Passcode Requirement: You must change your iPhone unlock passcode within 60 minutes.

Well, Ratter - so sorry you were offended, but I think it was necessary. The fact is, when someone comes here for help, quite often it is for two very relevant reasons: a) they are new to the forums and may not know the rules (thank you for pointing them out), and b) they don't know the answer (which you did not point us to). The lack of providing an answer, combined with a snarky tone only reminds newcomers that they don't know what they are doing. That is unhelpful, and actually encourages us NOT to come back to the forum for help (or to offer our help).

Now, to make this a constructive criticism, I would point to iziah's followup, where he kindly recognizes that not everyone knows the answer and may still be having the problem. That tone is appreciated. Even better would be to point to one of the myriad answers to this problem (that I still can't find). I congratulate you on your Level 4 status, as you must have LOTS of knowledge and experience - but wish you maintained some compassion and helpful spirit, instead of what you offered instead.

I agree - while reposting issues already handled might not be great, condescending and rude posts from know-it-all's (who then don't point people to the answer to the problem) is infuriating.

The truth is, I have, myself, been hunting for an answer to this scary message (which I am getting right now) and while I find plenty of people ASKING about it, I find no answers. Thanks for the help.

<Edited by Host>

Gotta love the unhelpful condescending replys people leave. I just had the same problem but I didn't change my passcode. I searched online and found nothing worthwhile about the issue. I just downloaded an app I saw in a Redmond Pie article called System and Security Info and it shows two anomalies dealing with accessibility but now I'll have to research that. Doesn't seem like it would have anything to do with passcodes. So, I still would also like to know why we are getting these passcode popups for no reason.

Then it would seem this is something brought on through a link that may have been clicked in Safari at some point. I recommend that you close Safari out of your App Switcher [double click the home button and swipe Safari up so that is disappears], Clear History and Website Data under Settings>Safari and reboot your iPhone by holding the Sleep/Wake button and choosing Slide to Power off. This message is not brought on by design in the iOS software alone.

Please, this is an old problem that you might have learned had you searched the forums before making such a long and unnecessary post. I'm sure you meant well, but one of the items discussed in the Apple Support Communities - Terms of Use is to first search the forums about your problem before posting it. Scams such as these have been widespread and oft reported - too oft. 😀

You have to enter your passcode to log in after iOS restarts, and under several other conditions, including not having used Touch ID for 24 hours or not having logged in for 8 hours. And also sometimes randomly. It's normal. The prompt to change your passcode can be caused by iOS detecting that your passcode is not as strong as iOS thinks it should be, or if several attempts have been made to enter a passcode.

iOS never pushes updates in the background, so that wasn't the reason. More likely iOS crashed. It happens, just like it does with any computer.

The reason you must enter a passcode after iOS restarts is your fingerprint is stored in a secure enclave, which is not accessible until after it has been decrypted. Your passcode is part of the encryption key.

Apple does not read these user-to-user forums, and does not respond in them either except to post links to help topics when initial posts go unanswered for a long period of time. If you are concerned contact Apple's account security team: Apple ID: Contacting Apple for help with Apple ID account security

I apologize for the repeat post, it was oversight. Moving on to your statement of "nonsense." Is it "nonsense" when there is no profiles, no updates, no syncing, and no web surfing recently. Randomly occurs and the solution is to remove the SIM card and clear browsing history. Logic states applications do not need the owner to change the passcode when the phone is not used for anything other than texting and calling. All explanations of this anomaly are erroneous. The passcode is to unlock the phone, access its content, and modify configurations. If the iOS detected a weak passcode then it would have prompted long ago when it was last updated. Claims do not support evidence and passcode is required to manage device ("Update your software" and "Install iOS Configuration profiles"): Use a passcode with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support.

To have a better understanding of this prompt you are receiving, and it's origin, can you check a few things for me?

Go to Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars and verify if there is an active Exchange account linked to your iPhone?

Secondly, check Settings>General>[scroll down] and check for a Profile or VPN that may be setup.

These items have a means of controlling certain settings on your iPhone and may require more specific securities depending on their provisioning from the server end of said services. These requirements have no means of "opting out" unless you were to remove the service in question in its entirety.

Hi thanks for this post and I am sorry others do not appreciate it.

When researching an issue I always select "within the past week/month" for the most recent occurrence since software changes soo much, if you had not posted this I probably wouldnt have been brought to the Apple forums, so good job!

I can confirm the hard reset cleared it for me. Close Safari, clear history and browsing data then hold home/sleep until the reset completes.

Thanks!

Thanks for posting. I googled when I had the same thing pop up on my screen and came here. However, the first post I read was in 2012 so it is good that we can rule out that it is firmware issue. I also prefer to read recent postings since technology changes so quickly. But first, rather than following the prompt "requiring" me to change my password, instead I went directly into settings > passcode and changed it there to a alphanumeric code instead of my usual pin. Then I took yalls advice and cleared my safari history and rebooted my phone. So far so good.

I would like to further this question with some more information that I have not seen posted yet.

I received this message last night and ignored it as I was going to sleep.

This morning I awoke to discover the the message returned, but without the 60 minute warning. It forced me to change my passcode and would not allow me to do anything on my iPad. I didn't change it through the prompt, and tried a reset (Hold Power and Home). The prompt still came up so I connected to iTunes to either restore an old backup, or just format it. iTunes popped up saying that I need to reclick a prompt on my iPad to trust the computer, but the Passcode Requirement was still forcing me to change my passcode before I could do anything.

So whether or not this is an actual iOS prompt, it certainly has access to the system, which is kinda scary if Apple has no idea about it according to people's conversations.

I re-changed my password through Settings, but still a little worried about what this prompt may be. Luckily I rarely use my iPad and it has no personal information. I may still format for good measure.

I'm usually pretty careful with websites, and really rarely even browse on my iPad. Just some Candy Crush and Facebook.

I'm wondering if a common link could be iTunes? I hadn't synced my iPad to iTunes for months. Is this the case for other people reporting the issue? Maybe there's a weird security requirement in the OS that freaks out if it hasn't connected to iTunes in a while?

It's an iOS prompt. Just change the passcode. When it said "60 minutes" you could have closed the message and gone to Settings/Touch ID & Passcode and simply changed it. That would clearly have been an "iOS prompt."

I've never connected to iTunes...ever. Update from me is I went to Settings to change my password, was forced to enter old password first, then I powered off. I logged back in with my old password and was never prompted again. The other thing I remember is that yesterday morning I had to enter my password to login, instead of using my fingerprint, because it said the system was restarted. It must have pushed an update in the background which I don't recall happening before (I'm usually prompted).

So my theory is the latest update may have triggered the prompt, and (at least) entering your old password in Settings is sufficient to kill the prompt. I agree if Apple doesn't know about this, some malware has some high level system access and now has my password. APPLE - please respond!!!

js100mac wrote:

I've never connected to iTunes...ever.

That is risky. Some day your phone will be lost or stolen, or iOS will crash and wipe out its contents. If you don't back it up regularly all of your data will be gone. It's not a question of if it will happen; only when it will happen.