I am going to scream. Fucking Apple.

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

Having gone through two Apple cables already I had to buy a new one fast so went to my local phone shop. Guy assures me that the cable he's selling me is Apple endorsed, by Griffin? It charged up fine but I've now plugged it into the computer to upgrade the software and back up my phone and my computer says no. It says the USB has malfunctioned and now my phone is stuck in itunes no man's land. It won't connect and just says 'connect to itunes'. Which it can't do.

The man on the Apple chat room is trying to help but I've got an awful feeling he's going to say my phone is fucked. It's out of warrenty and I'm guessing house insurance doesn't cover software malfunctions. ANd I cannot afford a new phone.

Fucking fuck.

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

Oh god. Anyone? My life is organised by this phone. I can't lose it, not until it's backed up, which I don't think it's done and I can't afford to replace it.

I know it's not the end of the world but I want to strangle someone. Preferably from Apple.

[PedroYoniLikesCrisps]

Unfortunately, this is what happens when you have a company who refuse to be compatible with the test of the world. I'm sorry I can't help, but I can only offer the advise that you don't go with Apple again in the future.

[Cringechilli]

Make appointment in an apple store and they will fix if possible

[12thmonkey]

@Pedro cleary you are an android / google fan as most your posts would imply, but thats not exactly useful is it ?

@ilivemy..... quite often USB cables while they will pass enough current to charge they may not pass bitrate enough to move data esp when dealing with OS issues, considering the price of the iphone its worth the extra money for official peripherals. That said.. have you tried hard resetting, this is always possible whatever system state the phone is in. ?

[prh47bridge]

quite often USB cables while they will pass enough current to charge they may not pass bitrate enough to move data esp when dealing with OS issues

What a load of rubbish. Provided it works at all any USB cable can provide the bandwidth required. From tests we carried out at my last employer USB has around 3 to 4 times the bandwidth needed for an iPhone firmware reflash. We always used cheap cables from third party suppliers. We weren't going to pay through the nose for a cable with the Apple logo on it that was no better in terms of its actual capabilities. We tested Apple cables against cheap cables and found absolutely no difference in terms of data handling.

And on the charging issue, the spec for a USB cable is that a device can draw up to 500mA (900mA for USB-3). An iPhone draws 2.1A, over 4 times the spec.

[12thmonkey]

Really ?? Not my experience with all USB cables for sure. I have a cheap n nasty cable i leave on my desk at work, it will charge my phone but hang when i try and transfer images. I've had a couple that after some use just give way and stop working due to poor build quality. I've seen some usb cables work fine with android phones but not on DSLR's that have the same connections to transfer pictures. Its not about buying brand for brands sake, there is a level of expectation attached.

[OwlCapone]

I have a variety of cables, some charge everything, some charge phones but not iPads and some charge only the newest ipad. I've not tried them for data transfer though as I very rarely need to.

[OwlCapone]

I think it's unlikely that your phone is completely dead though.

[prh47bridge]

A USB cable contains 4 wires, two for power and two for data. It is therefore possible for a cable to provide power but no data. I haven't come across one that has intermittent problems with data although I guess a dry joint in the connector could cause that kind of problem, but normally it is either good or bad with nothing in between. I've not come across a cable that will work with an Android handset but not with a DSLR. Both generally use the same bitrate (480 Mbit/s on USB 2) so it seems very odd. I'm sure one of the engineers at my last employer would be able to figure out what was happening if they had the cable concerned!

In the line of business we were in we used hundreds of USB cables. In my experience the only difference between the Apple versions and the cheap alternatives is that the 30-pin dock connector tended to be less robust on the non-Apple cables so it would come apart after repeated use, although the cable would still be working. Never had any problems with cheap Lightning cables. We did get the occasional cable that didn't work at all but Apple cables seemed no less prone to that than cheap alternatives.

Having said all of that, as far as I am aware Apple doesn't "endorse" cables made by any other manufacturer so if it is a problem due to the cable the OP may have a case for misrepresentation.

Ilovemydog - It is worth trying a different cable to see if that makes any difference. Using a genuine Apple cable at least means they can't claim the problem is due to a non-Apple cable. If that doesn't work you could try putting the phone into recovery mode. That will erase everything you've put on the handset (contacts, apps, music, photos, etc.) but should resolve any issues. To put it into recovery mode you turn it off then plug in the cable while holding down the Home key. Keep holding iTunes will say the phone is in recovery mode. You can then use iTunes to restore the phone.

[prh47bridge]

some charge phones but not iPads and some charge only the newest ipad

Probably means there is a problem with the data connection. Because Apple want more than the standard 500mA from the USB port for charging current the phone essentially has to ask the port how much current it can have. If the data connection isn't working properly it can't do that so it won't be able to draw enough current to charge.

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

Happy ending! Thank god for the lovely man at the apple store. He plugged my phone in with a proper cable and it sprang to life! It completed it's software update, it had backed itself up thankfully so no data lost and it's all fine.

He did think it might have been the non-gen cable that corrupted the software download though. He said in future it's probably fine for just charging it up but use a proper cable when I connect it to the computer. The error message I got on the computer was 'USB cable malfunctioned'. He said that was probably just the cable and the phone looked fine.

It is annoying that apple are incompatible with everything else but I do love my iPhone.

And the genuine apple cable was cheaper. Should have gone and got one in the first place. Lesson learnt. Still I've got a spare charger for the car now.

[OwlCapone]

A happy ending :)

IMO you can never have enough of these cables anyway.

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

Oh god. The bloody phone crapped out as it was updating the folder with the kids games in. It's wiped half of them out. They're not on the computer to even restore. Dd1 couldn't find her Moshi Monsters game on the phone and nearly had a meltdown till I said it would be on the computer. Except it's not. It's gone, along with all her little saved Moshis and everything. She's going to be so upset. Oh bloody hell!

[OwlCapone]

The Apps themselves will be downloadable from the App Store/Cloud. Isn't the data included in the backup you did yesterday?

[OwlCapone]

If you restore your phone from the backup, it should all reappear. I created a copy of my old ipad on my new ipad by doing this.

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

I have restored my phone from the back up. I don't understand it. They're just not there. They're not amongst the apps on the computer. I can see them in the App Store, I don't have to buy them again. I can just download them again. She'll have to start from scratch though. The apple man said the data could have been corrupted by using the non-gen cable. He thinks perhaps it hadn't finished backing up when it went wrong. Bloody technology.