i never set a backup password but it says that i did so i cant do my backups and I NEED THEM!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I am not convinced it is not a bug because I know I did not enter a password when I backed up my phone. I did have encryption on, and it just never prompted me until I went to restore. I started going through your list of passwords, however, and I tried 1234 and voila! Phone is restored! You saved me! I suggest that anyone else having this issue use your list and start trying passwords!

I am so confused by this. I've had 5 or 6 iPhones over the past 11 years. To the best of my knowledge, I have never checked the encryption box and/or created a backup password. I sporadically (3 or 4 times a year) back up my device. Today, I backed it up as it was faulty, took it to Apple and they replaced it. When I got home to do an iTunes restore - like I have many times - I was suddenly prompted for this password...??!? I have NEVER seen this prompt before. And I'm struggling to understand how it can suddenly appear when I have never been asked for it in the past?? I last did a restore from back up about 22 months ago and have done a couple of IOS upgrades since. If it's not a bug, why have I never seen this request before??

Thanks very much for sharing your experience. I agree with you, I never set an encryption password. I had same problem and after reading your description, it gave me an idea what the password could be. The password turned out to be the very very first Apple ID password I had ever used (many years ago!). And it was your description that made me aware that I should try that password. It is a password which I have not used for a very long time so it is not possible that I had put it in myself. So I agree with you, there is an issue with iTunes backup! Thanks for providing me with the clue to work out what my password was!

For those still looking for an answer, here's one more password to try.

If you use a password manager (mSecure, 1Password, etc), try the password you use for this. It worked for me after reading someone else who resolved things this way. I am positive I never used this password for anything else, yet that decrypted the backup -- as unlikely as this sounds. Certainly worth a try.

I'm in the same situation as many have described above, where it did not prompt for a password when backing up and now the phone is wiped out. I've backed up phones many times for me and my kids and this is the first time this has happened were it stored it encrypted. I've entered various passwords for the past few days with no luck. I really appreciate everyone sharing their experiences and their successes so I can keep trying other passwords. It's a very frustrating situation to be in!

For what it's worth.

I don't think you have contributed much to the thread. Even more, you are additionally going to drive people to insanity. I have a brand new computer, brand new itunes and I connected my phone, and guess what? It backed up my device. And when I went to restore, it asked me for my password. Never prompted me to set a password because I did NOT select to encrypt. I actually went back to try to do an encrypted backup and guess what? It asked me for my password. Go figure. When I tried to change it, it asked me for my old password this time in addition to the new one. Clearly indicated that A PASSWORD WAS NOT SET.

It's frustrating watching you seem to know every edge case about the situation, but discrediting people. Apparently this can happen for some odd reason. I'm a developer myself, guess what again? Software is buggy.

If you don't know the answer, or perhaps it hasn't happened to you yet. Maybe you could let some other people with more insightful information reply as opposed to belittling what you can't conceptualize.

I think you didn't bother to read the thread you posted to. It doesn't matter that your computer is new. At some time in the past your phone was backed up to some computer with encryption enabled. It might have been 5 generations of computer before the new one. Once it has been backed up with encryption to any computer it has ever been connected to, the phone "knows" that all backups should be encrypted. So when you back up to a brand new computer the very first backup to that computer will be encrypted with the same passcode that you used last year, or 10 years ago.

The fact is that backups never encrypt themselves. A human being must check encrypt backup and enter the encryption password - twice. If it wasn't you it was someone else who backed up your phone, or, if it is a company phone or if it ever had a company email account on it then the account administrator must have done it.

I suspect many people are being forced by this bug to purchase an upgraded subscription to iCloud in order to backup their phones.

If this is not a conspiracy, it's at least a disincentive for Apple to fix the problem.

Lending credence to the conspiracy angle, why would a backup to a computer require encryption more than a backup to the cloud would?

iCloud backups are encrypted by default. Your Apple ID and password do this.

iTunes backups are not encrypted until this extra and optional password/encryption is enabled.

Encrypting allows passwords, health data and HomeKit settings to be backed up.

Without encryption, this highly personal data is not backed up using iTunes.

Ok. Then set the iTunes backup password to match the iCloud password, since you need that password anyway to purchase anything in iTunes. Why require setting a new password for this very specific purpose if not to railroad people to buy iCloud storage?

I refuse to believe that the hundreds of people requesting help with this problem all volunteered to choose a password and then forgot it. Something is clearly wrong.

podrivac wrote:

I refuse to believe that the hundreds of people requesting help with this problem all volunteered to choose a password and then forgot it. Something is clearly wrong.

There are over 1 BILLION iPhone users. I have no problem believing that a few hundred of them forgot a password, or even forgot they set one. Especially as that password may have been entered years ago. The remainder of the billion users remember their password.

Ok. Then set the iTunes backup password to match the iCloud password, since you need that password anyway to purchase anything in iTunes. Why require setting a new password for this very specific purpose if not to railroad people to buy iCloud storage?

That is not possible. The iCloud password is system generated from the user's Apple ID and the phone's internal ID. You do not have to set a password for iCloud; it is automatic. Just the fact that you are logged in to your iCloud ID on your phone when you choose to make an iCloud backup makes the iCloud backup secure.

What does that even mean? ITunes asks me for my iCloud password constantly, as do numerous other applications both on my Mac and iPhone. Why couldn't it prompt me for the same iCloud credentials to make an encrypted backup to my iTunes, instead of forcing me to create a one time burner password that I'm likelier to forget?

I think you forget that Apple is a business, not some type of infallible and benevolent deity. I have no doubt this is a play for iCloud subscriptions.

And you haven't yet bothered to mansplain the rationale for making this one time burner password for iTunes backups *impossible to reset*.

As opposed to my iCloud password which is easily reset online.

I have read all your unhelpful responses and no you haven't. I choose to believe the many people who say that they never set this password, and the additional people who did set the password but were unable to reset it. This is either a bug or an intentional play for iCloud subscriptions. It's enough evidence for me, and would be enough evidence for most reasonable people. Please do not reply.

podrivac wrote:

And you haven't yet bothered to mansplain the rationale for making this one time burner password for iTunes backups *impossible to reset*.

As opposed to my iCloud password which is easily reset online.

Because if it were possible to "reset" the password for an encrypted backup, the encryption would be completely pointless.