Forgot iPhone Passcode? Here’s How to Reset Your Passcode

Last updated on January 1st, 2018 at 08:48 pm

Did you forgot iPhone passcode? Wonder how you can unlock disabled iPhone without passcode or reset iPhone passcode? Well, earlier I showed you how to unlock iPhone 7 which is carrier locked. Today I’m going to guide you on how you can unlock your disabled iPhone without a passcode. For security purposes, your  iPhone has a lockdown mechanism that disables your iPhone if you enter an incorrect unlock code a number of times.

As soon as you hit 6 failed consecutive attempts to unlock the device, your iPhone is locked for some time. This duration increases with each continued failed attempt. When you reach 10 failed attempts, a warning message appears on the iPhone screen. It says that your iPhone has now been disabled and this is where things get complicated.

Early failed attempts lockdown your phone for a limited time period. Like up to 60 minutes for 9 failed attempts. The 10th failed unlock disable it for an indefinite time period until you can prove your identity. Or find a way to unlock the device without the correct passcode. This guide should help you regain access to your locked Apple iPhone. Even if you have lost the passcode and ended up disabling the device after 10 failed attempts.

Supported iPhone Models

Currently, the methods of how to reset iPhone passcode, that we are going to discuss works on all iPhone models. This means that even if you have the latest iPhone X, you can still unlock it if it is disabled. All the following solutions work on all the iPhones released so far.

• iPhone X
• iPhone 8 / 8 Plus
• iPhone 7 / 7 Plus
• iPhone 6 (S) / 6 (S) Plus
• iPhone 5S / 5C / 5
• iPhone SE
• iPhone 4S / 4

Supported iOS Versions

The unlocking mechanism depends on iOS instead of the actual physical hardware of the device. Apple iPhone 3 onwards including the upcoming iPhone X, the unlocking methods should be the same for everyone. Apart from a few minor changes due to the iOS version installed on each device.

Some of the methods mentioned however will only work on specific iOS versions, like iOS 7 and above. However, since most of the Apple iPhones being used these days are on iOS 7 and above, it is unlikely that anyone on a firmware below that will have trouble unlocking their disabled iPhone.

Methods to Unlock iPhone Passcode

There are multiple ways of unlocking your iPhone passcode once it has been disabled due to an incorrect passcode. You can choose any method of your choice to unlock your disabled iPhone. These methods mostly work with all iPhone models but there is some dependency of iOS versions. Few methods use the newer features introduced in later iOS versions. So these methods won’t work on iPhones running older iOS models as I mentioned above.

Method 1: Unlock iPhone Passcode / Reset iPhone Passcode via iTunes

If you had previously synced your iPhone to your iTunes account using a PC, the process of recovering your iPhone becomes very easy and ensures that your data is not lost when you attempt to unlock your iPhone. This way, you can simply erase the data on your iPhone and restore it to a previous backup state, which was synced, to your iTunes.

1. Connect your iPhone to the PC you synced with.
2. Launch iTunes. If asked for a passcode, try another computer you’ve synced with
3. Wait until iTunes sync with your iPhone and make a backup.
4. Clicking on the “Restore iPhone” option in iTunes will present you with a number of backups you have made in the past, just choose the relevant one and it will revert you to the old settings on your device and remove the passcode
   

Method 2: Reset iPhone Passcode via Recovery Mood

If for some reason you didn’t backup your Apple iPhone data using iTunes. And don’t have a sync point to restore your iPhone to, you can still use iTunes to reset your iPhone and unlock it without knowing the passcode. However, this will remove all data on your iPhone. So proceed with caution and check all your PCs and laptops beforehand to see if you might have synced your iPhone with them earlier and made a backup of your data.

1. Connect your Apple iPhone to the PC or laptop and force restart it
   1. On the new iPhone X, 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, press and quickly release Volume Up button then press and quickly release Volume Down button. Afterwards, press and hold the Side Button until the Recovery Mode appears on iPhone screen
      
   2. On iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, press and hold the Side and Volume Down button at the same time until the Recovery Mode appears on screen
   3. For all Apple devices before iPhone 6s, press and hold the Home and Top/Side Button to start up the device in Recovery Mode
2. Since your Apple iPhone is connected to your PC right now, once the phone boots into Recovery Mode you will see a prompt message on your PC iTunes app to Restore or Update your device.
3. In order to unlock your iPhone without the passcode, hit the Restore button. The iTunes software will download the latest version of iOS for your device
   
4. Once the new iOS is done downloading, the iPhone will restart and you will need to boot back into Recovery mode by repeating Step 1.
5. Once again a prompt will appear on iTunes, choose to Restore again in the iTunes app and it will install the new OS on your iPhone, deleting all the previously stored data on it and also removing your iPhone passcode (i.e iPhone will be restored to factory settings).

Method 3: Reset iPhone Passcode without Computer / iTunes ( using iCloud / Find My iPhone)

In the case where you didn’t have your iPhone synced to iTunes, don’t have access to a computer and have also forgotten your passcode, locking down your device, you will need to wipe out all the content from your device in order to reset it. However, this method only works if you had the Find My iPhone feature enabled on your locked iPhone.

This method will also only work for iPhones which are using iOS 7 or later. When getting a new iPhone device, it is ideal to set some time aside for few things. To enable both the Find my iPhone feature and make iCloud backup. This is just in case of emergencies when you need to unlock your disabled iPhone. Or just erase all data from it if it gets stolen.

Since this method erases all data on your iPhone before you can unlock it, it should only be used in case of extreme emergency when nothing else is working.

1. Remotely wipe all the content of your locked iPhone using the Find My iPhone app
   1. Open “Find My iPhone” app from any other (iPhone or iPad)
      
   2. Insert your “Apple ID” and “Password“, the hit “Sign in” button.
      
   3. Choose the device you are going to delete.
      
   4. Hit “Actions” button in bottom of screen
      
   5. Tap on “Erase iPhone”
      
   6. Finally confirm erasing the targeted iPhone.
      
2. Start up your iPhone again and it will ask you to connect to your iCloud account.
3. Once you have logged into the iCloud account, Restore your backed up data from the latest iCloud sync.

Conclusion

You now have 3 ways to unlock disabled iPhone without a passcode (i.e. reset iPhone passcode). You can use these methods once your iPhone has been disabled after a number of failed unlock attempts. Keep in mind that this method only works in unlocking devices which have been locked due to passcode failure.

If your iPhone is network locked, these methods will not work. You can follow our guide on how to unlock iPhone SIM lock. Similarly if you purchased a used iPhone which has been locked by the previous owner’s iCloud password, resetting your device using the above-mentioned methods will not unlock your disabled iPhone. But we highly recommend to check our previous post 5 Steps to iCloud Unlock Your iPhone by IMEI