What to Do If You Forgot the Screen Time Passcode on Your iPhone or iPad

Change your passcode or passcode settings

On iPhone X and later, or iPad with Face ID, go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode. On earlier iPhone models, go to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode. On devices without Touch ID, go to Settings > Passcode.

Get help

Follow the steps in this section for help with things like passcode settings, alerts, and forgotten passwords.

How to recover your screen time (restrictions) passcode

To reset a forgotten Screen Time passcode on your iPhone, you will first need create an encrypted back up of your iPhone on a computer, download the free online software that we recommend, and then use the software to recover the forgotten passcode from your backup. If something goes wrong, you can also use the backup to restore your iPhone.

How to Back Up Your iPhone to Your Computer:

1. To back up your iPhone to a PC or a Mac running macOS Mojave, simply plug your iPhone into your computer and open iTunes.
2. To back up your iPhone to a Mac running macOS Catalina, plug your iPhone into your Mac and open Finder.
3. Select the little phone icon that appears when you plug in your iPhone.
4. Under Backups, select This computer and make sure Encrypt iPhone Backup is checked. (The Screen Time passcode will only be saved in encrypted backups.)
5. If you haven’t encrypted your iPhone backup before, you’ll be asked to set a password. Make sure it is something you will remember. If you think you won’t remember it, come back and turn off backup encryption right away after recovering your passcode.
6. Click Back Up Now.

How to Download Decipher Backup Browser:

I was able to use Decipher Backup Browser to recover my Screen Time passcode without problems; however, there is always a risk when downloading software from the internet, so keep that in mind.

How to reset a restrictions passcode without iphone / ipad restore?

There is a sometimes referenced and fairly complicated method which attempts to reveal and crack the Restrictions passcode by using third party software on an unencrypted iTunes backup of an iOS device, you may find it elsewhere on the web but it often involves downloading dubious third party software which is not recommended for security reasons.

How to reset the screen time passcode on your iphone

If you no longer want to use the recovered Screen Time passcode, you can change it in the Screen Time settings.

1. Open the iPhone Settings app.
2. Tap Screen Time.

   

3. Tap Change Screen Time Passcode.
4. Confirm by selecting Change Screen Time Passcode from the menu that pops up.

   

5. Enter the forgotten Restrictions passcode you just got using the information above.

   

6. Enter your new passcode and then re-enter to verify.

   

How to turn off screen time

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Screen Time.
3. Tap Turn Off Screen Time.

   

How to turn off the screen time passcode on your iphone

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Screen Time.
3. Tap Change Screen Time Passcode and select Turn Off Screen Time Passcode from the menu that pops up.
4. Enter the passcode you just recovered.

   

The Screen Time passcode has been turned off.​

Learn more

What is a restrictions passcode? what is a screen time passcode?

If you had Restrictions enabled on your iPhone or iPad before iOS 12, your Restrictions passcode is now your Screen Time passcode, without any extra effort on your part. If you have an older device running iOS 11 or earlier, you still have Restrictions and a Restrictions passcode rather than Screen Time. The steps are the same for recovering either type of passcode.

What to do if you forgot your screen time passcode

If you forget the Screen Time or Restrictions passcode on your iPhone or iPad, you will need to recover it. After that you may want to reset or turn off the passcode. You may even want to turn Screen Time off completely. Here’s how.