When the first-generation iPhone was released on June 29, 2007 it was described as “revolutionary” and 
a “game-changer” for the mobile phone industry. Ever since then this peace of hardware has become a symbol of one generation and this era we are living in. While many believe this may be the greatest product in Apple’s long history others strongly disagree. My Data Recovery Lab eZine has been involved in this subject from a data recovery and forensics point of view. Recently we had many of you asking us to help them recover data from iPhones 8 and iPhones X. This article is posted to help you understand the issues with these devices and why, in many cases, nobody can help when these devices break and have not been backed up to the cloud.
Apple has long positioned the iPhone as a secure device that only it’s owner can open. This is only partially true since over the years 3rd party companies managed to break into these devices using backdoors. In most cases the backdoor was discovered within the company then (almost as a rule) another company is soon established (as a 3rd party) to provide the necessary equipment or services to those in need. Most of these 3rd party companies claim that they will not provide any equipment or services to anyone but law enforcement or government. Long story short, even with a six digit passcode the latest iPhone X will be decyphered and all data extracted. However in the case when your device is broken internally (not just its display) and the malfunction affects its critical components such as processor or memory chip and there is no backup on the cloud…your personal data has gone. Forever! The main reason is that encrypted devices such as an iPhone uses a processor for encryption and in situations when this component fails, data can not be retrieved without proprietary information from Apple. 
Apple will not share this, not even with a government or law enforcement.
This is not a surprise since this company has a long history of trying to lock out everyone from “their affairs”. Back in the days when Microsoft partnered with IBM to create computers for everyone, not just the wealthy and privileged, Apple strongly opposed it. They are holding their stand to this day. If it was their decision many of your favorite software packages or services (including this website ) would never exist . Next time you’re ready to buy yourself a new phone think about how important your data is to you. Do you really want to be “safe” or do you want to be able to retrieve your data (mostly photos) even if your device fails.
