If you’re not able to restore or update your iPhone or iPad because iTunes cannot recognize it then you will have to put your device in recovery mode.

Please note that recovery mode erases the data on your device, and restores it to the latest iOS firmware version.

If you’ve taken a back up of your device using iTunes or iCloud, you will be able to restore from the backup so you don’t end up losing your data.

Before you put your device in recovery mode, you should also do some basic troubleshooting such as connecting your device to a different USB port on your computer or connecting it directly to your computer if you’re using a USB hub, just to verify that the problem is not due to a faulty USB port or USB Hub.

If iTunes still doesn’t recognize your device, then follow these instructions to put your device in recovery mode:

• Connect your USB cable to your computer but not to the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

• Turn off the device: Press and hold the Sleep/Wake (Power) button for a few seconds until the red slider appears, then slide the slider. Wait for the device to turn off.

• If you cannot turn off the device using the slider, press and hold the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons at the same time. When the device turns off, release the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons.

• Now while pressing and holding the Home button down, connect the USB cable to the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. The device should turn on.

• Continue holding the Home button until you see the Connect to iTunes screen. When this screen appears, you can release the Home button:

Note: If the image of a battery appears, let the device charge for at least ten minutes to ensure that the battery has some charge, and then start with step 2 again. If you don’t see the Connect to iTunes screen, try these steps 1 through 4 again.

• iTunes will launch automatically inform you that your device is in recovery mode and that you need to restore the device:

Note: If iTunes not open after two minutes, please open iTunes yourself. 

• Click on the “Ok” button and then click on “Restore” button to restore the device.

• After the device has been restore, follow the on-screen instructions to set it up, and recover from the backup.

You can also check out the video walkthrough of the entire process:

Note: If you have entered the recovery mode by mistake then you can hard reset your device to exit recovery mode or just wait for 15 minutes, the device will exit recovery mode by itself.

Please let us know how it goes, and please feel free to leave a comment if you’ve any questions.