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Level 2

185 points

How to reset forgotten Restrictions password with iPhone restore?

Hi,

I set restrictions on my iphone to disable in-app purchases so that my children don't rack up a bill on my account. Unfortunately I've forgotten the password and now I need an in-app purchase for CoPilot navigation app.

Can I reset my iPhone and then restore from a backup to clear the restrictions password? If so, is there a step by step guide to do this? Much appreciate any help.

Boz

iPhone 3GS, iOS 4, Windows 7 (rocks)

Posted on Nov 30, 2010 9:49 AM

316 replies

roaminggnome

Level 10

106,365 points

Nov 30, 2010 9:58 AM in response to jjkboswell

http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/iPhone_iOS4_UserGuide.pdf

Ingo2711

Level 9

70,305 points

Nov 30, 2010 10:04 AM in response to jjkboswell

Restrictions
...
If you forget your passcode, you must restore the iPhone software from iTunes. See “Updating and Restoring iPhone Software” on page 252.

copied from http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/iPhone_iOS4_UserGuide.pdf , page 200

Restoring: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1414

Message was edited by: Ingo2711

jjkboswell Author

Level 2

185 points

Nov 30, 2010 12:05 PM in response to Ingo2711

Thanks for the restore docs reference. I just complete a full restore and chose a backup to restore as per the instructions, and my iPhone still has the Restrictions locked.

Please, how do you remove the restrictions without losing all data forever? There must be a way to reset the iPhone but still restore my apps and their data.

Thanks

Boz

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Nov 30, 2010 12:10 PM in response to jjkboswell

The restrictions passcode is stored with the iPhone backup, the only way to get rid of it, if you can't remember it, is to restore as a new phone and not from your iPhone backup. You will lose ALL data on your phone.

Nov 30, 2010 12:12 PM in response to jjkboswell

Ask your kids - they will have hacked their way around it already 😀

jjkboswell Author

Level 2

185 points

Nov 30, 2010 12:13 PM in response to wjosten

What?! Surely, there's a way round this? So I never do an in-app purchase again, or I lost all my iPhone data forever?!

That's ridiculous.

DaVBMan

Level 6

9,280 points

Nov 30, 2010 12:15 PM in response to jjkboswell

jjkboswell wrote:
What?! Surely, there's a way round this? So I never do an in-app purchase again, or I lost all my iPhone data forever?!

That's ridiculous.

More ridiculous if they provided a way to circumvent a security setting. What would be the point of it then.

wjosten

Level 10

95,321 points

Nov 30, 2010 12:17 PM in response to jjkboswell

That's ridiculous.

Not much point in having a restrictions passcode if it could easily be defeated.

jjkboswell Author

Level 2

185 points

Nov 30, 2010 12:40 PM in response to wjosten

But, it can be easily defeated! Just restore the iPhone and don't restore from a backup. Then sync apps, music and photos and you're away again, minus settings (and possibly other stuff, but I've yet to find out what).

Let's be realistic here, the restrictions are to prevent kids downloading unsavouries or racking up in-app purchases. My kids could do that by following the handy guide in the link above.

For me, the inconvenience of losing iPhone settings is significant, but for the kids wanting to bypass pesky parental controls and download skin pics, what do they care if the settings go?

Flawed.

Nov 30, 2010 12:48 PM in response to jjkboswell

Not trying to sound snarky here. It's a four digit code. I'm guessing you would have picked a combination of numbers that had some meaning. You need to just try every combination you think you might have used.

jjkboswell Author

Level 2

185 points

Nov 30, 2010 1:50 PM in response to Grant Greene

You're right, there's 4 digit codes for many things in life, the iPhone passcode, restrictions passcode, my credit card pin, my access codes for work, ebay pin, paypal pin etc.

I'm not stupid enough to use a single 4 digit passcode for everything and so I did the correct thing and I have different codes. This particular one I didn't have recorded anywhere it seems. So I could try all my codes, but Apple decided that I must wait 1, 5, 15 and then 60 minutes between each attempt. Thanks Apple. So I could go through the rest of my codes, one every hour, or I could try and work out how to restore my phone.

I know, I'll use 1 code for all, and write it down somewhere safe, like on my iPhone case.

Boz

Nov 30, 2010 1:46 PM in response to jjkboswell

jjkboswell wrote:
But, it can be easily defeated! Just restore the iPhone and don't restore from a backup. Then sync apps, music and photos and you're away again, minus settings (and possibly other stuff, but I've yet to find out what).

Not so easily defeated - now the person needs the phone and the original laptop (which will probably be password protected) so its not an issue when most losses occur just by people losing a phone.

jjkboswell Author

Level 2

185 points

Nov 30, 2010 1:53 PM in response to Graham Outterside

This is not a loss issue, the iPhone passcode is for protecting against loss and theft. This is the Restrictions passcode, which like I said is a parental control to stop kids or other users of the phone access skin pics and in-app purchases. Therefore the people who might want to bypass the Restriction are the people who live with the person who owns the iPhone, and hence is likely to have access to the same computer.

Like I said, be realistic, this is a parental control only, not fort knox.

Nov 30, 2010 1:56 PM in response to jjkboswell

jjkboswell wrote:
Therefore the people who might want to bypass the Restriction are the people who live with the person who owns the iPhone, and hence is likely to have access to the same computer......

Like I said, be realistic, .......

If thats what you think you are protecting against, you should have the computer passcode protected to prevent inappropriate surfing in which case the iTunes account for the iPhone should be locked out.

So if true you would have much bigger problems than a passcode on a phone.

jjkboswell Author

Level 2

185 points

Nov 30, 2010 2:25 PM in response to Graham Outterside

Um, I think you've gone slightly off track here. My PC's parental controls for internet access (the rather excellent BlueCoat K9) are nothing to do with accessing iTunes. And as far as I'm aware, there isn't a straight forward way to limit access to iTunes so that my family can play music, watch podcasts browse the store and prevent access to iPhone backups.

And the whole point of this is, I just turned off the in-app purchases! I don't need to convince my children not to reset my iPhone, they wouldn't do that and besides it takes too **** long! (nearly done now)

So I appreciate what you're saying about security, but this is just parental control on the iPhone we're talking about, nothing else. And hence a simple "enter your iTunes password here to recover your Restrictions passcode" would be entirely sufficient.

Boz

How to reset forgotten Restrictions password with iPhone restore?