Lost Password to iPhone Backup

Same problem here. Struggled through visits at Verizon and the Apple Store. At the store they searched my mac air for keychain access to try to find a password for iTunes but there was nothing there. When I went home, I check my iMac and there it was. It was a 4 number code not 0000 or 1234 that I likely used when I first got an iPhone. But the four numbers by themselves did not do it. I had to put lowercase "iphone" before the 4 numbers.

Then things were unlocked and could transfer.

Though the apps did not move.

And I am a bit concerned that the wifi is slower than the 4S.

And the audio quality of the 5 is not as good as the 4S.

Maybe I got a bad one.

But at least I got through the encryption issue.

Spotlight search Keychain Access on the original computer you used to back up your iPhone; search iPhone and you should be able to get the password.

Good luck.

ok, got to say this. Thanks FNannoyed, your password cracker sugesstion helped, i used ELCOMSOFT PHONE PASWORD BREAKER, just to get first 2 characters and i guessed the rest, it turned out to be my voicemail password, how in the heck it got there i have no clue, good luck all, hope u fix your problem!🙂

I'm having the same problem. I plugged my iPod touch in last night to sync new purchases made and my computer froze mid sync. I had to turn my computer off with my iPod still in because nothing would register. I had to restore my iPod when I turned fmy computer back on and logged in, when that finally happened it seemed like everything was working up until the summary page was replaced by a page saying " Welcome to your new iPod. Would you like to set up this iPod as a new one or restore to the old one?" I did NOT set up a password for my backup, I know this because I had just switched from backing up to cloud to backing up on my computer and I didn't check the box that mentioned encryption password. I have tried EVERYTHING mentioned that I have been able to. I don't forget passwords like this ever. I've checked all the places I write down special passwords, and I tried the three passwords I use for everything, I tried my apple password, the password I used to lock my iPod, my email account password, 1234, 0000, password, mybackup, backup, ipod, even my boyfriends name capitalized and lower case. This is not a case of I just forgot the password, I know I never set it up. If i unplug now its not going to do anything. If anyone has any other possible solution that has worked for them, please let me know. I'm a first year college student about to transfer from overseas to the US and I have important school information as well as photos that I was going to upload onto my computer of my neices for my parents...photos and videos no one else has so..it's important I get this backup unlocked. I still can't believe after reading 6 pages of this Apple still has not changed anything, they have had ultiple updates and they still haven't changed their backup system? Obviously there is a fluke there because its causing people who hadn't setup passwords to not be able to back up.

Is there any way to delete the existing backup and just create a new one? I don't need to use the backup that exists and want to create a backup I can use.

You can delete the backup in iTunes preferences, Devices tab. You may also need to delete the backup folder itself. See below for location. Finally, if your backup encryption was forced on you because you have a corporate Microsoft Exchange email account you will have to delete that account and the associated security profile in Settings.

iTunes places the backup files in the following places:

• Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
• Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
  Note: To quickly access the Application Data folder, click Start, and choose Run. Type %appdata% and click OK.
• Windows Vista and Windows 7: \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
  Note: To quickly access the AppData folder, click Start. In the search bar, type %appdata% and press the Return key.

I just found something on youtube for my iphone. I never set a password and nothing was working. I went onto youtube...and I re-entered my apple id will all lower cases. This worked for me...so give it a try.

Hey everyone, i just had the same problem as most of you in this thread. Tried to update my software to the new 6.1, but an error occured so i was left with a factry reset phone. It asked me for a password which i never put. i tried all the stuff that has been said to try on here but no luck. Then i unlocked my phone and went to the home page and then tried my known and alwasy used password and it worked. I think the phone has to be open and unlocked in order for it to work, or it was just luck for me.

After trying a third-party program, I found out that they updated the original/default passcode of 1234 to 12345. Scumbags.

Be careful what you call yourself. No matter what the password was, YOU created it. Whether you remember doing so or not. iTunes does not invent passwords. As you will see if you read the messages in the thread from people who solved the problem. Every one of them found it to be a different password, and all of them were passwords they recognized.

Hi everyone, I have just gone through this exact same issue with my iphone but managed to find an answer for me. The password to unlock and backup phone is indeed your apple id password although if it has capitals in it you do not use them and write your password in lowercase and this should work as it has just worked for me, hope this helps everyone out there 🙂

I'm glad you found your backup password, but, if you read the thread you will see that many people found theirs also, and each one was different. that's because each one entered a different password when prompted for it the first time their backup was encrypted. For some it was their Apple ID password, but for others it was their domain password, or "1234", or their computer login password, and many others.

just a quick question >> how do i unsubscribe from receiving emails every time a reply is posted in this thread?

i've tried going here but even after i've set no to all the preferences i still receive notifications on my email: https://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa/user-notification-preferences!input.jsp a

the only reason i posted here was hoping my solution will be helfull to somebody but this is like the fifth time i've tried to cancel the subscriptions and failed. after awhile it gets frustrating so i quit untill the next time i receive email notification and i go through the whole research procedure - unsuccessfully again.

i've eve tried to find email from apple support on this forum but that also takes me through a weird loop where i can't find an email address where i can ask my question or ask for help.

so asking for help from forum members is my last resort and i would really apreciate if someone tells me an email where i can as for unsubscription or if there's some trick for unsubscribing. i can't believe apple made it so ambiguous to unsubscribe from a thread.

thanks. mile

Go to the top of this page, look in the Actions box, and click "Stop email notifications".

thanks

Hi everyone ! I was looking for a solution and I just found it ! It worked for me, so I hope it will be usefull for you.
The "password" is the password you use to connect to your apple ID, but without caps.
But wait, the password you have to enter, is the one you used when you probably set the phone for the first time.
I had to remember what password I had one year ago to connect to my apple ID.

Hope it will help !
Sorry for my english, I decided to answer here because in the French community, I didn't find anything interesting.