How To Unlock Your iPhone When You Can’t Remember Your Password

Not remembering your iPhone’s passcode can be a disaster and a bad situation to be in, especially when you have loads of vital data saved on it. If you always sync your iPhone to either iTunes or iCloud, too much data will not be lost. If you have never synced your iOS device, you will have to let go of your data and begin afresh.

There are lots of ways to end this issue of a forgotten password, and they include iTunes, iCloud, and third-party apps. Let’s break down the 3 most used methods.

Unlock Via iTunes

This is the most effective method to use as long as:

1. You have synced your iPhone to iTunes for at least once before.
2. The “Find My iPhone” option is disabled on your device.

If you have never synced your iPhone, make use of the 3rd method on the list, and reset your device via iTunes Recovery Mode. Should in case the “Find My iPhone” feature is enabled on your device and you have synced your device to iCloud in recent times, the 2nd method is your guy.

On how to unlock your iPhone with iTunes,

1. Get your iPhone connected to the PC or Mac that you mostly sync it with.
2. Launch the iTunes app on the computer. If the application requests for your passcode, head to the 3rd method.
3. Your iPhone device should automatically sync to iTunes. If that is not the case, have it synced to iTunes before continuing.
4. As soon as the backup and syncing are done, access your device’s summary page in the app.
5. Tap the “Restore iPhone button”.
6. After that, you should be able to set up your iPhone via the iOS Setup Assistant. When prompted, choose the “Restore from iTunes backup” option.
7. Hold on for the iOS Setup Assistant to have the backup files downloaded to your device.
8. When that is over with, create a new passcode.
9. If you are used to syncing your iPhone to iTunes, the lost data will be little, and you will be able to keep using your iPhone with zero hassle.

Unlock With iCloud

This method will need you to make use of iCloud instead of iTunes. It also has its own requirements you must adhere to. They are,

1. You syncing your device to the iCloud at least one time.
2. The “Find My iPhone” being active on your device.

In the first method, you needed the PC you made use of to sync your smartphone to iTunes. In this step, you can make use of any computer, since your data is stored on Apple’s cloud. To unlock your phone with iCloud:

1. Head to https://www.icloud.com/ via your browser.
2. Get yourself logged in with your Apple ID and head to the “Find My iPhone” section.
3. Tap the “All Devices” tab to view the list of all Apple devices you have synced to iCloud.
4. After that, tap on the device you wish to unlock.
5. Tap the “Erase iPhone” button. This will get rid of all the data from your device, plus the passcode you cannot remember.
6. As the erase process is complete, make use of the Setup Assistant to install the latest version of your device’s backup from iCloud.
7. Create a new passcode.

Unlock With iTunes Recovery Mode

If you have never synced your iPhone to iTunes or iCloud, you are still covered. It is still possible to unlock it via iTunes Recovery Mode. This step is also utilized if your mobile phone is only synced to the cloud but “Find My iPhone” not activated on it.

Before you continue, you must know that all the data stored on your device will be gone forever. Your iPhone will head back to its factory settings. So, only resort to this step if every other solution did not come through. To unlock with iTunes Recovery Mode, do this:

1. Have all the cables unplugged from your device
2. Power it off.
3. Launch the iTunes app on your computer. If it is not installed, do that here before continuing.
4. Launch the iTunes app.
5. Hold the Home button as you plug your device to the PC. This should power it on. If it remains off, have it done the manual way.
6. Press the button till “Connect to iTunes” displays on the screen. Then, you’ll be shown a notification telling you that iTunes has discovered a phone in recovery mode.
7. Tap OK.
8. When the iTunes Summary tab shows, tap the “Restore iPhone” button. After that, iTunes will get rid of all the data on your iPhone.
9. Use the “Setup Assistant” to set up your mobile device.
10. At last, reset your iPhone’s passcode.