee):

1. Download and install Driver Easy. Run Driver Easy and click the Scan Now button. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers.

2. Click the Update button next to the flagged xxx driver to automatically download the correct version of that driver (you can do this with the FREE version), then manually install it.

3. Or click Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system. (This requires the Pro version which comes with full support and a 30-day money-back guarantee. You’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All.)

4. Restart your computer to take effect.

Tip 5. A Special Method for iTunes Not Recognizing iPhone in Recovery Mode When Restoring

If you run into iTunes not recognizing your iPhone in recovery mode when updating to iOS 16 and trying to restore from iTunes backups, here we sincerely recommend PhoneRescue for iOS to help you get the job done.

PhoneRescue for iOS Data Recovery is skilled at getting back various iOS data from iPhone directly, iCloud backups, and iTunes backups. While PhoneRescue is different and better than iTunes:

• Support to preview iTunes backup files, which indicates you can check whether the backup contains what you want before restoring.
• Selectively choose what types of data to restore. There is no need to restore the whole backup file to the iPhone.
• There is no existing data on iPhone erasing.
• Support all kinds of data, contacts, messages, photos, notes, calendars, songs, and more.

Install PhonRescue for iOS to easily and quickly recover data from iTunes backup. For detailed steps, you can refer to the following guide on how to fix iTunes not recognizing iPhone/iPad in Recovery Mode with PhoneRescue.

Step 1. Run PhoneRescue on your PC > Choose Recover from Backup > Click the right arrow.

Step 2. Choose the iTunes backup, which contains the lost data > Click the right arrow > It will pop up a screen for choosing what kind of exact data types you would like to scan. Here we take Messages as an example > Click on the OK button to continue.

Step 3. It will start scanning all messages in iTunes backup. After finishing, select the messages you would like to recover > Click on the To Device button to download them to your device directly, or the To Computer button to save them to the computer.

The Bottom Line

As you can see, AnyFix can effectively help you get rid of the “iTunes not recognizing iPhone or iPad” if you have encountered iOS system issues when updating to iOS 17. If there is any restoring problem when restoring from iTunes, we sincerely recommend AnyFix. Now, download AnyFix to solve the “iTunes not recognizing iPhone in Recovery mode” problem easily!