iPad Unavailable try Again in 3 Hours, How to Solve It

Never seen the message iPad Unavailable try again in 3 hours on your device before?

If you’re puzzled by the issue, our article should help you a lot to let you have a sudden realization of the issue. And then it’s up to you to choose any proper solutions for you.

Why your iPad says iPad Unavailable try again in 3 hours.

Because you’ve tried 8 failed passcode attempts on the iPad screen.

You can check the iPad waiting intervals rules set by Apple on iPadOS 16 or later.

From the list, you can see what comes after "iPad unavailable try again in 3 hours". It’s "iPad Unavailable try again in 8 hours" with another incorrect passcode entry.

The more failed passcode attempts, the longer you wait for another try.

4, 5, 6 failed passcode entries in a group, iPad unavailable try again in 1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes.

7, 8, 9 failed passcode entries in a group, iPad Unavailable, or Security lockout 1 hour, 3 hours, 8 hours.

10 failed passcode attempts, iPad Unavailable.

How to Resolve "iPad Unavailable try again in 3 hours" error.

Option 1. Erase iPad with the Erase iPhone button.

Check if there is the Erase iPad option appearing on your iPad security lockout screen. When you have the Erase iPad, you can erase it on the device by tapping it.

Tap Erase iPad.

It should show you the page titled Erase All Content & Settings. Tap Erase iPad on the page.

Enter your Apple ID passcode to start the erasing process.

If you’re confused about why there is no Erase iPad option on your device, you can find the answers here:

Option 2. Unlock iPad with SD iPhone Unlocker.

The iPhone Unlocker is our pick to Unlock the iPad locked for 3 hours. It’s capable of wiping the forgotten passcode by resetting the iPad. The iPhone Unlocker software can also unlock the screen time passcode and unlock the Apple ID on iPhone. Among the tested apps, SD iPhone Unlock performs great to unlock the disabled iPhone on iOS 16 or later.

Download and install the app on your computer.

Launch it. And Go to Wipe Passcode.

Turn off your iPhone.

Connect your iPad to your computer with the USB cable.

Click the Device connected but not recognized option to check the directions to put your iPad in recovery mode.

You can also follow the steps in our text tutorial to put the disabled iPad in recovery mode.

Confirm the iPad device information and click Start.

When your iPad enters the recovery mode successfully, the app algorithm should show the correct information and recommend you the firmware version. Hit Start. The download should begin. Wait patiently.

When the firmware download is complete, check your iPad status. If returns to the iPhone Unavailable try again in 3 hours screen, please enter it in recovery mode once more.

It doesn’t matter when your iPad exits recovery mode during the download. It won’t affect the download. You can take ease to let the download finish and later put it in recovery mode.

Unlock the iPad.

The screen notifies you that the action can erase your iPhone data. Enter 0000 and click Start.

The app will start to wipe your iPhone immediately. When the screen shows you Wiped passcode successfully, you can disconnect your iPad from your computer.

When your iPad opens with the Hello screen in multi-languages, set up your iPad. If you have any backups, you can restore the backups during the setup.

Wrap it Up.

iPad Unavailable try again in 3 hours, as well as Security lockout try again in 3 hours, hints that there are only 2 tries for you to enter the passcode on the device. One more wrong passcode entry, you should wait for an 8-hour timer.  When you reach the limit of 10 wrong tries, it should be locked permanently with no timer. If you forgot the passcode when iPad is locked for 3 hours, you’d better reset it to enable it again. Thus, you can enable your iPad as soon as possible. Find the most convenient method for you to unlock it.