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

This happened to me and I freaked out because I never set up a password or received a password. What happened in my case was when I set up iTunes on my PC and backed up my phone, it automatically defaults to encrypted backups, with no distinct password setup. I was able to restore from the PC with no problems. I later created a backup on my MAC and was unable to restore from the MAC backup without a password. This ended up being my user login password for the PC. It appears that iTunes on Windows defaults to encrypted backups and uses your Windows user login password as the backup password, whether you're on a PC or a MAC, and it does all this automatically without making it clear that it's doing it. I hope this helps some of you.

Ok Lawrence Fish, tell me this. Like some of the other people posting, we also believe there is a bug in iTunes. My wife had (had is the operative word here) an iPhone 6. On Friday, April 5th, 2019 she wanted a new iPhone Xr. She backed up her 6 to her windows 7 laptop. The encrypt button was not checked and unbeknownst to us it made an encrypted backup. As I am looking at this laptop right now, the encryption is STILL NOT CHECKED.

So we go to the Apple store and trade in her 6 for the Xr. The Apple employee says, "Yeah, just plug in this Xr and hit restore to a previous version". He never warns us about possible encrypted backups, and since we never had a problem with her 6 that would facilitated a restore..... and the encrypt box is not checked....we let Apple wipe her 6 so they could take it in.

When we got home and tried to restore on the Xr, we got the password box. We have tried every password we would have used. Nothing. Luckily, on Jan. 19th I went into he 6's DCIM and had previously saved her photos to a separate folder. However, she has now lost all her text strings, ringtones, and any photos she took from Jan. 19th 2019 (which included her granddaughter's 3rd birthday) till now. As you can imagine she is LIVID.!!! So, as I read these other users accounts of this glitch with iTunes, I have no doubt this is a software bug in iTunes. It is naive to think it is impossible for this to happen. If that were true, then why are there software updates for bug fixes. I worked at Apple in Tech Support for a short period, and I have seen some weird crap.

Also, iTunes automatically backed up her Xr twice but those backups are NOT password protected, It is my understanding that once you set encryption...all backups from then on are encrypted. Explain this to me Lawrence.

I don't really care whether you believe me or what you think. I've been over this time and time again over several years. And enough people have guessed the password that they entered and recognized it, so I know I am right. It is not a glitch, and not a bug. It is forgetful users.

Once you enable encryption for A DEVICE all backups of that device will be encrypted. Even if you back up to a different computer. To restore the backup you will need the encryption passcode, because it is the encryption key needed to decrypt. However, other devices backed up to iTunes that have not been restored from an encrypted backup will not be encrypted unless you choose to.

So, I think what you are trying to say here, is that I or my wife may have, many years ago, used this particular iTunes account and password protected a back-up from a previous phone and now this same iTunes account has decided to encrypt her iPhone 6 with some old password that may have been used from 2010 or something. Is that right?

One other question. She had Apple replace her battery in May 2018. Did Apple back up her phone as a precaution and happen to back up it up to encryption? We can see using preferences, devices, iPhone, that she had 2 back-ups with the lock symbol. One last Sept. 2018 and one right before we went to Apple Store for the Xr.

Also, I think it would EXTREMELY beneficial if Apple would require the user to be required to enter a clue for their password when encrypting a backup. That way, if you do forget your password, you can prompt iTunes for your clue.

Also as far as iCloud goes. Many people don't want to pay for the extra amount of space beyond 5 gigs, and have all of you forgotten the iCloud breach years ago. I would much rather trust my laptop than Apple.

Yes, an encrypted backup done in the past keeps its password forever. However, you would still need that password to restore that backup to a new device.

People who are so cheap they don’t want to spend 99 cents a month to protect the data on their $1,000 phone that they are paying $50 a month or more to use deserve whatever happens to them and their data.

There was never an iCloud breach. A few very foolish celebrities chose weak passwords that a hacker was able to guess and gain access to a few individual iCloud accounts. That does not qualify as a “breach.” That’s one reason Apple now almost forces users to enable 2 factor authentication to protect their accounts, and requires it for some services.

