'Battery Not Registered' error, and phone refusing to start/enter recovery mode.

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Level 1

13 points

'Battery Not Registered' error, and phone refusing to start/enter recovery mode.

I have a iPhone 12 mini, its never had parts replaced or fixed. Recently, the phone showed a 'battery not registered' error, and although at full charge, it began showing 1%. The phone proceeded to shut down, and refuses to force restart, enter recovery mode, or even turn on in general. When plugged into power, the phone shows the apple logo, as if it was attempting to start, and after varying periods, the logo dissapears, and its just a black screen. This repeats every 30-60 seconds, as long as it is plugged in to power, and the clicking/holding the power button has no impact on these procedures.

At the very least, I would like to recover data, such as photos, from the flash drive, as I did not have backups due to low storage available on the device.

Any tips/recommendations/links to similar forums where answers were provided are greatly appreciated

iPhone 12 mini, iOS 26

Posted on Nov 30, 2025 3:08 PM

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Answer 1

LD150

Level 10

100,035 points

Nov 30, 2025 3:15 PM in response to Dawid-O

If you only need a new battery, you should be able to use your current passcode to get in and do backups.

If the phone has other hardware failure, then your data is lost.

First try a forced restart https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/force-restart-iphone-iph8903c3ee6/ios

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Answer 2

Nov 30, 2025 3:37 PM in response to Dawid-O

Dawid-O wrote:

The device refuses to force restart or enter recovery mode. The only error it showed was for the battery, so I'm unsure as to whether there is any other issues. I do not want to replace the battery, just get the data off of the device, so is it possible for Apple to plug in a different battery, and download the data, for lower costs than fixing it?

Sorry, but that's not an option. There's no way to plug in a different battery. If you can't get the phone operational enough to backup your data, anything not synced with iCloud is lost. You should have addressed this some time ago, before you were so close to running out of storage.

In the scheme of life, losing data isn't fun, but it's survivable. Next time you buy a new iPhone make sure you buy one with more memory than you need and NEVER let the battery health go below 80%.

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Answer 3

Dawid-O Author

Level 1

13 points

Nov 30, 2025 3:20 PM in response to LD150

The device refuses to force restart or enter recovery mode. The only error it showed was for the battery, so I'm unsure as to whether there is any other issues. I do not want to replace the battery, just get the data off of the device, so is it possible for Apple to plug in a different battery, and download the data, for lower costs than fixing it?

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Answer 4

sberman

Level 10

272,292 points

Nov 30, 2025 3:22 PM in response to Dawid-O

For future reference:

Dawid-O wrote:

as I did not have backups due to low storage available on the device.

Backups must occur before catastrophes. After a catastrophe it’s too late.
Regarding “due to low storage on the device” - If ‘the device” means:
- This iPhone, then you should always have at least 6GB available.
- A computer, then the backup could be done to iCloud if there aren’t sufficient external disks available.

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Answer 5

Dawid-O Author

Level 1

13 points

Nov 30, 2025 3:42 PM in response to lobsterghost1

The battery health was above 80%, and I've always used optimised charging. I received the phone as a present, so didn't get to choose the specs, and yes, for future devices I know to look for more memory.

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Answer 6

Dawid-O Author

Level 1

13 points

Nov 30, 2025 3:29 PM in response to sberman

The phone had 64gb of storage, out of which around 2gb has been available recently. I understand that backups should be done, but there hasnt been enough space for one.

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