Q: Lost Password to iPhone Backup

Muzznz wrote:

 

So I have just had this issue. I had to factory reset my wife's IPhone 5S to fix a problem.

 

I connected to ITunes on my PC, authorized her ITunes store, created a backup after ticking Encrypt and entering her CURRENT ITunes password (twice) then proceeded to factory reset then phone..

 

After the phone was reset I connected to ITunes to restore the phone, only to be told that the password (I had just set up 5 minutes ago) was wrong.???

 

24 hours of frustration, finding this post, trying all of the suggestions, finally remembering what the VERY FIRST ITUNES PASSWORD SHE HAD EVER USED WAS, and this allowed the restore.

 

Apple, how can this happen? (Yes I know Apple don't monitor this thread but I feel better having vented.)

 

This very nearly caused a divorce, given that of course my wife could no longer remember her Hotmail or Facebook passwords, and it was all my fault. :-)

Is this the first documented case of someone entering one password and find it had used another? I can't be bothered reading through 20 pages of replies to check. Could you please submit your report to https://www.apple.com/feedback/, if you haven't already?

Which version of iTunes did you use?

It was ITunes Version 12.

I went to the feedback site. Very difficult to find somewhere to post this. Ended up posting it as a support email, with a note.

Muzznz wrote:

 

So I have just had this issue. I had to factory reset my wife's IPhone 5S to fix a problem.

 

I connected to ITunes on my PC, authorized her ITunes store, created a backup after ticking Encrypt and entering her CURRENT ITunes password (twice) then proceeded to factory reset then phone..

 

After the phone was reset I connected to ITunes to restore the phone, only to be told that the password (I had just set up 5 minutes ago) was wrong.???

 

24 hours of frustration, finding this post, trying all of the suggestions, finally remembering what the VERY FIRST ITUNES PASSWORD SHE HAD EVER USED WAS, and this allowed the restore.

 

Apple, how can this happen? (Yes I know Apple don't monitor this thread but I feel better having vented.)

 

This very nearly caused a divorce, given that of course my wife could no longer remember her Hotmail or Facebook passwords, and it was all my fault. :-)

That's because the backup password has no connection with your Apple ID password unless you voluntarily chose to make them the same. The backup password is the encryption key for the backup. It will remain the same forever, unless you choose to change it by clicking the Change Password button. If you do you will be prompted for the old password and the new password, and a new backup with the new password will be created. The first time you check Encrypt Backup you are prompted to enter a backup password. You will then be asked to confirm it by entering it again. While many people choose their Apple ID password, this is not a requirement, and is not even a good idea.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

 

Muzznz wrote:

 

So I have just had this issue. I had to factory reset my wife's IPhone 5S to fix a problem.

 

I connected to ITunes on my PC, authorized her ITunes store, created a backup after ticking Encrypt and entering her CURRENT ITunes password (twice) then proceeded to factory reset then phone..

 

After the phone was reset I connected to ITunes to restore the phone, only to be told that the password (I had just set up 5 minutes ago) was wrong.???

 

24 hours of frustration, finding this post, trying all of the suggestions, finally remembering what the VERY FIRST ITUNES PASSWORD SHE HAD EVER USED WAS, and this allowed the restore.

 

Apple, how can this happen? (Yes I know Apple don't monitor this thread but I feel better having vented.)

 

This very nearly caused a divorce, given that of course my wife could no longer remember her Hotmail or Facebook passwords, and it was all my fault. :-)

That's because the backup password has no connection with your Apple ID password unless you voluntarily chose to make them the same. The backup password is the encryption key for the backup. It will remain the same forever, unless you choose to change it by clicking the Change Password button. If you do you will be prompted for the old password and the new password, and a new backup with the new password will be created. The first time you check Encrypt Backup you are prompted to enter a backup password. You will then be asked to confirm it by entering it again. While many people choose their Apple ID password, this is not a requirement, and is not even a good idea.

That makes sense, but why did it ask him to enter the new password twice after ticking the encryption box and before doing the backup?

pshute wrote:

 

Lawrence Finch wrote:

 

That's because the backup password has no connection with your Apple ID password unless you voluntarily chose to make them the same. The backup password is the encryption key for the backup. It will remain the same forever, unless you choose to change it by clicking the Change Password button. If you do you will be prompted for the old password and the new password, and a new backup with the new password will be created. The first time you check Encrypt Backup you are prompted to enter a backup password. You will then be asked to confirm it by entering it again. While many people choose their Apple ID password, this is not a requirement, and is not even a good idea.

That makes sense, but why did it ask him to enter the new password twice after ticking the encryption box and before doing the backup?

To make sure it was entered correctly. Most applications and web sites that let you set a password require that you enter it once, then enter it again to verify that it was entered correctly. This is especially important with passwords, because they are not displayed as you type; all you see are asterisks.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

 

pshute wrote:

 

That makes sense, but why did it ask him to enter the new password twice after ticking the encryption box and before doing the backup?

