Recently I was playing around with my iPhone settings and set a Restrictions PIN for disabling specific apps on the phone. Today when I went to turn off the Restrictions Settings guess what…. Yeah, I forgot the pin. Oh great… Unfortunately, a system restore didn’t remove the PIN either and since I didn’t feel like doing a wipe-and-reload, I came up with a new solution.
Let me introduce you to the iPhone Backup Extractor!
The iPhone Backup Extractor surprisingly has it all. It’s free and doesn’t even require Jail breaking to use. The only thing to note however about using my method below for recovering your Restrictions PIN is if you configured iTunes to encrypt your backups, your outta luck… If however your like me and skipped backup encryption (it was on my list but never checked that box….) here’s a few things to note about the iPhone Backup extractor:
- Easy and free.
- Works on Windows and Mac.
- Doesn’t require Jail Breaking.
- Finds your iPhone backup on your PC or Mac and you do not even need your device.
Ok… enough chatter. Let’s get to work! and recover that Restrictions PIN
Step 1
Download iPhone Backup Extractor (FREE)
Step 2
Once Launched your iPhone backups will be detected, Select the most recent backup or the backup you want to extract settings from.
Step 4
Choose Expert mode to browse the backup.
Step 5
From here you have access to all the .plist files saved in the backup which hold your settings and preferences including your Restictions PIN.
Note: It’s interesting to note that in order to gain access to this same data directly from the iPhone you must Jail Break the device since Apple does not allow access to these .plist files by default. However it is easily accessible from the backups as long as your backup files are not encrypted.
Step 6
To extract the .plist file that contains the “Restrictions” PIN browse to \Library\Preferences\com.apple.springboard.plist. Check the file and hit Extract selected and save it to a location.
Step 8
Within iPhone Backup Extractor go to /File/View PList, browse to the saved .plist file and hit Open.
Step 9
Within the open .plist file browse down to the key SBParentalControlsPIN to view your saved Restrictions PIN.
Some other cool/interesting features of the iPhone Backup Extractor
- Recover iPhone Contacts
- Recover iPhone Photos
- Recover iPhone Notes
- Recover iPhone SMS History
- Recover other lost iPhone Data
- Browse through your iPhone backup (or anyone else that you can get physical access to…)
This is a great tool and it speaks to the importance of encrypting your backup files.
Do you have a geeky iPhone tip to share? Email @groovypost.com!
26 Comments
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Fletcher
Worked a charm. It took me a while though to figure it all out, here are some thoughts:
>You don’t need to connect your device to the computer, the program searches and uses your computer’s iphone/ipod/ipad backup folder.
>You don’t necessarily need the computer which you normally sync your iPhone/iPod with. Any one with iTunes will do, although you’ll have to back up your device to this “new” computer first (just connect it, open iTunes, right click, backup – You won’t lose any data)
> Do the above if you don’t see your iPhone on the list in the Extractor Program. You need to have a backup present on this computer, that’s what the Extractor Program searches.
>There are multiple springboard files though, so for those like me who couldn’t find it first time, I followed this path:
– Select your Iphone/Ipod
– Choose Expert Mode.
– Expand the Library folder
– Expand the Preferences SubFolder
– Tickbox the ‘com.apple.springboard.plist’
-Extract to the Desktop (for convenience).
-Follow the rest of the instructions in the article (Go to the IPBE program again, and now click file, locate the springboard plist file. I had trouble locating it till I realised that it actually lived in the freshly appearing “library” folder on the desktop)
-View the file, it’s near the bottom.
Great guide, no downloads, no nothing needed, plain and simple.
miyako
Thank you so much for this MrGroove very easy to follow! Problem solved in just 2 mins! :)
MrGroove
@Miyako – Awesome! Thank you for the feedback. I’m glad we were able to help!
Alexmac
There is nothing that says SBParentalControlsPIN??
