Do It Yourself

Recover Your Own iPhone Data Without a Repair Shop

Get your photos, messages and contacts off your iPhone yourself, with the same kind of software the professionals use. See your data free before you decide anything.

Sherlock Forensics iPhone Analyzer gets your data off an iPhone you can unlock: photos, messages, contacts, notes and more, laid out on a Windows PC from a backup it makes over USB. The free edition shows you your data first. It works on a phone that still turns on and unlocks; it does not repair broken hardware or bypass a passcode you do not have.

Download Free and See Your Data Full Edition $599

Windows 10/11 | One-time, no subscription | Your data stays on your PC

Read This First

When You Can Do It Yourself and When You Cannot

Plenty of the reasons people hand an iPhone to a shop for data recovery do not actually need a shop. If the phone still turns on and you know the passcode, the data is reachable and you can pull it off yourself. But there is a real line here. An honest page draws it before selling you anything.

This works when

The iPhone turns on and you can unlock it with the passcode or Face ID.
It connects to a computer over a USB cable.
Or you already have an iTunes or Finder backup of it on a computer.

You still need a professional when

The phone will not power on, the screen is dead or it was water-damaged and stopped working. That is hardware. No software can read a phone that will not run. A repair shop or a data-recovery lab is the right call.
You do not know the passcode and cannot unlock it. No honest consumer tool bypasses a passcode. Guessing the passcode can wipe the phone.
Maybe the data was never on this phone. Maybe it was deleted so long ago that the phone has written over it. Either way, gone is gone.

If your situation is in the first box, keep reading. If it is in the second, a page promising to recover it anyway is not being straight with you.

What You Get Back

Your Photos, Messages and the Rest, in Plain View

Point Sherlock at a phone you can unlock and it lays your life on the phone out in plain categories on your PC: photos and videos with the dates and places they were taken, message threads with their attachments, call history, contacts, notes, calendars and Safari history. It is the same software professional examiners use, with the technical steps handled for you, so you see your own data the way a specialist would.

Deleted items are the honest part. Some deleted photos and messages can come back, the ones the phone has not written over yet, so Sherlock marks those as recovered so you know what is a live item and what was pulled back from the edge. It does not promise to un-delete everything, because nothing can. What it does is show you clearly what is still there to save.

The Steps

Four Steps, No Expertise Needed

Check the phone works. It has to power on, unlock and connect over USB. If it is dead or broken, this is not your fix, see a repair shop.
Plug in and tap Trust. Connect the unlocked iPhone to a Windows PC with a USB cable and tap Trust on the phone, then enter the passcode.
Let it make the backup. Sherlock makes a backup over USB and reads it for you. No settings to figure out. Your data lays out in categories.
See it free, then save it. The free edition previews every category so you can confirm your photos and messages are there. The $599 one-time edition saves everything out to your PC.

Why Yourself

Why Do It at Home Instead of Handing Over Your Phone

The strongest reason is privacy. Recovering the data yourself means your photos and messages never leave your own computer and never sit on a stranger's bench. For anything personal on a phone (and there is always something personal on a phone) that alone is worth doing it at home.

The second reason is that you see the result before you commit. The free edition shows you your data is there and readable before you spend a cent, which is the opposite of dropping a phone off and hoping. And when it is done, the license is yours: the next time a phone in the house needs its photos pulled off before a trade-in or a screen replacement, you already have the tool. A repair shop is still the right answer for broken hardware. For getting data off a phone that simply works, you can do it yourself.

Everyday Reasons

Common Reasons People Use It

Before a trade-in or upgrade. Pull every photo, message and contact off the old phone and keep them safe on your PC before it leaves your hands.

A cracked screen you can still unlock. If the phone runs and you can unlock it, get the data off before the screen repair, in case the repair goes sideways.

Rescuing an older family phone. An old iPhone in a drawer that still charges and unlocks holds years of photos. Get them out before the battery finally dies.

A safety copy of everything. Some people simply want a full, browsable copy of what is on their phone, on a computer they control, kept as insurance.

Straight Talk

What This Software Cannot Do

The internet is full of tools that promise to recover anything from any iPhone. Most of that is not true, so here is the plain version. This software cannot read a phone that will not turn on or connect, that is a hardware problem for a repair shop or a lab. It cannot get into a phone whose passcode you do not know. You should not trust anything that claims it can. It cannot bring back data the phone has already written over. It cannot invent data that was never on the phone to begin with. And it does not reach into iCloud; it reads the phone in your hand or a backup you already have.

What it does do, it does properly: get the data off a phone you can unlock, show you exactly what is recoverable and what is not and keep the whole thing on your own computer. Honest about the limits, thorough inside them.

Questions

DIY iPhone Recovery FAQ

Can I recover my iPhone data myself instead of paying a repair shop?

If you can unlock the iPhone, yes. Sherlock Forensics iPhone Analyzer makes a backup of the phone over USB and reads your photos, messages, contacts, notes and more into a browsable view on a Windows PC. The free edition shows you your data first, so you can confirm it is all there before deciding anything. It works on a phone you can unlock and connect; it is not a fix for a phone that is physically broken.

Does this work on a dead or broken iPhone?

No. This is software, not a repair. If the iPhone will not power on, will not connect over USB or has physical damage that stops it working, no software can pull data off it. That is exactly when a hardware repair shop or a data-recovery lab is the right call. Sherlock works on a phone that still turns on, unlocks and connects to a computer.

What if I forgot the passcode?

Then this is not the tool for you. Be cautious of anything that claims otherwise. Sherlock does not bypass or guess a passcode; it needs a phone you can unlock, the same as Apple's own backup. A locked iPhone whose passcode is unknown cannot be read by any honest consumer tool. Repeated wrong guesses can erase the device.

What can I actually get back?

From a phone you can unlock: photos and videos, messages, call history, contacts, notes, calendars, Safari history and app data. Deleted items are sometimes recoverable if the phone has not overwritten them yet, so Sherlock is honest about which are recovered rather than promising everything. What was never on the phone cannot come back. Neither can anything deleted long ago.

Is it free?

The free edition opens your phone or an existing backup and shows every category of data, previewing a portion of each so you can confirm your photos and messages are there. Exporting everything, saving files out and the full history unlock in the $599 one-time edition. There is no subscription. Many people use the free edition just to check their data is safe before they do anything else.

Do I need to be technical?

Not really. Plug the unlocked iPhone into a Windows PC over USB, tap Trust on the phone. The tool makes the backup and lays your data out in plain categories. It is the same kind of software professionals use, with the professional steps handled for you.

Start Now

See Your Data First, Free

Download the free edition, plug in a phone you can unlock and see everything that is on it laid out on your PC. Save it all out when you are ready: $599 one-time, no subscription, your data stays with you.

Get Sherlock Forensics iPhone Analyzer