Since some people seem to be reaching an older post of mine trying to figure out how to unlock a passcoded iPhone, I thought of sharing a few thoughts on the matter.
If this is your phone and you have managed to forget the 4-digit passcode you set on it, stop reading: we have concluded that you are a moron. Please donate your iPhone to one of the Dev Team members so that it can be used for nobler purposes. You don’t deserve it.
If you stole the phone (which, unfortunately, is an unpleasant reality) then FUCK YOU! I hope everyone records their own IMEI (engraved on the back of the phone, I think it is also written on the box) and reports it to carriers so that they may lock it out of their own network.
When you connect a passcoded iPhone to iTunes, a pop-up warning shows up1 telling you iTunes will not interact with the iPhone until you enter the passcode. So you can’t restore from here.
The only way I can guess you might be able to get back a passcoded iPhone would be to set it into DFU mode and then repair it with iTunes. This might as well brick the phone, might prevent you from unlocking it again or corrupt your IMEI, among a number of things. It should, at the very least, wipe out the phone so that you can’t access any of the old information, which is a good thing. It might, however, give you a ‘new’ iPhone as a result, one you could hopefully still use. I did not try this for obvious reasons2 but if I were to face the issue, the above is what I’d do.
I am interested if anyone knows of a way to disable the passcode via the terminal, considering SSH is enabled. Drop me a line if you’ve tried it/came across it anywhere, please!
P.S. passcode != SIM PIN
