iPhone 6+: PLEASE help. Forgot passcode, 1 shot left, not backed up :(

[tdale]

As indicated earlier in the thread, Apple has made it impossible to brute force the iPhone to keep the government out of the customers' business. Unlike the bank, Apple doesn't know your password.

Ok, cool, I must have missed that post. In which case this thread is now redundant if there is no ability of anyone to know the passcode, or to reset the phone without wiping it.

The only means I can think of is take the phone to an iPhone fixer guy, they seem to be everywhere, replacing screens etc. OP can see if they can suggest something from a hardware point of view, all you need is a means to access the storage chip. If that can be done externally.......

Example, cannot boot to Windows, nothing works. Remove the HDD, connect to another PC and see the contents as JUST an attached HDD, not via the OS on that HDD

 

[Greenone]

Omg this is SO ridiculous. Not Apple this time - me!!! So check this out: I talk to the customer relations dept. - to a really cool guy in fact (who's going to pour a glass of wine tonight and toast to my grandma, Baba). Anyway there's of course nothing he can do but he made me feel better somehow. After telling him about my grandma (she's gone downhill since I saw her in Nov. so I wouldn't be able to duplicate the conversations I'd recorded) he said I'd ruined his day. Which is probably b.s. but it was still good to hear and I told him "good." Haha.

Here's what's ridiculous. Ready? Wait for it.... Ok. So I think "this is it," I'm going to lose my photos now... and I type in a possibility-of-a-passcode. No, it didn't work. But instead of shutting me down, it GIVES ME ANOTHER TRY. And I got my second possibility WRONG ALSO!!! I thought it would be one of two possibilities but it was NEITHER! WTF! I mean how many square-shaped patterns with a 9 can there possibly be!!! AND FURTHERMORE, it gave me several more tries (I think up to 5) before saying I had to wait a minute. Then again, I tried a couple more than it was 5 minutes and then 2 and now it says 15 minute wait. That's what's ridiculous! I've miraculously been given another chance - multiple in fact - and I still can't come up with the ***** password!!! I'm absolutely DYING here!

Now why this is working (more chances), I don't know. Is it cause I waited so long (several days?) or is it cause Apple secretly gave me more tries (I doubt it) or what??! Is it cause the rumor that you can do it endlessly is true after all even though Apple said I only had one more chance? Can you believe I was given this chance and still failed? I'm about to start laughing maniacally! Go ahead and let the insults fly. Only mad at myself, now!

 

[ssl0408]

So you're inviting insults? Strange.

 

[Greenone]

So you're inviting insults? Strange.

Yes. Go for it. Feeling 110% masochistic.

 

[Greenone]

I plugged in the phone and was getting ready to restore the phone (I'd gotten the first 60-minute wait and decided I can't torture myself any longer) when I saw the option to update to the latest version iOS 8.1.1. It says 8 hours (started at 9) to download?! I hope it doesn't take that long! Okay now it says 6 hours. I won't bother restoring till after that. Ugh. I'm ordering a pizza. And I'm never drinking red wine again.

 

[Wondercow]

I've miraculously been given another chance - multiple in fact - and I still can't come up with the ***** password!!! I'm absolutely DYING here!

Now why this is working (more chances), I don't know. Is it cause I waited so long (several days?) or is it cause Apple secretly gave me more tries (I doubt it) or what??! Is it cause the rumor that you can do it endlessly is true ...

There's no mystery and there's no miracle; people told you, back on page one, that it would allow you to keep trying indefinitely. As long as "Erase Data" is disabled it'll keep allowing password attempts, with forced delays, without touching your info.

Waiting several days is why the timeouts reset, but is not the reason you're allowed to keep trying. At the risk of repeating myself, it's as you were told on page one: the device will not erase data nor permanently lock out the user.

There is no rumour about "doing it endlessly"; there is a rumour about being permanently locked out, and guess who started that one...

