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My son entered too many incorrect passcodes on my iPod Touch and apparently forced it to wipe my iPod clean. Sadly, this has happened before. I connected to iTunes and restored from my latest backup and then sync'd. When I went to unlock my iPod, instead of being presented with the usual numeric keypad, I was given the full qwerty keyboard. This was alarming, but I switched to number mode and entered my numeric passcode. I was told "Wrong Passcode, try again".

What has happened? Why won't my passcode work, and where did this qwerty keyboard come from? And most importantly, how do I fix this?

gilly3
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    The QWERTY keyboard must have appeared because the password was changed to something other than a simple passcode. What version of iOS is installed on the device? – Ethan Lee Sep 01 '11 at 21:35
  • It's a second generation iPod Touch and is up to date with the latest iOS software installed. I'd tell you exactly which version, but I seem to have misplaced my iPod! :( Any idea how the password could've changed from doing a restore from backup? I haven't changed the passcode in months. – gilly3 Sep 01 '11 at 22:52
  • Did you know how old the backup was? It could have been an old password; although, as you mentioned, you haven't changed the passcode for a while, and you have the latest iOS software, which means it should have been backed up pretty recently. Another possibility could have been your son changing the passcode? (but highly unlikely) It had to be changed in some way, and iOS doesn't just change passcodes on its own. – Ethan Lee Sep 01 '11 at 23:04
  • You can select to have more complex passwords than just a four-digit number in the preferences. The nice thing about it is the fact that the system keeps displaying the number pad as long as the long password contains only numbers. Doesn't seem the problem in your case. You are most probably out of luck to get your iPod content back (or you want to google for stuff like 'security flaw in iOS allows access without passcode'). – nohillside Sep 04 '11 at 20:53

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The solution to my problem was rather simple, though I still don't understand it:

Reboot.

My battery drained completely, and when it came back on after plugging it in it presented the expected numeric keypad and accepted my passcode. It seems rebooting was all I needed to get back to normal.

It doesn't make sense to my why it happened that way. If you have an explanation, I'll happily accept your answer.

gilly3
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That is normal behavior. Each reinstall of settings on a clean device requires a reboot. It doesn't matter if the device is 'clean' due an iOS upgrade or clean from a security wipe. iOS backups are not simply copied over. They are interpreted for security and compatibility.

Have a look on the device next time you upgrade iOS. It should perform two reboots. One for the iOS and one after your settings are in place.

Oddly, he should have don't that second reboot on his own since its part of the procedure.

Helge Becker
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