itunes could not restore the iphone because the password was incorrect

It is NOT the PIN of the iPhone (or any phone)

It is NOT your ITunes password (your Apple-ID password)

it is NOT the password of your computer

It is NOT the password of your friend's mother's lawnmower

When you restore from a backup to an unknown iPhone (such as a new one) then you have to enter the "Encryption Password".

This password you have chosen when? It was the first time you decided to back up the iPhone in encrypted format. If encrypted, then the passwords also get backed up - jolly useful.

So, cast your mind back when you entered that password. I found it because I had written it into a password keeper. If you did not keep a record of that password, then you probably used a password that you thought you could remember. So keep on trying guessing that password.

About encrypted backups in iTunes - Apple Support

vtch1 wrote:

Think of the 4 digit screen unlocking passcode that you were using on your privious or old iPhone.

try all 4 digit passcode that you ever used and changed later to 6 digit.

Why would you limit the search to a 4 digit passcode? Here are some of the passcodes that others have successfully guessed as their backup password. While a few of them are 4 digits, most are not:

• First iTunes account password (40 different users)
• Old iTunes account password, but not the oldest one
• Password used for almost all accounts (3 different users)
• All digit Password created a long time ago
• Computer/laptop login password (4 users)
• Laptop password (2 users)
• Computer password (4 users)
• Email password (3 users)
• iTunes with no capital letters
• Password not used anywhere else
• All numeric used in the past
• Password for old gaming site
• PC password (5 users)
• “iphonelogin”
• work computer password
• Current app store password (2 users)
• Paypal account password
• iPad unlock passcode
• Strongest variation of the base password I have ever used
• Old password
• Old work password
• Macbook password (2 users)
• Restriction passcode
• Gmail password (2 users)
• Current Apple ID password (2 users)
• Apple MobileMe password
• Apple ID password, but all lower case (8 users)
• Apple ID password, first one ever used, but all lower case (2 users)
• iPhone passcode when corporate profile was installed
• Passcode for a website
• iPhone screen unlock passcode (9 users)
• iPhone unlock passcode at the time the first backup was made (3 users)
• First password for work computer
• Old password used over 2 years ago (2 users)
• Previous owner’s iTunes password
• Current laptop password
• Wireless network password
• Electric bill and Skype password
• icloud password, all lower case
• Windows login for very old laptop
• iMac password (3 users)
• First iPhone 4 digit passcode
• iTunes password from last year
• 4 year old password
• iTunes password (current) (3 users)
• Old PC password
• Password for “Good” application
• Password used for everything+1234
• 1234 (4 users)
• 12345 (2 users)
• 0000
• Password I use for everything else (2 users)
• One of my husband’s passwords
• Some old non-Apple product password
• Screen passcode of the first iPhone that was backed up (2 users)
• Old password with different case on first letter
• “password” (2 users)
• Windows Administrator password (2 users)
• Original Windows Administrator password
• Mackbook administrator password
• “iphone”+4 digit unlock code
• Voicemail password
• asd
• “herpderp”
• “darwin” (first name from credit card account)
• First name, all lower case
• Ms Exchange account password
• Facebook password
• Browser password
• Network admin password

Source:

60+ page thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3091672?start=195&tstart=0

I just ran into this problem too while trying to restore my latest backup to a new iPhone. I found the correct password using Keychain Access. I had apparently entered a password the first time I backed up my iPhone. Launch the Keychain Access application and search for iPhone Backup.

I had the same problem and tried every password I could remember for the past 5 years - nothing!

I found a way to view password through keychain access on my mac. Sorry windows users - I don't think this option will work for you. Any here's what worked.

Go to Finder

Click on Applications

Click on Utilities

Click on keychain access

type in "iphone backup" in search box in upper right corner

Double click the date of the backup you want access to, then check the box next to the "Show Password" and enter the Mac admin password to reveal the iTunes backup password.

Hope you have success!

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE APPLE! I HAVE TRIED EVERY PASSWORD UNDER THE SUN.

IT DOSENT TELL YOU WHAT PASSWORD TO ENTER, IT JUST SAYS ENTER "THE" PASSWORD, WHAT BLOODY PASSWORD.

