Q: Lost Password to iPhone Backup

Just thought of sharing - this is what I found on apple support page on this topic:  iOS: Troubleshooting encrypted backups - Apple Support

I think you've hit the nail on the head! After hours of trying my usual passwords, and going through all the suggestions in this thread, i come across your post and try my facebook password (which incidently, i don't use for anything else).... Voila! You are a genius!

And for all you guys busting a gut to defend Apple's reputation... This is DEFINITELY an Apple software problem! I'll never buy another Apple product, which is a shame as i was leaning towards an imac...

I had the same the problem, i backed up my iPhone 4s on my PC with iTunes and it never asked for a password, after the backup was completed i reset and delete my iPhone to factory out of box state. so like everyone else here i attempted to restore the backup and it ask for a password that i didn't know, after hours of wrong passwords i tried something completely different and to my luck it worked! i got my phones backup restored without it asking for the **** password!!!! Heres what i did, i noticed my phone wouldn't lockup with my pass-code, so i enabled 'pass code lock' with my original password i had before i reset my phone, and when i connected with my PC iTunes automatically restred my backup to my phone!?! bad software apple fix this please!!!!!!!!!

Apple does not monitor these discussions ( unfortunately!)

Please if you want to do something about this issue file a bug ( if you are registered as developer) or give feedback on apple's product page for iphone.

It certainly helps a lot of people posting suggestions here but in order to get Apple's attention you have to use their official product channels to report issues.

Yes very true! I think the master unlock code IS 1234. Just used it to unlock a passcode I never set.

Thanks guys!

pramilaprao wrote:

 

Yes very true! I think the master unlock code IS 1234. Just used it to unlock a passcode I never set.

Thanks guys!

There is no 'master unlock code', and even if there was, 1234 would be a ridiculous code.

If that code worked, then that's what you set it to be at some point in the past and simply forgot it.

TJBUSMC1973 wrote:

 

pramilaprao wrote:

 

Yes very true! I think the master unlock code IS 1234. Just used it to unlock a passcode I never set.

Thanks guys!

There is no 'master unlock code', and even if there was, 1234 would be a ridiculous code.

If that code worked, then that's what you set it to be at some point in the past and simply forgot it.

I agree, but it might be possible that an MDM administrator has set this particular code for this user's entire organisation.

Two days later, after stoping for a moment to think straight, I remembered one last possible password and it worked.

Man, I had all my notes and music recordings and contacs, omg... almost threw the #!@&*% phone at the wall.
Sent feedback to Apple about this. I swore to never again buy an iPhone.

I had this same problem today when I tried to back my iPhone up to sync it to a new phone.  I really believe the encryption box was marked by accident or it was an apple issue.  I finally was able to back up to an older save.  Now they all say encrypted files on them.  Glad I finally was able to fix it.  I was on the phone with a technician from Apple for over 2 hours.  Bummer!!!!!

this solution worked for me

I bought a new phone and wanted to restore the backup, it asked me for a password...and like many others on this thread, I don't remember setting one and I've only had the old phone for a year.

The password that worked for me was the password from my laptop....from a year ago when I first got my laptop.  What's odd, is that I just now had itunes on this laptop about a week ago.  I wasn't backing up my files through itunes a year ago, yet it was expecting a password that I haven't had in quite some time since my company forces you to change your login password every few months.

old password from some random time seems to do the trick.  I don't care what others are saying..but this seems to be a serious flaw in Apples design.

jacinta0720 wrote:

 

this solution worked for me

I bought a new phone and wanted to restore the backup, it asked me for a password...and like many others on this thread, I don't remember setting one and I've only had the old phone for a year.

The password that worked for me was the password from my laptop....from a year ago when I first got my laptop.  What's odd, is that I just now had itunes on this laptop about a week ago.  I wasn't backing up my files through itunes a year ago, yet it was expecting a password that I haven't had in quite some time since my company forces you to change your login password every few months.

old password from some random time seems to do the trick.  I don't care what others are saying..but this seems to be a serious flaw in Apples design.

Can you please confirm that you have never backed up your phone on this laptop until recently, and that you never even had iTunes installed in order to do it? If that's the situation, then this is an interesting case. It sounds like your company has some kind of password policy in place, and that the password required might be the one that was current when you first got that laptop, or perhaps when they first set the policy.

That's madness - partially on the part of the program that created the policy, but also on Apple's part. I think if iTunes is going to force a password on a backup, no matter where it came from, it should first force you to confirm that you know what that password is.

The serious flaw in your argument is that Apple and iTunes has no way of knowing what your Windows password from your laptop was. Windows does not store passwords in cleartext. When you enter it Windows enciphers the entered password immediately, then compares the enciphered password that you entered with the enciphered password stored on your computer. Windows uses a strong one-way cipher, meaning there is no way to determine the original password from the enciphered version. There is no place on your computer that Apple could have found that password.

jacinta0720 wrote:

 

this solution worked for me

I bought a new phone and wanted to restore the backup, it asked me for a password...and like many others on this thread, I don't remember setting one and I've only had the old phone for a year.

The password that worked for me was the password from my laptop....from a year ago when I first got my laptop.  What's odd, is that I just now had itunes on this laptop about a week ago.  I wasn't backing up my files through itunes a year ago, yet it was expecting a password that I haven't had in quite some time since my company forces you to change your login password every few months.

old password from some random time seems to do the trick.  I don't care what others are saying..but this seems to be a serious flaw in Apples design.

No, there's a serious flaw in your recollection of the events.  iTunes does not encrypt your backups unless you ask it to do so.  And when you ask it to do so, it prompts you to create a password.  That's it.  There's no magic involved.  The only other possibility is that you had something on your computer that is incorrectly autofilling passwords and you aren't checking those passwords when you're creating them.  But even that's a longshot.

I wouldn't use a password from a year ago for a backup that I just accomplished last week.  And any auto-fill password app or whatever would have used the CURRENT password that I use to log into my computer.  The password that the backup accepted was 6 passwords ago.

Also, iTunes has only been on this laptop for a week.  I havent backed up this phone all year...never had a reason to.

I just put iTunes on this laptop last week. 

If it had asked me to confirm a password I wouldn't have used a password from a year ago.  I would have used a current password that I remember.  The only reason I came across the password that worked is because I kept reading about "original" passwords.

Like I said, I haven't used that password in months since I'm required to change my password every 2 months.