Forgotten iOS Restrictions Password/Passcode

Question

My dad put restrictions on my phone. He put it for many things that he didn't even know about. For example, downloading and deleting apps and Safari. So now that I want to do different things on my phone, I can't because my dad forgot the password.

Is there a way that I could take off the restrictions without deleting all of my things? If that isn't possible, then how can I restore my phone so the restrictions could come off? I heard that you can use find my iPhone someway so I could take off the restrictions but I'm not sure and I don't want to do the wrong thing.

Answer 1

There's a tool that can recover the restrictions passcode from a device backup, called Pinfinder. Follow the macOS instructions and download the tool which is a command line binary and it will recover your pin.

Answer 2

There's no way to do this without restoring the device. You won't break the hardware, but you will lose all your photos and music and apps and data from the apps - so be sure to connect to iTunes or save your photos and anything you can't lose to another place like a computer or a cloud service.

Quoting this Apple KB article titled "iOS: Understanding Restrictions (parental controls)"

If you lose or forget your Restrictions passcode, you will need to perform a factory restore to remove it.
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Last Modified: Mar 25, 2014

The find my iPhone restriction is that if your iCloud account has the device locked, you will need to enter your iCloud password before the restore starts. This password is different from the PIN code that was entered when the parental controls were set up the first time.

If you really can't afford to lose the apps - you could have your parent write down on a piece of paper the pin codes they might choose now and then try entering them one by one to see if you can recall it. That is the best way to unlock, but you will soon run out of time to guess and entering / breaking that restriction by brute force isn't something that's viable.

Answer 3

There is a file that you can edit to change the Restrictions Passcode to anything you want.

First read the instructions at the following URL to help you understand the issues and reset process.

http://www.techbout.com/reset-restrictions-passcode-iphone-ipad-ipod-8365/

Download and install the following utility: iBotBackup

Do a complete backup using iTunes. Do not encrypt the backup.

Then in iBotBackup, open the file "com.apple.springboard.plist" under \SystemFiles\HomeDomain\Library\Preferences. You can edit it in the XML editor, or copy and paste the text into TextEdit on the Mac and make the following changes.

1) Find all keys that begin with the string "SPParentalControl". I grouped them together to make it easier to find them next time.

2) Replace the following keys to have the following text values.

<key>SBParentalControlsBlocked</key>
<false/>
<key>SBParentalControlsBlockTimeIntervalSinceReferenceDate</key>
<real>504390922.912126</real>
<key>SBParentalControlsEnabled</key>
<false/>
<key>SBParentalControlsFailedAttempts</key>
<integer>0</integer>
<key>SBParentalControlsMCContentRestrictions</key>
<dict>
  <key>countryCode</key>
  <string>us</string>
</dict>
<key>SBParentalControlPIN</key>
<string>1234</string>

Before letting iBotBackup reboot the iPad, I also deleted the following key entirely, just for good measure, since it appeared to contain the lockout time interval: SBParentalControlsBlockTimeIntervalSinceReferenceDate 504390922.912126

15. Select Restore options You will now be asked to select from the following 3 restore options: a) Reboot device after restore b) Don’t Copy backup c) Remove items from device that will not be restored From these 3 options make sure that you select the first 2 options and uncheck the third option.

Then use iBotBackup to Restore this file back to your iPad / IOS device.

Your iPad will reboot. Go to Restrictions again, and enter your new PIN of 1234. You may need to enter the new pin more than once.

This worked for me !! It also taught me a few more things about Apple IOS configuration.

The following URL was also somewhat helpful in understanding what keys to change: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2667637?start=105&tstart=0

Answer 4

Just go to Restrictions or Accessibility..idk..either way, get to Clear Browser Data and restrictions will be off.