How Much Does Phone Data Recovery Cost?

If your phone stopped turning on, took a swim, or was crushed with photos and messages that never made it to the cloud, the first thing most people want to know is what getting them back will cost. The honest answer depends on the phone and on what happened to it. The easiest way to find out is a short, friendly call with one of our recovery advisors. Many phone recovery cases are financially risk free. The best way to estimate recovery costs and if there’s any potential parts fees is to speak with a recovery advisor and have your model phone and symptoms handy.

This page explains what goes into recovering data from a damaged phone, what you can do right now to protect your photos and messages, and how to get a firm number. For how pricing works across every kind of device, see our overview: how much does data recovery cost?

Why Phone Recovery Is Specialist Work

A modern phone does not have a removable drive you can plug into another computer. Its storage is a chip soldered to the logic board, and on iPhones and most Android phones everything stored on that chip is encrypted with keys that are tied to that one board. That means a phone recovery is not about pulling a drive out. It is about getting the phone’s own board working well enough to unlock and read its data.

That is the work our phone engineers specialize in: chip-level microsoldering and board-level work under the microscope. Depending on the phone, that can mean finding and working around a shorted component on a board that will not power on, cleaning corrosion from a water-damaged board, rebuilding the circuits around a cracked or bent board, or moving the memory chip and its companion components onto a matching logic board so the phone can start and decrypt its own data. Once the phone powers up and accepts your passcode, we extract your photos, videos, messages and files and check them before they come back to you.

It is skilled, careful work by a small group of specialists, backed by a lab, microscopes and specialized equipment. That expertise is what you are paying for, and it is why a recovery advisor will want to hear about your phone before giving you an idea of what is involved.

What Shapes the Cost of a Phone Recovery

Each case covers a small share of what it takes to run the lab: the equipment and the experienced engineers and staff behind every phone. Beyond that, a quote comes down to the time, materials and feasibility of your particular recovery, which depend on a few things a recovery advisor will ask you about:

• Your phone model. Different phones store and protect data in different ways, and some models need more board-level work than others.
• What happened. A phone that will not power on, a phone that was in water, a phone with a crushed or bent board and a phone that is stuck in a boot loop each call for different work.
• What has been tried already. Repeated charging attempts, a shop repair or a board swap can change what the lab has to work with.
• Your passcode. Recovery from a modern phone needs the phone’s own passcode, because the data is encrypted. Have it ready.

What to Do Right Now

A few simple steps keep a straightforward case straightforward:

• If the phone got wet, do not charge it or try to turn it on. Power and moisture together are what turn a wet phone into a corroded board. Do not put it in rice or use a hair dryer. Get it to the lab as soon as you can.
• If it will not turn on, stop plugging it in. Repeated charging attempts on a board with a short can damage more components.
• Do not let a repair shop replace the logic board if you want the data. The data is tied to the original board, and a new board starts empty.
• Do not reset or erase the phone, even if it offers to. On an encrypted phone, a reset makes the old data permanently unreadable.
• Write down your passcode and any details you remember: when it stopped working, what happened, and what has been tried.

If your phone works and you are trying to get back photos or messages that were deleted, that is a different situation. Our page on deleted text messages and contacts explains honestly what is and is not possible on a modern encrypted phone.

How to Get Your Number

1. Talk to a recovery advisor. Call 877-624-7206 or start a case online. Have your phone model and what happened handy, and the advisor will give you a realistic idea of what your recovery is likely to involve.
2. Send the phone for a free evaluation. One of our phone engineers examines the board under the microscope, finds what failed, and works out what it will take to read your data.
3. Approve a firm quote, or don’t. Every case is quoted after a free evaluation, so you know the cost before any recovery work begins. You decide, and you only pay if we meet your recovery goals.

We quote each case on its own merits, based on what we find in the lab and the thousands of similar cases we have seen with the same phones and symptoms. For model-specific details, see our iPhone data recovery and Samsung data recovery pages, or start at our phone data recovery overview.

Why Gillware

Gillware has been recovering data for more than two decades, from our lab in Madison, Wisconsin, and more than 1,500 IT professionals nationwide refer their clients to us. Our highly experienced engineers strive for the highest success rates in the industry, and we will always be straight with you about what your phone needs and whether your data can be recovered.

Phone Recovery Cost FAQ

Can you tell me the cost over the phone?

A recovery advisor can give you a realistic idea once they know your phone model and what happened. The firm quote comes after the free evaluation, because that is when our engineers know exactly what failed.

Is the evaluation really free?

Yes. There is no charge to evaluate your phone, and you are under no obligation to go ahead.

What if my phone’s data can’t be recovered?

We tell you plainly after the evaluation. You only pay if we meet your recovery goals.

Do I need my passcode?

Yes. Modern iPhones and Android phones encrypt their data, and the phone’s own passcode is what unlocks it. We recover your data through your phone, with your passcode. We do not bypass a phone’s security.

My phone was in water. Is it too late?

Often not. The sooner a wet phone reaches the lab, and the fewer times anyone has tried to power it on, the better. Corrosion keeps working after the phone dries, so do not wait to see whether it comes back on by itself.