Q: Lost Password to iPhone Backup

Bloody **** I tried for hours and there seems to be no logic, I also do not remember ever setting a backup password and after trying almost every PW related to itunes and phones etc. Then I found a post where someone said if using a windows computer use your comp start up login PW, and low and behold it worked it seems that different PW's seem to work for diff comps and diff iphones !!!!! All I can say is keep trying.

THANK YOU SO MUCH this actually worked for me, to anyone else having this problem where they don't know/cant remember their Backup password, try the password you use to unlock your laptop for some reason it works? It may not work on all laptops but it works on my lenevo tablet perfectly

little different for me some combination of the above just CLEARED the checkbox. i did not put in any passcode. it kept propmting then, i went back to the devices list. and click it again. this time the iphone showed with NO CHECKBOX.

THANKS A BILLION. as this iphone was dying and i needed to get a backup before i take it in for a service trade in.

I have tried a lot of suggested solutions:

-1234

-0000,

-passcode i used before for unlocing the phone

-simlock code

-the above with 'iphone' before it

-current icloud password

-icloud name

-appleid (which I use for itunes)

-administrator password (I used an iMac)

In the end I solved it by typing an old  icloud password (actually from the person using the phone before me), not even the current icloud password.

I could have never set this password, because it was not my icloud account, I didn't know that password

Bizarre

msireneb wrote:

 

 

In the end I solved it by typing an old  icloud password (actually from the person using the phone before me), not even the current icloud password.

I could have never set this password, because it was not my icloud account, I didn't know that password

 

Bizarre

No, expected. All it means is that the person who used the phone before you had enabled encrypted backup before you got the phone.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

 

msireneb wrote:

 

 

In the end I solved it by typing an old  icloud password (actually from the person using the phone before me), not even the current icloud password.

I could have never set this password, because it was not my icloud account, I didn't know that password

 

Bizarre

No, expected. All it means is that the person who used the phone before you had enabled encrypted backup before you got the phone.

Are you saying that the password used for future backups is saved on the phone itself?

I'm a system admin for hundreds of phones. I regularly have to backup other people's faulty phones before they get replaced. If what you say is true then I can't do this if they've ever backed up their phone elsewhere and set a password.

I'm in the position where I have done this before, but no longer can, even for people who say they've never backed up their phone. I have no recollection of setting a password. I accept that I might have, and have forgotten, but I'm pretty careful about recording that sort of thing.

My theory is that people get the password prompt when they're creating their first backup in order to transfer contents to a new phone, and either try to remember it till it's all done a few minutes later, or just record it temporarily on a scrap of paper, ASSUMING THEY'LL NEVER NEED IT AGAIN BECAUSE THEY'LL CREATE A NEW PASSWORD NEXT TIME.

I'm not convinced the password for future backups is saved on the phone.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

 

i've just had 2nd thoughts. I've never used the Encrypt Backup feature, so I thought I would try it. As soon as I checked the "Encrypt Backup" box the following dialog appeared:

 

 

That's pretty explicit. Short of an arm reaching out from the screen with a clue bat what else could be done to get the user's attention? You must enter the password twice, and click a button.

Thanks for posting that. At least we know what the prompt looks like now.

I agree it's obvious that the user should realise they're entering a password. However, it's not obvious that this is also setting the default password for all future backups. Many users will be creating their first backup for the express purpose of restoring it to a new phone the same day, and will not realise that they need to record the password in order to be able to make use of backups they create in the future.

I've now tried making a backup of an iPhone that's been sitting here unused for several months. The "Encrypt iPhone backup" box is unticked. This is how I remember it from previous backups I've done of other phones.

I suspect the reason I'm seeing the box ticked (and greyed out so I can't untick it) for other phones I've recently tried to backup is because all other phones here now have MobileIron MDM profiles installed on them. I suspect that there's some password set in MobileIron that could be used to restore recent backups. I don't yet have access to MobileIron's console to check this.

It might also be that MobileIron only forces users to enter a password, and that this is now stored on each phone, but I doubt it. My users aren't that diligent.

I'm not offering this as a universal reason for other people's woes. I'm offering it as a alternative to "You set a password and you forgot it".

I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences with MDMs and backup passwords.

I spoke to a senior tech support person at Apple regarding the issue of "encrypt iPhone backup password". I am as sure as I can be that I never set up a password but I was being asked for one anyway. After trying a number of things, including what tech support suggested, I found something that worked. I restored the iPhone as a new device. I then connected my phone to my MacBook and did a synchronization. The box for encrypt iPhone backup password was finally unchecked. I set up a password and then unchecked the box.  In order to restore my phone back to it's "original state" I did another restore iPhone.  Low and behold the box was checked again but this time it took the new password. After doing another synchronization mysteriously the box was unchecked and then I was able to set up a new password again. I know this sounds like a lot of steps but it didn't take that much time and it fixed the problem. I hope this is helpful.

I just had a problem figuring out what my backup password was. I tried countless passwords including my apple id password with the first letter capitalized as if I was entering it into my phone. None worked. I then looked up "how to figure out your iPhone backup password" on YouTube and I watched a video there the girl said to use your apple id password but DO NOT capitalize any letters. It worked for me and I hope this information will help anyone else with the same problem.

Thank you hpburns!! Using this method I was finally able to turn off the encrypted backup setting without a password, and also uncheck the encrypted backup setting for future syncing and backups. Cheers!

I've tried a lot of things suggested here but what worked for me was using original pascode that was used first time when the phone was set up. It took a while to get it since this is forth iPhone 4 I am going through but it worked. Thank you all for help and doing the job Apple should be doing.

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS UNLOCK YOUR IPHONE. TURN OF THE SETTING THAT REQUIRES YOUR IPHONE TO HAVE A PASSCODE. THEN PROCESS TO RESTORING YOUR PHONE.

Wskelsey wrote:

 

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS UNLOCK YOUR IPHONE. TURN OF THE SETTING THAT REQUIRES YOUR IPHONE TO HAVE A PASSCODE. THEN PROCESS TO RESTORING YOUR PHONE.

Can anyone else confirm this? I'd be really annoyed if I had deliberately set a password on a backup, and it was possible to get the system to bypass it like that.

One issue I have noticed with all these postings is that if a fix works for one person they assume that same fix will work for everyone else. I tried all of the recommended fixes before I came up with the solution that worked for me (see previous post). I think that what worked for me will work for other people when all else has failed. But I could be wrong.