Alexmac
Hey steve i had a slight problem and i really need help its soo frustrating!!! i sent you an email please help me!!
whitey
Excellent – easy to use. Found my lost restriction PIN in minutes.
Thanks!
aimee
I did pretty good until step 9 but i never found the SBParentalcontrolspin… why?
Duncapa
Can’t find any line in the Plist showing the SBParentalControlPIN. Everything else went just fine. Seems like there are a couple of others having the same issue. Any assistance would be great. Thanks! =)
volo
This doesn’t seem to work on IOS 5.
Steve Krause
Hey guys — looks like we need to update the article for iOS 5. Apple must have discovered the security gap on this. Sorry for the outdated info.
COMGAL
do you have the IOS 5 fix yet. I recently forgot my passcode and I will like to retrieve it before i restore everything..
Steve O
Have you been able to find out if and where the restrictions pin is now stored in iOS 5? I see you’ve not responded since your post in Jan 1, 2012…
Geoff
Just got an iphone 4s, have a lot of music on my old 3g which I can’t transfer to my new phone.
any suggestions?
Sudeep
Hi Steve,
I just upgraded my iPod 4G Touch to iOS5 and am unable retrieve my Restrictions PIN. Please Help! Do you have ny update for this version?
Thanks!
Sudeep
Rick
any update for iOS 5 yet?
Kehm
It works for ios 5.1… it also works not only for iphones also for an ipad.
Thanks much! :) I just retrived my restrictions pass code. I just upgraded my ipad yesterday and it’s all clear that I haven’t placed this pass code >.<
oh well, if you can't read that .plist file after step 9 just download this:
http://www.icopybot.com/plist-editor.htm
Steve O
Kehm – you say it worked for you with iOS 5 – where did you find the restrictions pin as there are many postings plus myself who cannot find the SBParentalControlsPIN entry in iOS 5?
Rick
Anyone? Bueller?
crazy
Thank you so so so so so much!! You saved my (iPhone) life!!!
iphone trendz
Relief!!! I finally got it!!! for those of you still trying this is what I figured out today – on your iphone backup extractor select an earlier version database not the latest ios5 – I had to go back to an earlier backup i had from ios 4.3.3 and I found the pin!!! it is towards the bottom of the file:
SBShowSMSPreview False
SBLastAddressBookCountTime 347950805.145046
SBParentalControlsPIN 8790
SBShowBatteryPercentage True
SBDidShowReorderText True
Bis
how can i edit the option available inside the .plist file, it is not allowing me to do anything inside it. i followed all the steps mentioned and it didn’t work ..there is no option for this particular parameter SBParentalControlsPIN inside the file. even i can add this parameter
Nikki
Hi can not get the restriction code for my childs ipod with this program. He has the iOS 6 upgrade got windows 7. please help!!!
TOMMY
IT WORK ON IOS 8 IPHONE 6??? BUT I NEVER BACK UP MY IPHONE ON ITUNES BEFORE ..
Kongi
Hi guys, well i have an iPhone 5c and i did all the steps with no PIN. I did this on a mac, and I’m pretty pissed off that i can’t find it at all. Pls do something about, cause if it doesn’t show, whats the point of this?
Pls respond,
Steve Kongi
Thx
Oliververlee
The day before yesterday, I have lost my iPhone photos owing to my recklessness. Now I am very urgent to get back all of my iPhone photos and I have iTunes backup files too. All I need is just iPhone Backup Extractor to help me get them back.
I tried my best to get some free tools in Google, I have tried some (such as FonePaw iPhone Data Recovery), if you have some good idea, can you suggest some free ones? (Of course, if you think some paid ones are more reliable and easy to use, it is also ok)
Bertil Friman
Thank you very much for this extremely useful information. It all worked exactly
as you described. I had activated restrictions on my old (3G) and new (5s) Iphones to
limit my ten year old sons computer game playing, and hid the code so well
I could not find it. But now I found it thanks to this program and your instructions!