To make sure it was entered correctly. Most applications and web sites that let you set a password require that you enter it once, then enter it again to verify that it was entered correctly. This is especially important with passwords, because they are not displayed as you type; all you see are asterisks.

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, I think you should read his message again. He ticked the box, entered a password twice, did the backup, then found that the password to use the backup was not what he'd entered a few minutes before. Instead it was an old passcode.

Unless there's a bug in iTunes that can use an old password when you've just entered a new one, or this user entered that old passcode without thinking, I can't explain what happened.

Entering an old passcode is possible, and only Muzznz would know how likely that would be, but given the difficulty he says he had in recalling it, it sounds unlikely. Especially as it was someone else's passcode, not his own.

This IPhone had NEVER been backed up on this PC previously. There is a possibility that a backup from an old IPhone 4 for this Apple ID may have used the old password that eventually worked, but if so it was years ago and on a PC that no longer exists in this house.

I had created a new backup on this PC for this phone, purposely selected encrypt, and entered the CURRENT ITunes password as the backup password.

It was only 5 to 10 minutes later, after factory resetting the phone, that I tried to restore the backup just made, and got told I had the wrong password.

Twilight Zone music fades out. .......

Im so annoyed with Apple and how your left to dry if you forget your backup password that im about to lose it.

I bought a iPhone 6 and now trying to restore my backup to it but of course its asking for a password that I don't even think I setup. I've tried everything from apple id password, defaults, local aadmins everything.

I understand ITunes has encrypted it but they can write something in ITunes to provide a hint or security questions for customers because this is so stupid and my upgrade process from a IPhone 4S to 6 has been a distaster so far.

Im now trying a brute force password cracker and if this doesn't work im over Apple because of this as ive read customer feedback in the forums and they still have not addressed this.

Resolved

Tried everything for a day and no passwords worked so I backed up to the ICloud (5 hours) then restored form it and its restored all my mail, calender, contacts & sms's which is what I needed most. Apps and music im getting manually now.

At the same time I downloaded and ran Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker which cracked the password and it was a 4 digit number which has no relevance to me so not sure if ITunes created it or someone else.

Anyway hope this helps someone else and I strongly think Apple should provide a hint in ITunes to help customers.

Like everyone on this thread, tried the various solutions offered up, the one that worked for me was the LOWERCASE version of the Apple ID password, which doesn't make any sense. Give it a shot, it might work for you.

I used my lock screen passcode and this worked for me too!!

Hi

I read on a post in another forum about calming down, turning it off, walking away and coming back later with a fresh head.  Like you, I have been furious with Apple for causing this situation with a poor IOS update that is causing older models to crash and run at a snails pace.  Whilst I haven't yet fixed this problem, I do seem to have overcome the password.

I thought about how old my account was with I Tunes and back then I was not sophisticated with any of my passwords.  I tried the first one that I set everything up to in those days and it was very simple and low and behold it worked!

I don't recall ever setting one up, like alot of people, however it is a bit too coincidental that a known password for me, albeit as ancient as my account, has now worked!

I also wonder whether the system gets stuck in a "computer says no" loop and when turned of and re-started it clears itself somehow??  Who knows, I'm not a geek, but I am a little happier now that my I-pad has 'restore in progress' written on the screen!

Good Luck and if Apple are reading this, please, please, please, fix the issue which is causing so much heartache to users of IOS8 on older models.  This sort of catastrophic "upgrade" can be a real deal breaker for new purchases.

Cheers

Hutch

Hi,

I looked at lot of comments and finally after inserting 50 odd passwords durig 2 days I got to crack it.

The Passcode which I used for FIRST time worked fine. Its some times difficult to remember. people using 1234, 0000 or any other should unconciously have entered this passcode as you login into the Iphone for the first time, and hence i worked for them.

This is what I can observe out of successful back up. Passwords are meant for our safety, it just there are too many to remeber these days.... downside of Technology......

mellzsa wrote:

 

Hi,

 

I looked at lot of comments and finally after inserting 50 odd passwords durig 2 days I got to crack it.

 

The Passcode which I used for FIRST time worked fine. Its some times difficult to remember. people using 1234, 0000 or any other should unconciously have entered this passcode as you login into the Iphone for the first time, and hence i worked for them.

 

This is what I can observe out of successful back up. Passwords are meant for our safety, it just there are too many to remeber these days.... downside of Technology......

Melizsa, was this an old backup you where restoring? I have no objection to an old backup having an old password, but some of us have found that new backups made with new passwords still have an old password on them, and things like that.

Just to say thanks for the many suggestions in this thread.

After several hours of deep frustration, what worked for me was the administrator password on my Macbook.  I don't remember setting up a restore password at all, and am pretty sure I didn't, I don't tend to put passwords on things that I don't absolutely have to.

Relieved.