I'm looking for suggestions on how to deal with a frustrating issue. My grandmother's iPhone 16 updated overnight and now it's asking for a six-digit passcode that she never set up. She has never used a passcode on her phone, so this caught us completely off guard. At the moment, the phone is still stuck on the multi-language hello screen from the update, which means she hasn't accidentally set a passcode either. She woke up to find it locked this morning. I've reported this to Apple, but I'm really hoping to find a solution without having to reset her entire phone.
3 Answers
Unfortunately, the only way to get around this seems to be restoring the phone to factory settings. There’s really no other option here.
Try entering her passcode twice if it’s something like 1234. Enter 123412. You might also want to check the support link I found for troubleshooting iPhones.
Thanks for the suggestion! She never had a passcode, but I’ll still check the link you shared in case I end up needing to reset the phone.
A sudden passcode like that doesn’t just pop up out of nowhere. It’s possible she accidentally set up Face ID and relied on that to unlock her phone. Normally, there should be no default passcode unless the phone is managed or supervised. Did she happen to use any of the backup methods available?
I’ve looked around and noticed others are experiencing the same issue after this update. No one manages her phone, and she definitely doesn’t use Face ID. I was the one who set it up and helped her with everything, so I know this is linked to the overnight update since it was fine before. Plus, the phone is still on the hello screen!
I started the backup process since it was backed up recently, but ironically, it’s not even letting me proceed with that right now.