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

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

jjkboswell Author

Level 2

185 points

Nov 30, 2010 3:19 PM in response to jjkboswell

Thanks again to the guys who posted the restore details. I got around my problem by:
- backup
- take copy of backup (just in case!)
- restore (wipe iPhone)
- create new iPhone
- sync apps to iPhone
- open app and do in-app purchase that I needed
- restore (wipe iPhone again)
- restore from backup

Massive inconvenience to me as the owner, but a worthwhile tradeoff if a kid wanted to bypass parental controls on an iPhone.

Now to write all my pin codes down so I can't forget them (face palm)

Boz

Nov 30, 2010 5:10 PM in response to jjkboswell

There's an app for that. Actually, quite a few of them: 1password, splashid, ewallet, etc. Weel worth having; with any of these you only have to remember one password.

jjkboswell Author

Level 2

185 points

Dec 1, 2010 12:13 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Sorry, was being sarcastic.

That's right, I have all my pins in Keeper Mobile v4. However, this particular one I didn't seem to put in it, perhaps I reused one of my many other pins? But as I said, trying 1 pin combination every 60 minutes is a bit of a pain. I've taken security seriously, I just made one mistake to forget the least important pin I had, the parental conrol lock.

And the final insult to this Apple security system? When you restore from a backup, the main iPhone passcode is removed and the phone is unlocked, however the parental Restriction code is not removed.

Flawed.

Boz

Message was edited by: jjkboswell

Dec 1, 2010 12:26 AM in response to jjkboswell

jjkboswell wrote:
... I need an in-app purchase for CoPilot navigation app.

... clear the restrictions password? ...

Large apps, as navigation ones, can only be downloaded by local network or by iTunes sync.

If you lost the password and don't want lose everything on phone, I will suggest you to purchase the app by the store in iTunes, then sync it back to the iPhone.

jjkboswell Author

Level 2

185 points

Dec 1, 2010 12:45 AM in response to Andrea Rimicci

The CoPilot navigation app is very very big, and I downloaded it straight to my phone with a wifi connection, although you can do it the way you describe.

But the problem I had was I wanted an "in-app" purchase within CoPilot, which means the app does the purchase within the app. And with in-app purchases disabled within the parental Restrictions setting, unless I have the pass code I cannot do an in-app purchase.

But the process of restoring a new iPhone, doing the inapp purchase then restoring my backup works, albeit taking hours.

Boz

Dec 1, 2010 1:01 AM in response to jjkboswell

jjkboswell wrote:
..I wanted an "in-app" purchase...

My bad!
Try to guess your pass, hope you hadn't used real random numbers, but some pattern that has meaning to you and no one else.

Jul 20, 2011 12:08 PM in response to jjkboswell

Thank you!!! Finally!!

Same situation of icefall5.. the code I tried the first time was the right one!

And the phone gave it as wrong passcode.

I'm sure of it becouse I start writing the passcode I was trying (to not repeat the same code several times) and I went crazy... :-(

Anyway now everything is ok! Good!!

Aug 24, 2011 9:42 AM in response to jjkboswell

@ upload

I only get jargon in TextEdit. How do I get English.?

upload

Level 1

4 points

Aug 24, 2011 9:56 AM in response to Allebenfly

@ Marcin2011:

After opening the plist with textedit I see this:

'SBParentalControlsMCContentRestrictions_ DCFLastDirectoryNumber_ SBWiFiDontAskShownVSystem_ SBDeviceLockBlocked[lock-

Is there a hidden number somewhere? I don't see an app named property list editor? should it be in my computer?

Thanks in advance

I hope this is better?

Aug 30, 2011 6:45 AM in response to upload

You dont need an app named property list editor, since you obviously can read the file. I have the same message as you and for me the password was hidden way further down the text, actually in a longer code, T1234#@FA etc. My code was the four digit numbers hidden in the code, 1234 (not actuallt 1234 but anyway 😉). So search for four digits and good luck.

Thanks for the help of solving my problem.

upload

Level 1

4 points

Aug 30, 2011 6:49 AM in response to MrKillBill

Right! Got it! Thanks!

Sep 2, 2011 4:58 PM in response to MrKillBill

Do you know how to use the windows version by chance? I downloaded and installed the program (the trial version) but not sure what to look for beyond there. I can see plist files where the backup folder is, but can't find the parental ctrls etc....

Thanks.

krisvs

Level 1

0 points

Sep 28, 2011 6:00 PM in response to jjkboswell

I've downloaded the plist file and opened it both in notepad and a plist editor. No luck finding 4 digits anywhere in the file. I searched for each number individually (0,1,2, etc) just to make sure I wasn't seeing it - only found numbers in groups of 1 or 2 or many more than 4. It shows restrictions on, but neither my son nor I even remember setting up any passcode...and it's not in the file that everyone else is finding their numbers in. Any suggestions?

pskjr

Level 1

0 points

Oct 1, 2011 5:43 PM in response to jjkboswell

Thank you very much! Huge help.

Ran into trouble decoding, lots of 0,1,2,3..., but nothing looking like a 4-digit pw, so followed suggestion of downloading Text Wrangler. Done in under 1 min. Very able to read now.

Ironically, pw was 1234. Ugh.

Highly recommend over complete reboot and wiping.

Daughter very happy now.

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How to reset forgotten Restrictions password with iPhone restore?