How to reset forgotten Restrictions password with iPhone restore?

Ah - I thought that was one of the phone's settings. For me its checked and greyed out so I can't change it...

Thanks

BC

My guess is that you have an MS Exchange account on your phone, and your IT department installed a security profile with it that requires the phone and backup to be encrypted.

Try some work domain passwords; it may be the one that you were using when you first installed the Exchange email account.

Thanks. IT is never easy...

I am able to get to step 9 but this isn't there

<key>SBParentalControlsPIN</key>

<string>1234</string>

I am in no way tech savvy....so I honestly have no idea what that means. All I know is my restrictions passcode is still there and I have no idea what to do to get it off.....Do you have any ideas?

I have only ever done iCloud backups until today when I did it to iTunes. And the encryption was not checked when I did it.

I cannot tell you HOW MUCH I appreciate your effort and everyone else's here on getting this right. It was so simple compared to the old method with having to extract the entire backup and all that junk (not to mention the smack in the face that it didn't work anyway! 🙂 Props and kudos to everyone who helped! This is now in my Reading List for future reference.

Here's how I finally removed the preferences pass code on my iPhone 5 with iOS 6. Going into plist doesn't help any more. You can turn off enable restrictions but you can't see the pass code you forgot. It now says "BLOCKED".

You will need 2 phones having the same OS (I think). I used an old iPhone 4. A 3gs also worked but it didn't have enough memory to hold what was on the 5. I don't know if you can use 2 of the same model. probably yes. I also had to go into iTunes and unselect some stuff to sync so it would fit on the 4. That was easy to sync back on at the end.

Here's how I did it:

Backup the iPhone 5 with iTunes.

Backup an old iPhone 4 with iTunes (or any other phone having the same OS).

Restore the iPhone 4 to factory settings (may be unnecessary). It will have no pass codes.

Restore the iPhone 5 backup to the iPhone 4. The forgotten pass code will not come with it but everything else on your iPhone 5 will be there, including email, text messages, apps, folders, app data. No passcodes.

Backup the iPhone 4 with iTunes. This is the backup you will restore to the iPhone 5.

Reset the iPhone 5 to factory settings. To do this, press the top button together with the big front button until the phone turns off. When it turns off quickly let go of the buttons then hold the big button down while connecting it to the cable which connects to your computer. Have iTunes open. It will prompt you to restore to factory settings. The passcode will be gone.

Restore the backup from the last iPhone 4 backup. Your phone will be back to normal without the passcode!

If you had to unsync some stuff in iTunes, sync it back on.

Make a new backup so you have one with no pass codes.

Thank you so much for sharing and making the instructions easier to follow!

It worked perfectly. Peace of cake! 🙂

You rock, walldogkl!

Brilliant - thanks for these instructions!!

Even a complete novice like me managed to restore the forgotten pin and completely re-set my old phone ready to pass on.

🙂

Hi there!

I was following all your step by step instruction for how to reset it. I got all the way to 11a with no problem, but when I try to import the file back to iBackupBot a message pops up that says "can't import file to an encrypted back up" Any idea what I may be doing wrong? I have the iphone 5 and I just updated to iOS7.

Thanks for you help.

When you made the backup, you may have told it to encrypt the backup.

Notice that I did not use iBAckupBot. I did try it but it didn't work. Therefore I used the normal iTunes backup and restore found under the Summary tab in iTunes. If your data is still on the other phone, back it up again with iTunes. To use iTunes you have to start it, connect your phone to the computer with a cable, then select the iPhone button near the top right corner of the screen. Be sure not to check the encrypt button.

Wow! When all else failed...mercifully the initial digits were "31..." so not too much time lost!

How do you reset restricions password for ios7?

You remember it, or you restore the phone as New.

What are the steps?

1. Connect the phone to your computer with a USB cable. Use a port on the computer, not a hub.
2. Click on the name of the phone in iTunes.
3. Click the "Restore iPhone" button
4. When the restore finishes and you are given a choice to restore from backup or restore as New, choose Restore as New.

After restoring you can manually add back your apps and music. All other content will be lost, unless you synced your contacts, calendar, notes and photos with apps on your computer or with iCloud.