iTunes Backup Password What is it – How Can It Be Changed?

Every once in a while, mobile phone users feel the need to secure their personal information. This information can be backed-up on mobile phones and the data stored is often referred to as a backup. iTunes users can employ password protection and encryption to protect their iTunes backups.

To backup your personal information on an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or iOS devices first acquaint yourself with the features of the possible backup options.

Ways to Backup Your Data

There are two approaches that you can adopt to backup your data. They are:

1. Backing up your information with iTunes

• The data backup process is not wireless enabled, and a USB cable will be needed to connect your mobile device to your computer.
• The data to be secured is stored on your computer (Windows or Mac).
• You can choose to encrypt the backup file or not.

2. Backing up your information with iCloud

• The data backup process can be done over Wi-Fi (i.e., wireless functionality)
• The data to be secured is stored in iCloud.
• The data backups are automatically encrypted, and a unique password is not needed for this.

So, from the foregoing, you need to understand what your preferences are to be able to make the right choice. It all boils down to security, and by default, all iCloud backups are secured with encryption, unlike the iTunes backups where you have to initiate the encryption option yourself. It is good practice to always encrypt your data with the additional password when opting for the iTunes backup option.

This is especially useful in the event of a system loss where your data could be accessed if they had not been previously encrypted. Some data are more sensitive than others and are best secured; data such as KeyChain data, Health and Activity data are at the top of this list. So, ensure you treat your data backup appropriately.

How to Set up iTunes Backup Password and its Encryption

The process of setting up a password to protect your data backup on iTunes has been made as simple as possible. The steps to follow are:

1. Connect your mobile device to your PC via a USB cable.
2. Launch iTunes and select your device storage.
3. Click Summary
4. In the Backup section, select the “Encrypt iPhone (or iPad) Backup” radio button.
5. A prompt will pop up asking you to create a password, proceed to create your password.

NOTE: Ensure you choose a password that will be easy to remember, and make sure you commit it to memory. Remember that your data backup will be inaccessible if you forget your password.

6. Tick the “Remember this password in my keychain” box.

NOTE: All former iTunes data backups are encrypted as soon as you create a password.

This is the process for setting up your backup password and its encryption. Also, remember that the password you have created will be required whenever you want to restore the data you have backed up or should you want to make some changes to your backup preferences.

How to Turn off Your Backup Password

The process of disabling the data encryption setting is just as easy as the password set up process.  The steps to follow are:

1. Connect your mobile device to your PC via a USB cable.
2. Launch iTunes
3. Un-tick the “Encrypt iPhone (or iPad) Backup” radio button.

NOTE: You will be prompted to enter your backup password to effect this new change.

Changing your Backup Password

In the event you are unable to restore your encrypted iTunes backups or turn off the iTunes password feature because you forgot your backup password, there are some options you could consider:

1. You could make guesses of what your password is since an unlimited password entry attempt is possible.
2. You could turn to your iCloud backup
3. Create a new iTunes backup

Conclusion

Data security is becoming more of a necessity, and most people believe that data is the new currency. The importance of understanding how to secure personal data has never been more necessary.