Your iPhone Is Going in for Repair. What About Your Photos?

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The screen is cracked, or the battery is tired, and the person behind the counter says, “Can I have your passcode so I can test it?” It’s a routine question, and your photos are on the other side of it.

This article covers what Apple says about the passcode, how to prepare Find My, what to back up, and what to do with photos that you would rather not have in the phone at all while it is out of your hands.

What Apple says about your passcode

Apple’s page for preparing an iPhone for service says you should never share your Apple Account password, device passcode or account security details with anyone, and that Apple and Apple Authorized Service Providers won’t ask for them. Some software support might need you to enter your passcode or password yourself. Apple’s advice then is to stay with the device while a technician has access to it.

Apple’s page is about Apple and its authorized providers. What a different repair shop asks for is up to that shop, so decide in advance what you are comfortable with.

The catch is that your passcode opens nearly everything. The Hidden album and locked apps open with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode, so they don’t stand between a technician and your photos if the passcode is shared. We cover that in How to Hide Photos From Someone Who Knows Your iPhone Passcode.

Find My: the step that depends on your iOS version

Apple’s current page says:

• iOS 27 or later. Open Find My, select the device, tap More, tap Repair or Trade In, then tap Enable, and enter your Apple Account password. Apple calls the feature “Ready for Repair or Trade In”. It keeps the device findable in Find My during eligible repairs, and keeps Find My on throughout. Apple or the service provider tells you whether you can use it for your request, and the feature turns off by itself when the technician marks the work complete.
• iOS 26 or earlier. Go to Settings, tap your name, tap Find My, tap Find My iPhone, and turn it off. Apple says it may be unable to service the device unless Find My is turned off.
• If you can’t turn it off on the iPhone. Use Find My on another device, or go to icloud.com/find, select the iPhone, and choose Repair or Trade-In or Remove This Device.

If you turned Find My off, turn it back on when you get the iPhone back.

What else Apple asks you to do

1. Back up. In Settings, tap your name, then iCloud, and check that the icon next to “Saved to iCloud” is green. Apple’s backup page also describes Settings, your name, iCloud, iCloud Backup, Back Up Now; stay on Wi-Fi until it ends.
2. Turn off Apple Cash in Settings, Wallet & Apple Pay, and remove cards and passes from Wallet.
3. Check Parts and Service History. A part marked “Finish Repair” needs to be completed first, or you may face an out-of-warranty fee.
4. Expect an erase. Apple says the device may have been erased. Restore from a backup, or set it up as new. If you set it up as new and later want your old data, restore from the old iCloud backup soon, because new backups overwrite the old ones.

Keep the very private photos out of reach

None of Apple’s steps stop a person who has your passcode from opening Photos. If there are photos you would not want a stranger to scroll, the safest place is somewhere your passcode doesn’t open. Apple says Notes can lock a note with a password only for Notes, but if you pick the iPhone passcode option, the passcode opens it too; see Is a Locked Note in Notes Safe Enough for Private Photos?. A vault app keeps files behind its own key.

Hidlet is an encrypted vault app, available on the App Store. You draw a pattern that is separate from your passcode, and it is the key to the vault. Files are encrypted before they are stored, and leaving the app locks it at once. The app doesn’t list your vaults. Screenshots and screen recordings of it come out blank.

Before you hand the phone over:

• Import the photos into a vault. Then delete the originals from Photos, and empty Recently Deleted.
• Back up the vault. Turn on Hidlet’s encrypted backup, which goes to your own iCloud. Write down the recovery phrase it shows you: with the backup on, it restores the vault on any phone.
• After the repair, open Hidlet and draw your pattern. If the iPhone was erased, a restore with your iCloud backup, or a fresh install with iCloud Keychain on, brings the vault back with your pattern. If iCloud Keychain is off, the recovery phrase does it.

What Hidlet can’t protect

If a repair needs the iPhone unlocked, a vault is still behind its own pattern, but the rest of the iPhone isn’t. Photos you leave in your library are not protected by Hidlet, and a vault doesn’t stop a technician from seeing app names or other data on the home screen. And nobody can restore a vault if you lose both your pattern and your recovery phrase.