 

[icrot]

No, sadly Apple rep was very, very clear with me, as were all the people at the Mac store (hence my anger)! You DO lose EVERYTHING after however many attempts (10 or whatever - I don't know/care what the number is), EVEN IF YOU DIDN'T SET YOUR PHONE TO DO THAT. Apple gave me some lame reason but it's true, and shocking and extremely upsetting to me. I tried maybe 5 different codes, to start. Got locked out for 1 minute. I tried some more (can't remember how many). Got locked out for another minute I think. Then it let me try I think only one, possibly two codes, then it said 5 minutes again (I think the 5 minute wait was twice, though sorry again I could be wrong...I didn't know it was serious or I would have been paying attention!). Then the next time I had only ONE code chance and then it said 60 minutes. I did it, got it wrong, then it said 60 more minutes which is when I called Apple. That's when he said "whatever you do, do NOT attempt to put in a code ONE MORE TIME unless you're 110% certain it's correct, cause if you do, it'll force your phone into reset mode so it'll shut down until you reset it" (or something like that). More inquiring lead to his telling me that if it does that, and I haven't backed up, I'll lose everything, no matter what. Call Apple and ask... it's unbelievable.

true. phone will reset and restart after the 2nd 60 minutes wait. i tried couple times just to answer my curiousity.

 

[Greenone]

There's no mystery and there's no miracle; people told you, back on page one, that it would allow you to keep trying indefinitely. As long as "Erase Data" is disabled it'll keep allowing password attempts, with forced delays, without touching your info.

Waiting several days is why the timeouts reset, but is not the reason you're allowed to keep trying. At the risk of repeating myself, it's as you were told on page one: the device will not erase data nor permanently lock out the user.

There is no rumour about "doing it endlessly"; there is a rumour about being permanently locked out, and guess who started that one...

3/4 people at Apple told me I had one last chance - and they were in the departments as high up as one could go. I'd say that's not a rumor!! I believed who I was technically supposed to believe!

 

[Greenone]

Ok. The drama is over. I restored my phone. Wow. What a sucky feeling. Thanks for the ride, folks. It's been interesting to say the least.

 

[cairene2011]

Do you have a Google+ or gmail account set up on your phone? I know that Google+ offers instant upload, which is backing up your photos to your Google+ account seconds after you took them. It's possible though that this is only a default setting in the Google+ android app and might have to be manually selected in the Google+ iOS app. Can't hurt to check your Google+ page though, if you have one. (Which I think everyone automatically does since it's getting more and more connected with other Google services like YouTube or gmail)

 

[Ke1ington]

Ok. The drama is over. I restored my phone. Wow. What a sucky feeling. Thanks for the ride, folks. It's been interesting to say the least.

Whoa wait. I've been following this thread from the beginning and I'm a little stumped.

You finally discovered that you do in fact have unlimited chances to get this thing and THAT'S when you give up and restore??

I was really looking forward to you figuring this thing out!

 

[zooby]

Ok. The drama is over. I restored my phone. Wow. What a sucky feeling. Thanks for the ride, folks. It's been interesting to say the least.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think you learned your lesson. Always be sober when setting up a passcode and make sure you'll remember it.

 

[wolfaaron]

Ok. The drama is over. I restored my phone. Wow. What a sucky feeling. Thanks for the ride, folks. It's been interesting to say the least.

That sucks that you had to lose your photos. I can understand forgetting to back up because life gets in the way. Maybe automatic wifi/iCloud backups would save you next time?

 

[Greenone]

Whoa wait. I've been following this thread from the beginning and I'm a little stumped.

You finally discovered that you do in fact have unlimited chances to get this thing and THAT'S when you give up and restore??

I was really looking forward to you figuring this thing out!

No I tried everything under the sun. I mean yes but no. I'd gotten back to the point I was at before and the world was spinning. I'd gotten totally depressed about it too. I just couldn't keep it going. Every. Single. Time. I tried. Nothing came of it. It was a joke and I was sick of torturing myself.

 

[Ke1ington]

No I tried everything under the sun. I mean yes but no. I'd gotten back to the point I was at before and the world was spinning. I'd gotten totally depressed about it too. I just couldn't keep it going. Every. Single. Time. I tried. Nothing came of it. It was a joke and I was sick of torturing myself.

Sorry to hear it. At least you can take solace in the fact that you'll never make the same mistake after all of this.

