Honl7

Q: iPhone restore

Wife got a new iPhone, backed up the old one. Plugged in the new one to sync it with the old stuff and it asks for a password to "unlock your iPhone backup"? What does this mean?

iPhone 6s, iOS 9.2

Posted on Jan 1, 2016 9:39 PM

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Q: iPhone restore

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  • by Brett L,

    Brett L Brett L Jan 3, 2016 9:25 AM in response to Honl7
    Community Specialists
    Jan 3, 2016 9:25 AM in response to Honl7

    Greetings Honl7,

     

    It sounds like you are attempting to restore your new iPhone from a backup made from the older iPhone, but when you do so you can't do it because of a password. Is that right?

     

    At some point when backing up your older iPhone to iTunes, backup encryption was turned on. This means that in order to use the backup, you must have the password. See this article for reference - About encrypted backups in iTunes.

    Importantly -

    If you don't have your password:

    • If someone else set up your device, check with them for the password. 
    • Try using an iCloud backup instead. If you don't have an iCloud backup, you can make one.
    • If it's still relevant, try using an older iTunes backup.

    Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

     

    Be well.