How to reset restriction passcode?

iOS: Understanding Restrictions (parental controls) - Apple Support

As stated under item 3, if you lost or forgot your restrictions passcode, you will have to do a factory restore to remove it.

... and to do a factory restore of a presumably secured iOS 8 device, you will need the AppleID it was registered to: account & password.

what does a factory reset mean?

Means returning the device to the same state it was when first taken out of its box. The only difference being, if applicable, any iOS upgrade done since it was built, given that you can't downgrade the iOS version.

Not strictly true, although that might be the easiest option. As of today, on iOS 9, this worked for me. That thread contains a number of other alternatives, you may find a more user-friendly approach using one of the third-party packages mentioned there.

Karl Zimmerman wrote:

Not strictly true, although that might be the easiest option. As of today, on iOS 9, this worked for me. That thread contains a number of other alternatives, you may find a more user-friendly approach using one of the third-party packages mentioned there.

I looked at the your other post. It may be a cool trick for techies.

Between touching Reset on the device and your method, I would say reset is a heck of a lot easier especially for someone who does not even know what factory reset means.

You're quite right. Also, there's absolutely no guarantee this method would continue to work with any later release of iOS (I did this on iOS 9.3.1). And frankly I don't know exactly what I'd've lost by doing a factory reset -- maybe nothing important.

You'll lose everything if you have no backup. You'll lose nothing otherwise (backup - factory reset - restore/sync).

Thanks! That's a relief!