Setting up a password on your iPhone is a great way to keep unauthorized access at bay but what if you forget the password? On a positive note, you can still access or restore your iPhone Data and this blog highlights some best solutions for forgotten iPhone password.
Password enabled iPhone ensures that no one can access it without your permission and is a great way to stop prying eyes from accessing your personal data. But what if you itself forget the password? Isn’t that a problematic situation? Obviously, as you cannot unlock your iPhone and access the data. Further, if you enter the wrong password six times, then a message is displayed stating that the iPhone has been disabled.
Figure 1. If you enter the wrong password six times in a row, then a message will be displayed stating that your iPhone has been disabled.
If you’re lucky then you might be able to unlock your iPhone and access the data stored on it else there is a probability that you may end up losing your data in the process of unlocking it.
Forgot iPhone passcode? What to do next?
Alright, I know it’s next to impossible that you will ever forget your passcode but we cannot overlook the fact that, yes there is a chance that you may forget it. The majority of us will say that we use fingerprint identity sensor (Touch ID) and hardly use a numeric passcode. Well, suppose your Touch ID stops working properly and to fix it you need to go to Settings < Touch ID & Passcode < Enter the Passcode.
Wait! What! You need to enter the passcode to get the Touch ID working again and you thought that you’d never need to remember the passcode. If you have a backup of your data, then all you have to do is simply reset your iPhone and restore your data from the backup. Unfortunately, you’ll only restore data that has been backed up and any new data added after that won’t be there. That said, let’s delve into some of the best solutions for forgotten iPhone password.
If you’ve forgotten the password, these options will help you out:
- Erase your iOS device with iTunes to remove the password
- Erase the passcode with iCloud
- Use Recovery mode if you’re unable to connect to either iCloud or iTunes
- Leverage an iPhone data recovery to recover deleted/lost data
Erase your iPhone with iTunes, restore files from it and remove the passcode
If you’ve synced your iPhone with iTunes, you can restore your files from it. Further, this will erase all the data and the passcode. To restore your data and remove the passcode, follow these steps:
i. Connect your iPhone to your computer and launch iTunes
ii. If you’re asked for the passcode, try another computer with which you’ve synced your iPhone, else proceed with either iCloud or Recovery mode
iii. Sync your iPhone with iTunes and make a backup of it
iv. On your iPhone set up the screen, choose Restore from iTunes backup
v. In iTunes select your iPhone and select the relevant backup
This process will restore all your data on iPhone. Now, configure a new passcode and never forget it.
Figure 2 illustrates to erase the data & passcode and to restore your iPhone
Erase the passcode with iCloud
Follow these steps to erase the passcode of your iPhone with iCloud:
i. Go to iCloud.com and sign in with your valid Apple credentials to view the iCloud dashboard.
ii. At the top of the dashboard, select ‘All Devices’ and select your iPhone from the given list
iii. Click on ‘Erase’ to erase the passcode
iv. On the setup screen on your iPhone, choose the restore from a backup option to restore files from the iCloud backup
Important: You can erase your iPhone with Find My iPhone as long as it is connected to a Wi-Fi or cellular network.
Use Recovery mode to erase the passcode
If you’ve never synced your iPhone with iTunes or iCloud, then you need to erase the passcode in the Recovery mode. Follow these steps to erase the passcode:
i. Connect your iPhone to your system and force restart it. Different versions of iPhone have different settings; therefore, follow these settings depending on your iPhone
- iPhone 8/8 Plus: Press and release the Volume up button and then quickly press and release the Volume down button. Press and hold the Side button until the recovery mode screen appears
- iPhone 7/7 Plus: Press and keep holding both the Side and Volume down buttons until you see the recovery mode screen
- iPhone 6S and earlier: Press and keep holding the Home and the Side buttons until the recovery mode screen appears
ii. Finally, after restarting the iPhone, select Restore from the given options
Figure 3 illustrates to restore iPhone via recovery mode
iii. Wait for the process to finish and then restore your files to your iPhone and set up a new passcode
Get more help
If due to any reason you lose your data stored on iPhone during the whole process, then you can utilize an iPhone data recovery software and recover all your lost data. Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone is a robust iPhone data recovery software which efficiently brings back all your lost data. Moreover, the software facilitates three recovery option namely:
- Recover from iPhone
- Recover from iTunes Backup
- Recover from iCloud backup
Figure 3 illustrates the home screen of Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone software
At Last
After restoring your iPhone, make sure that you never ever forget the passcode. The key is to create a strong passcode which is easy to remember. Further, if your iPhone gets stuck in recovery mode or due to any reason you’re unable to unlock your device, contact Apple support or visit the nearest service centre.
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