Apple tells you to back up your phone before bringing it in for service. If you didn’t they will offer to back it up to iCloud sometimes, but iCloud backups are automatically encrypted using an internally generated encryption key based off the iCloud ID & password. This has nothing to do with an iTunes encrypted backup.

The idea of a password hint is something to consider. The problem is many users would just enter their password as the hint, and that wouldn’t sit well with company IT departments that impose an encrypted password requirement so you would need protection against that. If you have a Mac the password screen gives you the option of saving the backup password to your keychain.

First off, iCloud used to be more expensive, but I guess competition has brought it down. It would be very helpful that when you run a backup you would need to put that password in everytime to start a backup if it's to be encrypted. This would alert the user that if he has lost the password, to stop and find it first or create a new one. As far as the hint goes. The user would need to use a hint that only they know. If they are stupid enough to use use their hint as their password....well, there is only so much you can do.

Our situation was like some others in this thread, in that we had no idea the backup made right before going to the store was encrypted. The encryption checkbox was not checked and it still isn't. So, the only way we would have known was to go into iTunes>preferences>devices and see if it has a lock icon next to the backup date before leaving the house. The Apple store offered to back the 6 up to iCloud, but we just assumed since we just did it on her laptop, we were ok.

BTW: you didn't answer the question about the battery replacement.

[Edited by Host]

I thought I did answer the question about battery replacement when I said that Apple will not back up the phone before doing a battery replacement; the instructions for having Apple work on the phone is you should back it up. Apple can't back it up, anyway, unless you bring your computer to the store. They aren't going to back it up to any computer other than yours.

BTW, this is a user-to-user forum. No one who posts is an Apple employee; all answers are made by user-volunteers, except in the rare case of a post that has had no answers for a day; then an Apple Community Specialist will answer if the post can be answered by reference to an Apple Knowledge Base article. And all such Community Specialist posts will have an Apple logo in the heading.

Lawrence, I'm not sure what happened but I'm glad I took your advice and kept trying. I tried my old Apple password and it worked! I do know for sure that I DID NOT set a password when I backed up my device because I was in a rush when I did so. I know for a fact that I did not type any pass word or code because it was all done the same day. This is for sure some sort of flaw.

On your Apple screen look for the black apple icon on the very top left corner of the screen and next to it is Safari then click on Safari then look for preferences and click on it and look for password a window opens up then click on the password that you use when you log out of your computer. Put the correct password then press enter and it will bring you to the password folder where all of your password are saved in that box.

Same thing happened to me. I traded in my iPhone, connected my iPhone to iTunes to restore back up and it asks for the encrypted password. I DO NOT remember ever setting a password and I am very good with passwords. I’ve tried every password I can think of. I’ve lost pictures and videos from 4 years worth. I know apple can’t help but my question is, is there anyone that could somehow get this password like a hacker or a payed password unlocker???

The same happened to me! ITunes selected by default "encrypt local backup" and I did not set any password before doing the backup. Now, when I want to restore the backup, it is asking me for a password which I never set!

The question is which password will be taken if the box is ticked by default and you proceed with the backup without setting any password.

Thank you

This link is helpful. Anybody have success using one of these third party programs to figure out the encrypted password? Is it safe? Am I exposing my network to viruses and compromising my security? I desperately want the photos from my old iPhone but I’m not sure if it’s worth the headache of being hacked.

The third party programs are a scam. They can work but they are extremely slow. Use Hashcat to try and crack the password. Its a totally free open source, very powerful password cracking program. It does take some getting use to as its all command line based. But there are videos on YouTube on how to use it and install it. I'm using it to try and break my encrypted iphone backup that I didn't set a password for. Go to hashcat.net to learn about it. They also have a forum to help people but I would start with watching YouTube videos.

Except that is not true. I've never set encryption, much less a password - and yet there it is, asking me for a password.

These are not 2 separate actions.