What Are The Difference Between DFU and Recovery Mode

This tutorial tells you the basic difference between iPhone’s DFU and Recovery modes and what mode is used for what purpose.

What are these modes for and why should I know about them?

If you are a new iPhone user or don’t care about jailbreaking chances are that you might have never come across these two modes and won’t need to in the future either. But if you use Cydia or custom IPSW firmware on your iPhone or other iOS devices you will definitely come across this.
DFU stands for Device Firmware Update. Both of the modes can be entered by pressing a particular series of buttons on your iPhone. They help you update or install firmware when the normal iTunes method fails. Here are some situations when you might need to use these modes.

• Reset iPhone if your forgot Passcode
• Downgrade Firmware version
• Install beta iOS firmwares
• When iTunes returns errors like 1013 , 1603

iPhone Recovery mode vs DFU mode:

iPhone Recovery Mode:
Recovery Mode boots your iPhone and stops at the Connect to iTunes screen. You can use it to install the latest firmware but not downgrade. You can click on Restore in iTunes to let iTunes download firmware and install. Alternatively, you can download firmware from here and press Alt + Restore(Shift + Restore on Windows) to browse for firmware manually.




The recovery mode and iTunes will prevent you from restoring to older firmware than the current firmware. You will keep getting error in iTunes every time you try doing it. This is because iPhone has already booted and knows the current firmware version.

iPhone DFU Mode:

DFU mode on the other hand does not fully start up the iPhone or iPod Touch. The screen remains off and appears as if your iPhone is turned off but it will be recognized in iTunes and be ready for restoring to any firmware. Since, the firmware is not booted you can downgrade iPhone to previous versions or even custom firmwares with Cydia and other packages created from jailbreak tools like PwnageTool.



Learn how to put iPhone into DFU mode:

How to Exit DFU Mode?

If you somehow find yourself stuck and need to exit DFU Mode just hold both Home and Power buttons for five seconds or till the iPhone restarts(Apple logo appears).
Apart from iPhones, you can also use this tutorial to put iPod Touch into DFU Mode or an iPad too. If you need more help, feel free to ask us via comments.

How to Put iPhone or iPod Touch into Recovery Mode

This tutorial will show you how to put any iOS device like iPhone or iPod touch into Recovery Mode. You can use Recovery Mode to restore your iPhone or update firmware if other methods fail.

Recovery Mode is different from DFU Mode. Now proceeding with the current tutorial.

How to put iPhone into Recovery Mode:

Step 1: Turn off the iPhone. To do this press and hold the power button till you see the “Slide to Power off” screen. Now slide the button to turn it off.
In case your iPhone is stuck in an infinite loop and the previous option is unavailable, press and hold the Power and Home button till the screen goes off. Remember to leave both the buttons as soon as the screen goes off and before the Apple logo appears again.
Step 2: Connect the iPhone’s USB cable to your computer but not to your iPhone yet.
Step 3: Now hold down the Home button and while you are holding it connect the USB cable. Keep holding the Home button till you see the Connect to iTunes screen on your iPhone(Screenshot shown below). iTunes will show an alert saying a device in recovery mode has been detected.



Here’s what your iPhone screen will look like once its in the iPhone Recovery Mode.

How to Exit Recovery Mode:

Getting out of Recovery Mode is relatively simple. You may need to do this manually sometimes while updating firmware on your iPhone. Here’s what you need to do to exit Recovery mode.
Just press both the Home and Power button and hold them for ten seconds. Your phone should restart now and should be out of Recovery mode.



Apart from iPhones, you can also use this tutorial to put iPod Touch into Recovery Mode or an iPad.

 Let us know if you have any related questions via comments.