You'll always have your memories. People before the invention of the camera did just fine, I'm sure.

 

[kaielement]

Omg this is SO ridiculous. Not Apple this time - me!!! So check this out: I talk to the customer relations dept. - to a really cool guy in fact (who's going to pour a glass of wine tonight and toast to my grandma, Baba). Anyway there's of course nothing he can do but he made me feel better somehow. After telling him about my grandma (she's gone downhill since I saw her in Nov. so I wouldn't be able to duplicate the conversations I'd recorded) he said I'd ruined his day. Which is probably b.s. but it was still good to hear and I told him "good." Haha.

Here's what's ridiculous. Ready? Wait for it.... Ok. So I think "this is it," I'm going to lose my photos now... and I type in a possibility-of-a-passcode. No, it didn't work. But instead of shutting me down, it GIVES ME ANOTHER TRY. And I got my second possibility WRONG ALSO!!! I thought it would be one of two possibilities but it was NEITHER! WTF! I mean how many square-shaped patterns with a 9 can there possibly be!!! AND FURTHERMORE, it gave me several more tries (I think up to 5) before saying I had to wait a minute. Then again, I tried a couple more than it was 5 minutes and then 2 and now it says 15 minute wait. That's what's ridiculous! I've miraculously been given another chance - multiple in fact - and I still can't come up with the ***** password!!! I'm absolutely DYING here!

Now why this is working (more chances), I don't know. Is it cause I waited so long (several days?) or is it cause Apple secretly gave me more tries (I doubt it) or what??! Is it cause the rumor that you can do it endlessly is true after all even though Apple said I only had one more chance? Can you believe I was given this chance and still failed? I'm about to start laughing maniacally! Go ahead and let the insults fly. Only mad at myself, now!

APPLE DID NOTHING WRONG!!!!! LETS GET THAT PART STRAIGHT!!! THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE BEEN TELLING YOU FOR DAYS. ANY WAY HOPE YOU LEARNED YOUR LESON ABOUT BACKING UP YOUR DATA. AND IT SOUNDS LIKE APPLE WAS TRYING TO TELL YOU HAD ONE MORE CHANCE BEFORE IT WEOULD MAKE YOU WAIT. NOT THAT IT WOULD ERASE ALL YOUR DATA.

That being said it seemed like you didn't read what people where trying to tell you. So you wonder why people where being so rude well it's because people don't like repeating themselves over and over and over and over.

 

[Greenone]

APPLE DID NOTHING WRONG!!!!! LETS GET THAT PART STRAIGHT!!! THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE BEEN TELLING YOU FOR DAYS. ANY WAY HOPE YOU LEARNED YOUR LESON ABOUT BACKING UP YOUR DATA. AND IT SOUNDS LIKE APPLE WAS TRYING TO TELL YOU HAD ONE MORE CHANCE BEFORE IT WEOULD MAKE YOU WAIT. NOT THAT IT WOULD ERASE ALL YOUR DATA.

That being said it seemed like you didn't read what people where trying to tell you. So you wonder why people where being so rude well it's because people don't like repeating themselves over and over and over and over.

Wow. I don't mind the insults as I said but don't expect me not to insult you back if you're asking for it. First of all, stop yelling. Second, learn to spell for crying out loud. Third, I read what people were trying to tell me but I was reporting to them what Apple had to say which contradicted said people. If you look closely you'll see there were also people that agreed with what apple was saying. What Apple says is supposed to be all that matters! Hence, my surprise that I had more chances. I don't care why I got them - I was grateful for the opportunity but DISGUSTED (with myself) that I still couldn't come up with the passcode! But I digress... you don't seem to get much of this.

----------

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think you learned your lesson. Always be sober when setting up a passcode and make sure you'll remember it.

Yup.

----------

That sucks that you had to lose your photos. I can understand forgetting to back up because life gets in the way. Maybe automatic wifi/iCloud backups would save you next time?

Yes, thank you. What's hilarious is that iCloud won't let me in. I have to agree to terms of service but when I click on agree the screen freezes and nothing else happens. Yay me.

