Are you having a hard time updating your iPhone using iTunes? Most of the time, people will trigger iTunes error 40 when updating or restoring their iOS. Unfortunately, there’s little to no information when the error pops up. Not to worry! We know what you have to do to make it go away so you can restore or update your iPhone in a few minutes. Check the solution to iTunes error 40 below.
Why does iTunes error 40 happen?
People often see the iTunes error 40 pop up when they have hardware issues. It’s difficult to determine what’s going on with your computer or phone without a close inspection.
We’ll give you 9 different fixes for the iTunes error 40: Start at the beginning and work your way to the bottom; ideally, you’ll fix this error before reaching the end of the list!
This error is very annoying: it’ll crash or freeze your computer, make it difficult to use your mouse or keyboard, and your computer or phone will work slower than usual.
How to fix iTunes error 40
Clear your cache
The easiest way to fix the iTunes error 40 is to clear your iPhone’s cache, cookies, and history. Deleting all those things may be enough not to see that error anymore, and if you’re lucky enough, you’ll be a few clicks away from fixing this issue.
How can you clear your iPhone’s cache? It’s simple:
- Open the Settings menu.
- Look for the Safari browser.
- Choose the option to clear your website data.
That’s it!
Sometimes, that’ll be enough to deal with your issue. Nevertheless, you can be extra cautious and reset your network settings too.
Reset network settings
Resetting your network settings could be the way to fix the iTunes error 40 – but just to be sure, go the extra mile and clear your iPhone’s cache the way we have detailed above. Once you finish that part, reset your network settings.
If you don’t know how to do that, it’s easy: Open your Settings menu, click on General, and press the Reset Network Settings option.
Doing both things is enough to fix this problem for those lucky enough. If you still get the same error over and over again even after you follow these steps, read below to see what else you can do.
Unplug all cables
Sometimes, one too many things attached to your computer can make it malfunction. When hardware starts running on top of one another, it may be too much for one system to handle. Does that sound like what you’re doing? Unplug everything but your keyboard, mouse, and phone.
Most decide not to follow this step because it seems too good to be true: just unplug a few cables and sort the error that’s been bothering you for a while – but it works!
If you want to go the extra mile, unplug every cable, then plug your phone, mouse, and keyboard back.
Restart your iPhone
Something as simple as turning your phone off and back on could solve this problem. When you turn off your phone, you make it to close most apps and delete temporary files and folders. Sometimes, one of these three things may be causing issues and forcing the iTunes error 40 to pop up.
If your phone isn’t responding after the iTunes error 40 popped up, you’ll have to force restart it: for iPhone 6 and older, hold the side and home button until it reboots; for iPhone 7, hold the volume down and side button until it reboots; for iPhone 8 and newer models, press the volume up, release it, press volume down, release it, and hold the side button until it reboots.
See if your computer is the problem
There’s a lot of things you can do if your computer is the problem, such as:
- -Closing any apps or software you have running
- -Rebooting your computer
- -Unplugging everything but your iPhone
- -Updating your OS
- -Updating iTunes
- -Uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes
Check if you get this error using the same iPhone on a different computer.
Restore your iPhone
At this point, you’re running out of options. Check and double-check if your computer isn’t the problem before moving forward. Nevertheless, if you can’t make the iTunes error 40 go away, it’s time to restore your iPhone to factory settings. That’ll pretty much delete every piece of data but the essential stuff: when that happens, you’ll probably delete whatever is triggering this error too.
Unfortunately, that means losing your data. Before resetting your iPhone, back up important information and files – or you’ll lose them for good.
Change your iPhone’s battery
If you have reset your iPhone back to factory settings and still see the iTunes error 40 pop up, you’ve stumbled upon the most complicated way to solve this issue: you have to change the battery of your iPhone. Doing so on your own may void your warranty, so take it to an Apple store.
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At the same time, you can use StarzSoft Fixcon to do most things on this list: rebooting or restoring your phone is way easier when you use this software.
If you’ve already reset your iPhone back to factory settings but forgot to back up your data, you can use StarzSoft Fixcon to recover most of what you thought was lost.
Conclusion
Seeing the iTunes error 40 is not the end of the world – but it can take a while to fix. It often happens because of a hardware problem, and because of that, it’s better to start with the easiest solutions and work your way from there. You probably won’t have to restore your iPhone and lose your data to fix this error – but if you do, StarzSoft Fixcon can help with data recovery.
