Getting photos and data off a broken phone

Check this before anything else, from another phone, a tablet or a computer:

• iPhone: with iCloud Photos on, Apple keeps your photos and videos in iCloud at full resolution. They are not duplicated in the iCloud backup, so look in the Photos app on another Apple device or on iCloud.com. From another Apple device or a computer you can also see which devices have iCloud backups; Apple keeps existing backups for 180 days after backup is turned off.
• Android: Google Photos backs photos and videos up to your Google Account when backup is on, to one account at a time. Google's Android backup also saves apps, call history, contacts, settings and texts.
• Samsung: check Samsung Cloud and any Smart Switch backups on your computer.

If the photos are there, the broken phone only needs repairing or replacing. If they aren't, read on before you try anything.

• Don't reset it. Apple says resetting an iPhone with a forgotten passcode permanently erases all your data and settings, with or without a computer. Google says an Android phone you can't unlock has to be erased, which deletes apps, photos and music.
• Don't erase it remotely with Find My or Find Hub unless it is stolen: that deletes the data too.
• Don't keep charging a wet phone to see if it comes back. Power on a corroding board can turn a recoverable phone into one that isn't; switch it off and bring it in. See water damage repair.
• Don't open it yourself. Prying a phone open can damage the battery or the connectors that a recovery depends on.

Samsung lists several routes when the touchscreen no longer works:

• USB mouse or keyboard: Samsung says connecting one lets you unlock the phone if you have set a PIN, password or pattern, so you can then start a backup.
• Smart Switch on a computer: the free Smart Switch software backs a Galaxy up to a PC or Mac over a USB data cable; tap Allow on the phone if it asks.
• Remote backup: through Find My Mobile you can back up to Samsung Cloud, if the phone is online, signed in to a Samsung Account and has remote control enabled.

If none of these work because the screen is completely dead, a replacement screen often brings the phone back long enough to copy everything.

Often, yes, if the storage chip is intact. A phone that won't start usually has a fault somewhere else: a dead battery, a broken charging circuit, a short on the board after water damage, or a failed screen that only makes it look dead. A1 Computers finds the fault and, where needed, uses board-level micro-soldering to get the phone running again long enough to copy your data.

Tell us at drop-off if the photos and chats matter more than the phone. The work then aims at saving the data first, not at the cheapest repair. You will still need your passcode to unlock the phone and copy the files, so we arrange that with you rather than asking for it.

Turn on an automatic backup today. On iPhone, switch on iCloud Photos or iCloud Backup; on Android, turn on Google Photos backup and Google's device backup in Settings; on Samsung, Samsung Cloud or Smart Switch to a computer also works. Know your Apple Account or Google password: after a repair or replacement you need it to restore.

Before any repair, follow the steps in how to prepare your phone for a repair. On holiday, back up over hotel Wi-Fi or with a tourist SIM or eSIM with enough data.

It depends on the phone and on why it won't start, so the phone is checked first. Send the model and what happened on WhatsApp to 641 780 077, call 922 71 35 82, or walk in to Local 4, Centro Comercial San Eugenio, Av. de los Pueblos 20, Costa Adeje, Monday–Saturday 10:45–21:30 or Sunday 10:45–14:00. You get the price before any work starts. Diagnosis costs €15.