----------

It's interesting that one of the reasons I hated icloud before is that it was constantly asking for my apple password at every turn. Now it's not - only if I've restarted the phone/turned it back on after turning it off. I don't know what I did differently. Oh well. Just another of the many curiosities (for me anyway).

 

[Ke1ington]

APPLE DID NOTHING WRONG!!!!! LETS GET THAT PART STRAIGHT!!! THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE BEEN TELLING YOU FOR DAYS. ANY WAY HOPE YOU LEARNED YOUR LESON ABOUT BACKING UP YOUR DATA. AND IT SOUNDS LIKE APPLE WAS TRYING TO TELL YOU HAD ONE MORE CHANCE BEFORE IT WEOULD MAKE YOU WAIT. NOT THAT IT WOULD ERASE ALL YOUR DATA.

That being said it seemed like you didn't read what people where trying to tell you. So you wonder why people where being so rude well it's because people don't like repeating themselves over and over and over and over.

You should probably get to bed before your parents catch you playing on the internet. Seems like you should be more worried about being alert for reading, spelling and comprehension lessons that you should be about parroting what's been repeated ad nauseum over the past seven pages.

If you had taken the time to read and understand you would have recognized that the OP has already realized and accepted responsibility for her mistake and moved on. You should probably find another thread to offer your infinite wisdom.

 

[cairene2011]

Gosh, this thread is tiresome to read.
OP, you complain that people aren't helpful, but instead of replying to my constructive suggestion you keep focusing on the comments you perceive as negative. That surely doesn't help either?

Now, did you have the Google+ or Gmail app set up on your phone? If so, please go and check your Google+ page - your photos might have been automatically uploaded there if Instant Upload was selected by default. It won't hurt checking!

 

[alFR]

It's interesting that one of the reasons I hated icloud before is that it was constantly asking for my apple password at every turn. Now it's not - only if I've restarted the phone/turned it back on after turning it off. I don't know what I did differently. Oh well. Just another of the many curiosities (for me anyway).

IMHO there's something wrong with your phone, because it's doing things it's not meant to:

• Asking for your passcode when you've got Touch ID set up and haven't restarted your phone.
• Asking for your iCloud password when you restart the phone or turn it back on.
• Not letting you log into iCloud.

I just tried what you say you did to trigger the first two of these and neither one triggers that on mine. Either you're not describing what you're doing/seeing accurately, you have something wrong in the way you've set the phone up or there's a software/hardware problem.

 

[Applefan4]

This story sounds highly suspicious to me. No offense, but the Touch ID does not work in the way you describe. Furthermore, for something like a phone which contains a lot of unbacked information you were randomly typing in new passwords just so the kids don't see it? Sorry, don't believe it.

 

[noobinator]

I talk to the customer relations dept. - to a really cool guy in fact (who's going to pour a glass of wine tonight and toast to my grandma, Baba).

This thread delivers.

Pour one out for my homies!

 

[bunnicula]

I'm gonna ask a dumb question here since you already restored it and lost everything anyway...

Why didn't you just go get yourself another phone, then save that one to keep trying now and then until you got it?

You could always either return the new one (if you figured it out within 14 days) or sell the old one once you cracked the passcode.

 

[ssl0408]

I'm gonna ask a dumb question here since you already restored it and lost everything anyway...

Why didn't you just go get yourself another phone, then save that one to keep trying now and then until you got it?

You could always either return the new one (if you figured it out within 14 days) or sell the old one once you cracked the passcode.

I think this is a good question! The OP went on and on about how important these photos and videos were, and then she just gives up and restores the phone?! I would have done what you suggested; buy a temporary phone and keep trying to guess the password since it doesn't lock you out. I'm now thinking that this post was a farce and may have been a stolen device.

 

[I7guy]

I think this is a good question! The OP went on and on about how important these photos and videos were, and then she just gives up and restores the phone?! I would have done what you suggested; buy a temporary phone and keep trying to guess the password since it doesn't lock you out. I'm now thinking that this post was a farce and may have been a stolen device.

Op was not a "newbie", so would believe the story /circumstances. Op might have just given up after the initial flurry of posts.