Mobile Phone Data Recovery
No-power, liquid-damaged, physically damaged and board-fault iPhone and Android devices. We preserve the original board and explain the realistic recovery route.
Mobile Data Recovery Expertise
We assess no-power, liquid, physical and board faults on iPhone and Android devices, prioritising the safest path to the files
Water & Liquid Damage
Spills, submersion, or humidity damage. We clean and repair board components to restore power and data access.
Dead Phone Recovery
Phone won’t power on? We repair the motherboard first – often the fastest and safest path to your data when hardware prevents access.
Physical & Impact Damage
Dropped, crushed, or impact-damaged phones. We repair circuits, connectors, and board components to restore data access.
Chip-Off Recovery (Last Resort)
When all other methods fail and the board is beyond repair. Extremely complex on modern encrypted phones – CPU and storage must be transferred together. High cost, extended timeline, limited success rate.
How recovery starts
We examine the original device before recommending a route.
- Tell us what happenedDevice, symptoms, previous attempts and the files that matter.
- Hands-on diagnosis£39Normally 1–3 working days.
- Review the quoteWe explain the fault, recovery options, price and service level before you decide.
- Recovery and returnWe proceed only after approval and return the recovered data on an agreed destination drive.
If recovery is unsuccessful, there is no recovery fee – only the £39 diagnostic. Go ahead, and the £39 comes off the recovery price. Read the full service policy.
Common Phone Failure Scenarios
Four kinds of failure cover almost everything that reaches the bench. What separates them is how deep into the device the fault sits.
Each card shows which layer the fault sits in. The further right, the further a recovery goes beyond software.
Deleted or Inaccessible Data
Software-levelThe phone is fine. What you need is behind a reset, a deletion or a broken app.
Storage, phone still working
- Photos or messages deleted
- Reset without a backup
- App data no longer opening
- Files gone after a transfer
Software and Update Failure
Software-levelThe update stopped half way, and the phone has not come back since.
Operating system, data intact
- Stuck after a system update
- Frozen on the maker logo
- Boot loop
- Unresponsive interface
Dead Phone
Board-levelNo power at all. On a phone this is usually one failed component, not the whole board.
Power management
- Completely unresponsive
- No reaction to charging
- Died with no warning
- Warm to the touch but blank
Water or Impact Damage
Board-levelCorrosion or a fracture across the board, spreading for as long as it is left.
Logic board and frame
- Would not start after getting wet
- Corrosion on the board
- Bent frame with internal damage
- Crushed or run over
Phone Recovery Case Studies
Real cases from the bench, including the ones where not everything came back
iPhone 14 Pro Into a Hotel Pool
A photographer’s iPhone 14 Pro went into a hotel pool at a destination wedding. Two days of behind-the-scenes footage and the couple’s own pictures were on it, none of it backed up while abroad.
What we found
Water had got in around the charging port and corrosion had begun on the board. The phone would not charge and showed nothing at all.
What we did
We cleaned the board and replaced two corroded components, which was enough to get the phone to boot and unlock. The photographs were copied off immediately, because a second boot is never something to count on.
They said the aim was one working boot, not a working phone. That reframed the whole thing for me.
Galaxy S24 With Nothing on the Screen
A consultant’s Galaxy S24 went to a black screen and stopped responding to anything. Client notes, contacts and two years of messages were on it.
What we found
The phone was in fact running – it made a sound when we rang it. The display driver on the board had failed, so nothing was reaching the screen.
What we did
We repaired the driver circuit, which brought the display back. The customer unlocked the phone in front of us and everything was copied off before it went home.
It had been in a drawer for six weeks because I assumed a black screen meant a dead phone.
Pixel 8 Pro Stuck Restarting
A Pixel 8 Pro began restarting continuously after a system update and never reached the home screen again. Four years of family photographs were on it, with the automatic backup switched off to save data.
What we found
The update had left the system partition in a state the phone could not finish booting from. The user data partition underneath it was untouched.
What we did
We repaired the system side without reformatting anything. That is the part that matters here: the phone’s own recovery menu offers a reset that would have taken the photographs with it.
The phone kept offering to factory reset itself and I very nearly let it.
OnePlus 11 Crushed in a Car Accident
A researcher’s OnePlus 11 was crushed in a car accident. Interview recordings that could not be repeated were on it. The phone arrived in two pieces.
What we found
The board was cracked straight through, across tracks carrying the connection to the memory. There was no repairing that. The memory package itself looked intact.
What we did
With the owner’s written agreement we removed the memory package and read it directly. This is a last resort: it destroys the phone, it cannot be undone, and on some devices it returns nothing usable at all. Here it returned most of the recordings.
They were straight about the odds, and about the fact that saying yes was the end of the phone. I still said yes.
Phone the Owner Could Not Get Into
A sales executive came back from extended leave unable to get into his own Huawei P50 Pro. Business contacts and client correspondence were on it.
What we found
The phone was working perfectly. The obstacle was the account the phone was tied to, not the hardware, and getting around that is not something we do.
What we did
We asked for proof of purchase and photo identification before doing anything at all, then worked with the customer and the account provider to restore his access. Once he was signed in, the data was copied off in front of him.
I half expected them to just unlock it. They wanted the receipt first, which in hindsight is exactly what you would want them to do.
Data Recovery in Action
See our advanced recovery techniques and specialist equipment at work
Phone Recovery Questions
Answers specific to phones and tablets. Fees, timeframes and approval rules apply to every recovery and are set out in full in the service policy.
I deleted photos or messages by mistake – can you get them back?
Honestly, usually not. If the phone still works and you deleted the files yourself, modern iPhones and Android phones have almost certainly cleared them beyond reach. Phone recovery works on phones that have failed, not on files their owner removed. Check your cloud backup first – that is the realistic route.
Why can’t you just take the memory chip out?
Because on a modern phone the memory is useless on its own. The chip is tied cryptographically to the rest of the board, so lifting it off gives you encrypted noise. Recovery means bringing the board back to life far enough to read the storage in place – which is why it is board-level work.
What phones and tablets do you take?
iPhone and iPad, Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets, Google Pixel, OnePlus, Huawei, Xiaomi and most other Android handsets. Water damage, dead boards and phones that will not boot are the usual arrivals.
How long does it take once I approve the quote?
Standard recovery is 14–21 working days, Priority 5–14 and Emergency 1–4. Liquid-damaged boards need cleaning and stabilising before anything can be read, so those cases run longer than a phone that simply will not boot.
What decides the recovery price?
How much board work it takes to get the phone reading again. Reviving a power circuit and reviving a corroded board after a spill are different amounts of microsoldering, and the assessment establishes which one you have.
On stacked-board iPhones – the X, XS, 11 and everything from the 12 onwards, except the XR and SE – the two board layers usually have to be desoldered apart before the storage can be read, so be ready for a recovery budget from £500. If nothing can be recovered, you pay only the £39 diagnostic.
Do you do the work yourselves?
Yes. Board-level phone work and microsoldering are done at our Wimbledon workshop on our own bench. A specialist partner is used only where a case needs it, and only after you approve it in writing.
Fees, timeframes and approval rules in full: Data Recovery Service Policy. Anything not answered here – tell us what happened and we will come back with an initial estimate.
Request Your Mobile Phone Recovery Quote
Tell us what happened, which files matter and how urgently you need them.