Q: iPhone backup restore encryption bug in iTunes
First the details of my system:
El Capitan 10.11.6
iPhone 6 iOS 10.0.2
iTunes 12.5.1.21
Steps to replicate:
1. Backup the iPhone (running iOS 10) using encrypted password A
2. Once the backup is completed change encrypted password from A to B
3. Restore the iPhone using the backup.
The backup can't be restored with either password A or password B.
iPhone 6, iOS 10.0.2
Posted on Oct 6, 2016 4:27 PM
I think most people would say I had forgotten password B. You would be wrong. Password B was stored in my keychain and it would not work. To verify I had the right password, I downloaded a free password cracking utility. For some reason, these utilities are available for Windows only. I used http://www.tenorshare.com/. Since I was sure I knew the password, I used the tool's prefix and suffix boxes to verify that the password was correct. The free version only shows you the first 2 characters of your password once it finds it. Since I was sure I knew the password, I put the first 7 characters of the password in the password prefix box and let it guess the last one (which of course I knew). Then I put the first 6 characters of the password in the password prefix box and the last character in the suffix box and let it guess the second to last character (which I also knew). In both cases, it found the password, which confirmed that all my characters were correct, yet iTunes would not accept it. At this point I was convinced this is an Apple bug so I googled some more and found this website https://deciphertools.com/decipher-backup-repair.html which confirms:
"If you've recently changed your backup password in iTunes, and now iTunes is reporting that “the password was incorrect” when you try to restore that backup, then we may be able to help.
There's a glitch affecting iOS 10 backups -- sometimes changing the backup password causes the password to be rejected (both the new and old passwords) when you try to use the backup you made."
The above can be found in this blog: https://deciphertools.com/blog/ios-10-backup-password-incorrect/
I used their tool to fix this problem which means I paid the $29.99. My backup had too many important things to wait for an Apple fix if it ever comes out. In any event, I think I am owed some money, and I also believe Apple should acknowledge this problem and come with a fix ASAP.
I followed all the proper steps to make and restore a backup and nearly lost significant amounts of data due to a software bug for which I have no control of. Given that there is a tool to fix this, I suspect I am not the first person to confront this issue; and given that backups are so critical I think this needs to be addressed by Apple in an urgent manner. I have a fair amount of expertise so I didn't give up. Most people would have bitten the bullet and lost the data.
Posted on Oct 8, 2016 3:27 AM