If you forgot iPhone's passcode and iPhone doesn't unlock, you may be worrying that you will be locked out permanently. This article explains how to regain access to iPhone if forgotten passcode.
You can easily unlock your iPhone if you can't remember your passcode, unless you restore the phone.
What if your iPhone became locked and you forgot passcode to get into it? That's frustrating.
Not being able to remember iPhone's passcode is a fairly common issue. With an incorrect passcode being entered five times, iPhone Unavailable screen appears to lock you out. Luckily, it's possible to unlock an iPhone if you forgot the passcode. We'll walk you through 5 different ways to unlock iPhone with forgotten lock passcode by a reset, after which you can regain access to the device and set it up, then restore from a backup.
Useful Tip: Putting the locked iPhone into recovery mode is an official route to reset the passcode you forgot. iTunes/ Finder, as well as iPhone Unlocker installed on the computer are the feasible tools to unlock the iPhone efficiently.
Table of Contents
iPhone screen passcode is the security settings that protects device's data. Here are some situations you might be in when forgotten the passcode:
Due to security settings, you cannot unlock iPhone without passcode. So if you truly forgot passcode on the locked iPhone, resetting iPhone is your only option to regain access. This means that iPhone restores to a totally-clean state, along with all data including the lock code being erased.
To reset iPhone if you forgot passcode and are locked out, you can use a computer to put your iPhone into recovery mode and restore it via iTunes/ Finder or the 3rd-party trustworthy iPhone Unlocker tool, or use Find My to erase iPhone. If you're using iOS 15.2 and later, reset the iPhone wirelessly to remove the forgotten passcode.
After the reset, complete the setup process with your Apple ID & password, and restore iPhone from a backup. So you need to make sure you have a backup for your iPhone; or else use the device on its out-of-box status.
If you have a PC running on Windows 10 or later or a Mac nearby, you can connect your iPhone to iTunes or Finder, and place it into recovery mode, then do a reset to erase everything on the iPhone. Here's how to get into iPhone when forgot phone passcode using computer:
1. Switch off your iPhone as you did normally.
2. Force iPhone to enter recover mode. You need to long-press a correct button based on your iPhone model while you attaching your device with the computer with the Apple-approved USB cable.
3. iTunes should detect the iPhone once it's in the recovery mode, and pops up an alert "There is a problem with the iPhone that requires it to be updated or restored."
4. Select Restore button in the prompted window to unlock your iPhone when you didn't remember the passcode.
5. Click Restore and Update button to confirm again that you're sure to restore iPhone to factory settings. The process begins, downloading the software for your device and deleting all data and settings.
Soon your iPhone you forgot the passcode to is unlocked, and you'll be able to access the device. Use your own Apple ID to set iPhone up and restore a recent backup to it. It's essential to know that any data stored in the phone will be wiped, and all preferences will return to default settings.
Note: If you don't have a PC or Mac, borrow one from someone to reset the iPhone, or just skip to this method of resetting iPhone passcode from iPhone Unavailable screen without connecting to computer. This is also works in case you have a Samsung Chromebook or any brand of Chromebook that is not supported iTunes or Finder.
iPhone Unlocker, an effective third-party passcode removal tool, offers a more solid approach for unlocking your iPhone when you cannot remember the passcode on the lock screen, or iPhone display "iPhone Unavailable," "Security Lockout," "iPhone is disable connect to iTunes." Likewise, once it's installed, connect your iPhone to your computer, place it into recovery mode and then restore it to factory condition, which erases your passcode when forgotten as well as other content and settings on the device. Plus the software is working for any iOS version of an iPhone forgetting passcode and being locked.
Step 1- Download and install the application on your Mac or PC, then launch it.
Step 2- Select Wipe Passcode mode and hit Start button to proceed.
Step 3- Plug your locked iPhone into the computer with a USB cable, and go to "Device connected but not recognized" for guides of making your iPhone enter Recovery Mode.
Step 4- When your phone is detected, verify your device information.
Step 5- Go on with Start button to download the latest iOS for your iPhone. Wait for a while before it's done.
Step 6- Lastly, enter "0000" in the blank, and click Unlock button to trigger the iPhone forgotten passcode unlocking process.
How much time it would take to unlock the iPhone passcode depends on the speed of your computer network.
After you do all the steps above, your iPhone will be unlocked and the passcode you didn't remember will be removed. You'll be able to get your data back from your backup in iCloud or your computer.
If your iPhone is updated to iOS 15.2 or later and connected Wi-Fi or cellular network, then you can use your Apple ID and password to reset iPhone without a computer to.
You need to input the passcode incorrectly on the locked screen until the "iPhone Unavailable" or "Security Lockout" message appears with the passcode reset option laying at the lower right of the screen, then use the option to get out of the situation where you forgot phone passcode for iPhone and find yourself locked out of the device.
iPhone unlocking forgotten passcode process in previous version of iOS is almost the same. This can be done with a reset, rendering the lock code you forgot deleted permanently.
If you have the "Find My iPhone" feature turned on—which is originally designed for wiping a stolen device remotely, you can use it to unlock the iPhone that you forgot the passcode on. For this remote wipe to work, you'll also have to know the Apple ID credentials and get your iPhone connected to the Internet.
Steps on unlocking a locked iPhone when you forgot passcode via Find My iPhone, with or without computer.
1. Navigate to iCloud Find My iPhone in a browser on a phone - no matter it's running iOS or Android system, or on a computer.
2. Sign in to your Apple ID account.
Note: The Apple ID account should be the same with the one signed in the iPhone that is locked with forgotten passcode.
3. Above the map with the locations of all your devices, click All Devices and select the iPhone that you'd like to unlock.
4. Select Erase iPhone among the three options.
5. Hit Erase as the last step to get your iPhone begin to reset and unlock the forgotten passcode.
If you just change your passcode and don't remember what the new passcode is, iOS 17 Passcode Reset trick will have you back. Apple offers you three days to reset the new passcode with the previous passcode, without resetting the whole device. In other words, you can use your old passcode to unlock iPhone within 72 hours of changing your passcode, and create another new passcode. Here's how to use Passcode Reset to unlock iPhone if you forgot the just-changed passcode:
1- For your iPhone lock screen, unlock your iPhone with the wrong passcode five times until "iPhone Unavailable" message appear.
2- Tap Forgot Passcode.
3. Tap Enter Previous Passcode. The option will be visible if you've changed your passcode less than 72 hours.
4- Input the passcode you used on iPhone.
5- Now set a new passcode for your iPhone. Or you can use your old passcode again if you want.
6- Wait for a while and you'll be taken back to your iPhone's Home screen. This won't delete your data.
Don't Miss: If you forgot iPhone passcode, how to unlock an iPhone without restoring
When your iPhone turns out to be locked with the passcode being forgotten, the only way is to erase and restore iPhone to factory settings. That means that there's no way to unlock iPhone with forgotten passcode without deleting stuff off of the device. Whichever method mentioned above - iTunes/ Finder, iPhone Unlocker, iPhone Passcode Reset and Find My iPhone - you choose to use for unlocking, your iPhone wipes itself clean and returns to the status when it first came out of the box.
Only if you have a backup of the data currently on your phone, you're able to restore your iPhone from that backup after the reset process, in a way to ensure that you don't lose your memorable pictures, essential contacts and messages, and any other important info.
After you've successfully fixed the issue and now get into your iPhone without passcode, set up iPhone and restore from your backup to recover your storage. Here's how:
