Message on my iPhone - Passcode Requirement

This sounds suspicious. Make a couple of screenshots and post the images here.

Is the phone registered with your work at all? Typically this is a sign of an MDM server or an Exchange glitch. If you happen to use Exchange for your email (anything produced by Microsoft from Hotmail, Live, or Outlook) this can happen. Outside of that, it can be an insecure password, so I would recommend checking for any of those first.

Insecure codes start with:

• 196*
• 197*
• 198*
• 199*
• 200*
• 201*

But also include:

• 1234
• 0000 (or any 4 same number combination)
• 0001 or 0010 or 0100 or 1000 (or any number with this pattern)
• 1379
• 2580
• 2468

It may just be a bug with Hotmail, they run off the same servers as an Exchange email would. Unfortunately, that's all I can really think of, as it is a legitimate message that comes up with anything that runs off Microsoft's servers. Would you be able to temporarily remove the Hotmail email from the phone and let me know if it still appears after that?

Temporarily changing the lock code is the only way to bypass the message, it's something instated by Exchange's servers to keep the phone more secure. In your case, it really shouldn't be popping up, but it could be a bug with that Hotmail address, unfortunately there isn't going to be a way to bypass it because it's a security measure that the phone is pushing out because of the settings from the email, similarly to having an email from a workplace. In your case, though, it's due to having a Hotmail email address. It isn't wanting anything to do with the actual email password, it's just an added security feature, and an annoying one at that.

Not a problem, if you have any other issues with it I suggest contacting Apple directly at their support line because they may have another solution.

I got the same message Friday at work, but:

• While we use Exchange/Outlook at work for email, calendaring, etc, I don't use it myself and don't have any client apps for any MS products installed (or any other 3rd party apps, for that matter, except one utility for our printer at home).
• I wasn't (and don't) connect to the wi-fi at work, and have my phone set to ask before joining new networks. (More on this in a minute.)
• I don't use Hotmail either, though I have a personal domain set up through Yahoo.
• There was a contractor working on our network on Friday, though I don't know what he was doing, and it was near the end of the day that I got the message for the first time.
• After I left the office and got to the parking deck, the message went away on its own and hasn't returned since (it's currently Saturday -- 6/18/16).

Putting all that together, what I suspect (in a general way) is that when the wi-fi came back up after whatever work was done on it was finished, it discovered my phone (or vice versa) and somehow the forced passcode change that originated with Exchange collided with my "ask before joining new networks", resulting in the phone not being able to resolve the conflict. A forced restart (Home + Sleep) didn't fix it, but since it was quitting time anyway, I figured it would be smarter to research it before coughing up my passcode to what may or may not be malware. And once out of range of the network, everything returned to normal -- no passcode change required.

I'll be interested in seeing what happens when I get back to work Monday morning. Watch this space.