THE OTHER THING IS THERE IS NO "FORGOT PASSWORD" RESET BUTTON.

ABSOULUTELY UNEXCEPTABLE!

THIS ISSUE IS STILL NOT SOLVED ON THE 10TH OF MARCH 2017

I tried several passwords and the one that worked was the one that unlocks my Desktop iMac. But this is a password I used for other things in the past. Sometimes Apple reminds me of the old Ma Bell Telephone companies, so big and difficult to navigate; Steve J must be rolling in his grave.

I had this problem and it was panicking! I wanted to restore from my laptop, which means a local restore. I forgot the password i gave for encrypting the backup initially. After giving it so many tries, i've entered the oldest password i always used, it worked.

Hope this could help you guys, at least for some extent.

- R

Sean Bailey1 wrote:

This worked for me. The password window was prepopulated with ****** so I simply hit 'return' and it worked.

iPhone 6s, iOS 10.

I never did learn why iPhone backup rejected my actual passcode.

Because the backup password was not what you entered as your "actual" passcode. "Actual" for what? The backup passcode is independent of any other passcode you have. If it is the same as a another passcode it is only because you entered it that way. And the reason it worked is you checked the box to save the backup passcode in your keychain when you first created it. So iTunes retrieved it from your keychain and filled it in. You can open the keychain app and see what passcode you entered when you created the first encrypted backup.

So like everyone else I spent a lot of time trying to come up with all the password to crack this. Please note this is not computer login password, apple id password or phone lock code etc. This is the password which you specified in itunes for backups. For some people their computer login, apple id password etc worked because they kept it same. The best way to find the password is to look for "iPhone Backup" entry in the keychain access. I have multiple laptops and I don't sync my keychain data so the "iPhone Backup" password was present on one of older laptop. Note that this password belong to your iTunes account and not individual iTunes on different machine. So if you have set it on one machine it will not ask you another time while creating backup. This is the case where people said that iTunes never asked them for a password while creating the backup.

Hope this helps.

I too never set up a password for my iTunes data. I tried many old passwords and none worked. I was setting up a new phone and happened to still have the old phone that I backed up from. I plugged in the old phone, went to the backup settings and changed the password. I ironically it asked for the old password in order to set up a new one. I just put in one that I had tried before and put in a new password and it worked. I am now happily restoring my new iPhone 8.

Whats really weird, is that my back ups were always manual so I am not sure why that setting was there.

I figured out the riddle for mine. The password Apple is looking for is the iPhone passcode. However, since the backups were started years ago, the passcode in question was not the current passcode, but the one that was on the iPhone when the backups first started. In my case, this was a four digit passcode, not the current six digit passcode used on the iPhone.

Apple is looking for whatever passcode YOU entered the first time you made an encrypted backup. If you look at my previous reply above yours you will see a lot of different passcodes that users entered the first time THEY made an encrypted backup.

For me, it seems to be a "standard" password that I may have entered years ago in iTunes. It has nothing to do with the lock code on my phone. I can imagine that, initially, iTunes asked me for a password to encrypt the backup, and this is the one I gave it. Pity that it doesn't specify what it's looking for, because the prompt *appears* to want the phone's lock code, when this is just a wild goose chase. I believe the password is unique to iTunes backups, entered separately from anything else.

billames wrote:

For me, it seems to be a "standard" password that I may have entered years ago in iTunes. It has nothing to do with the lock code on my phone. I can imagine that, initially, iTunes asked me for a password to encrypt the backup, and this is the one I gave it. Pity that it doesn't specify what it's looking for, because the prompt *appears* to want the phone's lock code, when this is just a wild goose chase. I believe the password is unique to iTunes backups, entered separately from anything else.

Yes, that is exactly correct. The backup password is unrelated to any other password. If it happens to be the same as another password you have used that is a coincidence, combined with most people’s habit of reusing passwords.

I also had this problem and it took me ages to figure out an old password that I had used about 8 years ago, which worked. With no option to restore the password, this was an utterly farcical episode that cost hours of my time.

Apple you can be so infuriating to work with sometimes!