Forgot my restrictions password...

[iLive an iLife]

Hello all,

About 6 months ago, I activated restrictions on my iPhone (I wanted to limit in app purchasing - I didn't want to end up accidentally buying $100 of some useless in app "premium" currency). Well now I wanted to take the restriction off and I can't remember my password for the life of me. I've read on other forums that you have to restore your phone (like new) to wipe out the passwords. My question is, if I do that and try to restore, won't it add the password on again? I can't afford to lose all of my contacts and data on my phone. Any help with this is appreciated!

 

[gmz73]

My question is do you have AppleCare and if not do you think making an appt. At the genius bar may help? But your right I would have to lose everything that is in my phone-that would be a disaster.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Eileen89]

The following steps will help you Bypass & Reset your iPhones Passcode: Forgot an iPhone Passcode? How to reset the iPhone passcode once you reset the passcode again, just go into your settings menu and turn the passcode feature off. This way, you will no longer be asked to enter your passcode each time.

 

[Timhewitt]

You do realize that those step wipe the device as well right...

-t

 

[Eileen89]

You do realize that those step wipe the device as well right...

-t

You do realize that this is why the author of that link also put this link in there as well, which puts everything back on the iPhone? Restore your iPhone from Backup

 

[Timhewitt]

Only restored from the last backup though.

 

[iLive an iLife]

Well I don't have an overall lock on my iPhone. I can hit the power button then just slide to unlock. It's just the restrictions section which is password protected.

Also, I do not have AppleCare. I am within the first 1 year warranty, but I'm not really sure what that covers...

 

[Eileen89]

Well I don't have an overall lock on my iPhone. I can hit the power button then just slide to unlock. It's just the restrictions section which is password protected.

Also, I do not have AppleCare. I am within the first 1 year warranty, but I'm not really sure what that covers...

Sorry about that, I guess I misread the "restrictions" part. I did a little research and it seems that the only way is to restore. Even though this link references the iPad the advice mentioned looks like it will solve your problem without resulting in any of your app purchases being lost. Restrictions password reset?

As far as your iPhones warranty goes, you are covered for everything except; lost/stolen, or damages as a result of abuse such as drops or liquid damage.

 

[sting7k]

Apple can do nothing for you. You have to restore it as new to reset the password. You will not lose any purchases as you can now download both music and apps again from iTunes if they are not on your computer.

Are you sure you tried every option you might have used? Did you set it to wipe after 10 failed attempts?

 

[iLive an iLife]

Sorry about that, I guess I misread the "restrictions" part. I did a little research and it seems that the only way is to restore. Even though this link references the iPad the advice mentioned looks like it will solve your problem without resulting in any of your app purchases being lost. Restrictions password reset?

As far as your iPhones warranty goes, you are covered for everything except; lost/stolen, or damages as a result of abuse such as drops or liquid damage.

No problem buddy... I appreciate you taking the time to try and help me! If I restore, I've read I have to restore as a new iPhone, not from a back up. If I restore as a new iPhone then reload my contacts, apps, etc from a backup, will the password protection come back? This is the EXACT reason I never used a password on my phone before haha.

Sting: Apparently I've tried 20 passwords (incorrectly). The iPhone decided to keep track of my failures so I can be humiliated that I can't remember what it was haha. I usually use the same basic handful of passwords, so I wrote them all down and am going through the list one by one (since I've incorrectly entered so many passwords, I can only do one an hour now). If I get through the entire list and still haven't figured it out, I'm going to have to restore I guess...

PS - I'm planning on scooping up an iPhone 5 either next month or closer to Christmas, so I definitely need to get this all taken care of as soon as possible haha! I don't want to transfer the problem over to my new phone!

 

[Eileen89]

No problem buddy... I appreciate you taking the time to try and help me! If I restore, I've read I have to restore as a new iPhone, not from a back up. If I restore as a new iPhone then reload my contacts, apps, etc from a backup, will the password protection come back? This is the EXACT reason I never used a password on my phone before haha.

I've never set a restriction code on my iPhone, so I can't honestly say whether the code would be put back on after you restore it or not. If I had to guess I would say no, otherwise it wouldn't make any sense for you to have to restore in the first place....

I found the following info that might save you some time and get the pass word for you. I haven't done this myself, however it does look like it worked for those that were having the same issue as you. Here is a link as well as a summarized post that might help you:

First, I'm usually pretty leery of downloading programs in posts on message boards, but I went with it, and used the (free) one at iPhone Backup Extractor for Windows and Mac. So, for anyone else reading this, it's a safe program as far as I can tell. I saved it, extracted the zip file and ran the one that said App (I didn't have to move anything to an app folder or anything). I had to click on "expert" and then scrolled to "Library" and "Preferences". I located the "com.apple.springboard.plist" file. It took a minute or two to realize I had to put a checkmark just before the file name in order to get the "extract" button (down at the bottom) to become available. I exctracted that file, opened it with notepad and then scrolled around until I found the four digits.

Now, the real kicker is .... the four digits that were shown were the four digits I'd originally tried on my first attempt. When that didn't work the first time around I tried other codes until I gave up. Anyway, I went back and tried that code again and it worked, so crisis averted.

Link: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2667637?start=15&tstart=0

 

[iLive an iLife]

Thanks a lot Irish Rose! I just tried this and I got all the way to the end, but I can't find the PIN. It's not where it says it should be in the log... I'm going to try the other program mentioned... I just can bare the thought of restoring my device when I feel like I'm so close! I'll post an update (hopefully shortly)!

 

[iLive an iLife]

Update:

The website and program worked great. The only problem I had was finding the actual password in the file. The author of that post said it would be near the SBParentalControlsPin and it wasn't, it was at the VERY end of the file. The only reason I noticed it was because there was a 4 digit number denoted with a T (the author in that other post mentioned this). After about an hour of work, I'm completely unrestricted! Thanks again, Irish Rose! I think I might submit this to the TiPB team and I'll be sure to give you props for helping me out!

 

[Timhewitt]

Whew! That's great to know.

-t

 

[Eileen89]

Update:

The website and program worked great. The only problem I had was finding the actual password in the file. The author of that post said it would be near the SBParentalControlsPin and it wasn't, it was at the VERY end of the file. The only reason I noticed it was because there was a 4 digit number denoted with a T (the author in that other post mentioned this). After about an hour of work, I'm completely unrestricted! Thanks again, Irish Rose! I think I might submit this to the TiPB team and I'll be sure to give you props for helping me out!

I am really glad I could help and that the information in that link was able to fix this for you. Thanks for updating your thread, as this will help others who come here looking for a fix for the same problem.