itunes is asking for password to restore new iphone from backup. I didn't set a password when I backed up the phone. How can I restore the new phone from the backup I made just before giving my old phone to Apple?

This is a pile of crap, Apple!

My wife backed up her 4s. Went to the store. Came back with a shiny new 6. And somehow there's a password on her recovery file?!?! She did not set a password!!!!!

How to unlock!? all her contacts are gone. all her pictures are gone. icloud had her apps, so thankfully she doesn't have to restore those one by one. But still! W T F?!?! SHE DIDN'T SET A PASSWORD! HOW TO UNLOCK and RESTORE?!?!?!

Same problem as above...cannot replace data from the backup because it asks for password when NONE WAS SET!

This is a huge bug! Above, a guy found he could use his old very first password BUT I DON'T KEEP RECORDS OF OLD PASSWORDS!!! AND REALLY WHO DOES???

APPLE!!! ARE YOU LISTENING? Please find a fix and fast, since you have made my iphone DEAD. Contact me!

Well, that's not the solution because I know all my passwords. There were only three and two of them are written down; the third I just updated recently, so I remember its predecessor. Nope, an old password, all lower case, is not the solution. Neither is the admin password. Neither is the password as first put in with caps and a number. Nope Nope Nope.

Here is another article that may help you to access the encrypted backup:

http://osxdaily.com/2013/06/26/recover-lost-encrypted-backup-password-ios/

Don't know if you also saw this link that has a full outline of Encrypted backups:

About encrypted backups in iTunes - Apple Support

Finally, some have had luck trying the following as a password:

1234

9999

passwords used for other sign ins

Best of luck,

GB

This was helpful. I didn't set a password, and it required one like many of the people on here. It turns out that it was a 2-3 year old password that I haven't used for a long time. The password was in my Keychain Access on my Mac, so that was helpful for sure. Search for "iphone backup" in the keychain access and try the one there.

N

.

That is most excellent to hear! Most of the time, folks do report back that it was some ancient password that they used eons ago. Which may explain why they don't remember turning on encryption. Possibly it happened when they were first getting used to the whole iPhone experience, and they inadvertently turned it on, and supplied the password they were using at the time when it asked for it....

Whatever it is, I'm glad you were able to figure it out 🙂

Cheers,

GB

If your backup has a password, it's never signed by iTunes as encrypted backups are opt in, not enabled by default unless you have an apple watch or a corporate email account. If you don't know the password to your backup it cannot be recovered for you.

awesome soultion, WORKED JUST FINE 🙂

Great! That's most excellent to hear 🙂 Thanks for posting back!

Cheers,

GB

The password it's requesting is your PIN to unlock your device

In your case that was true. But the Encryption password is one that is assigned by the user, so, as has been stated many times, it can be anything....

GB

The password that worked for me was the Windows password that was used for the account that did the backup. Thanks Apple, for brilliantly telling us which password locked our backups.

Had same problem. Same solution for me as for gail - apple id password in lower case. How crap is that???