

You must restore this iPad before it can be used with iTunes”. Once you launch iTunes (or Finder on Mac) on your computer, you’ll get a pop-up with a message stating “iTunes has detected an iPad in recovery mode. Now, take your finger off the side button and keep holding the Volume Down button for another 10 seconds.

Next, you’ll need to connect your iPad Air to a computer with the latest version of iTunes using the USB-C cable that came in the box. This is to make sure you don’t permanently lose any data in the process. How to Enter DFU Mode on iPad Air (2020 Model)īefore you get started, back up your data to either iCloud, Finder, or iTunes on the computer.

In this article, we’ll be helping you to enter DFU mode on your new iPad Air (2020 and newer) model. Unlike the traditional recovery mode, you can choose the iPadOS firmware you want to install on your iPad with DFU mode. DFU is primarily used by advanced users to get the device to communicate with Finder or iTunes without the software automatically loading the latest version of software on to the device. DFU stands for Device Firmware Update which is a lower level restore capability than Recovery mode. However, if the problem persists after using Recovery Mode, or the device is still unresponsive, you can take a more advanced route with DFU mode. In most cases, putting iPad Air into recovery mode and restoring or updating it using Finder or iTunes should resolve most issues a user faces, whether it’s something like being stuck on the Apple logo at boot or a failed software update.
