[Stepwise Tutorial] How to Restore Encrypted iPhone Backup

To enhance the security of your iPhone backups stored on your computer, employing password protection and encryption is advisable. By encrypting the backup for your iOS devices using the "Encrypt local backup" feature found in the Finder or iTunes, your data is effectively locked and encoded.

Encrypted backups can include information that unencrypted backups don't:✎...

Your saved passwords

 Wi-Fi settings

Website history

Health data

Call history

It’s important to note that Face ID, Touch ID, and device passcode data are not included in encrypted backups.

By default, your backup is not encrypted, but you can enable the password-protected "Encrypt local backup" option in the Finder or iTunes to encrypt your backup for the first time. Once activated, subsequent backups for your device will automatically be encrypted.

Alternatively, you can choose to create a backup in iCloud, which ensures automatic encryption of your information with every backup. After backup, how to restore an encrypted iPhone backup with iTunes or Finder and what to do when you forget the password? Please read on!

How to restore encrypted iPhone backup via Finder/iTunes

If you're using a Mac running macOS Catalina or a newer version, access the Finder.

Steps on restoring encrypted iPhone backup via Finder

Step 1. Establish a connection between your device and computer with a USB cable. If it needs to enter your device passcode or grant Trust This Computer, follow the onscreen instructions.

Step 2. Once your iPhone appears in the Finder window, select it.

 

Step 3. Choose Restore Backup.

Step 4. Evaluate the dates associated with each backup and pick the most appropriate one.

Step 5. Enter the password for your encrypted backup and tap Restore.

Keep your device connected even after it restarts to allow it to sync with your computer.

For Macs with macOS Mojave or an older version, as well as Windows PCs, you can solve the problem of "how to restore encrypted iPhone backup" by launching iTunes.

Steps on restoring encrypted iPhone backup via iTunes

Step 1. Launch iTunes and connect your iPhone to your computer with a USB cable. iTunes will recognize the iPhone and prompt you to enter the device passcode or to tap Trust This Computer option.

Step 2. Click the device icon in the upper-left corner of the iTunes window. If not, you need to tackle the problem firstly about the iPhone icon not showing in iTunes.

Step 3. Then you will be directed to the Summary page of your device in iTunes. In case you're currently on another window, simply click the Summary tap on the left menu.

Step 4. Here you’ll find a Restore Backup button under the Backups section, press it. Now you can see all the backups you have on your system.

Step 5. Choose the backup you want to restore according to the name or date.

Step 6. Enter the password of the encrypted backup. Once everything is set the restore will start and finish in a few minutes.

Don’t disconnect your device after it restarts. Wait for it to sync with iTunes and once it finishes you can disconnect.

How to turn off backup encryption?

Uncheck the "Encrypt local backup" checkbox in the Finder or iTunes and enter the password.

What to do when I forget Finder/iTunes backup password

Many people may want to know “how to restore encrypted iPhone backup without password”. Is it available to access the encrypted iPhone backup without password? The answer is not.

But you can reset your phone to move the encrypted password and make a new encrypted backup of your device. And it's important to keep in mind that you will no longer be able to access previous encrypted backups after resetting the settings.

If you are using iOS 11 or later. Here are steps:

Step 1. On your iPhone, choose Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone, then click Reset.

Step 2. Hit Reset All Settings and key in your device passcode.

Step 3. Confirm Reset All Settings.

Resetting your device's settings won’t change your user data or passwords. However, it will reset settings such as display brightness, Home Screen layout, and wallpaper back to their default configurations.

If you are using an iPhone running iOS 10 or an earlier version, it is not possible to reset the password directly. In such cases, you can try the following alternatives:

Consider using an iCloud backup as an alternative.

Alternatively, you can rely on an older iTunes or Finder backup to restore your device

FoneTool: A better way to back up and restore iPhone

Compared with iTunes and Finder, FoneTool can be a better alternative to back up your iPhone, and it can help you transfer files between Windows PC and iPhone/iPad like an AirDrop. It offers broad compatibility with iOS devices, including iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch and it’s also designed to work seamlessly with Windows 11/10/8/7/XP.

Take advantage of this opportunity and download the tool completely free of charge.

Back up and restore your iPhone easily if you forget password

Maybe you will ask "How to restore iPhone from encrypted backup without password". Can this tool help me tackle this problem? The answer is still can’t. But FoneTool can help you back up and restore your iPhone easily without password, and you can use the “Selective Backup” method to back up important data.

Steps to iPhone Selectively Backup:

Step 1. Launch FoneTool on your PC > Connect your iPhone to the computer with a USB cable > Tap Trust on your iPhone.

Step 2. Choose Phone Backup > Selective Backup > Get Started.

Step 3. Hit an icon to choose the data you need to back up, here we take photos backup as an example. Then click OK.

Step 4. Select a storage path to save the backup. Click Start Backup.

How to make an encrypted iPhone backup and restore

If you still need an encrypted iPhone backup, FoneTool is also a useful app to back up and restore your private data.

Steps to encrypt your iPhone backup:

Step 1. Choose Phone Backup > Go to Full Backup.

Step 2. Enable backup encryption> Set the backup password> Click OK.

Step 3. Select the storage path > Tap Start Backup.

When the backup is finished, you can go to Backup History to check your backup.

Steps about how to restore encrypted iPhone backup:

Step 1. Go to Backup History and tap Restore.

Step 2. Select the backup file > Choose Restore to > Click Start Restore.

Step 3. Enter your password and hit OK to begin the task.

How to manage backup password

If you want to change or delete your backup password, go to Phone Backup and choose the blue button to operate.

After changing the password, please remember the new password as you will need it to back up, restore and transfer data. After deleting the backup password of your iPhone, the next time you move the data won’t need to verify the password, but the assess code in the previous backup file cannot be erased.

Conclusion

Hope you can know completely how to restore encrypted iPhone backup in this guide. As an all-in-one iPhone management application, FoneTool enables you to back up, transfer and manage iOS devices from Windows PC at super-fast speed.

Besides, it’s also a HEIC converter to help you convert HEIC to JPG/JPEG/PNG then you can import HEIC files to Lightroom. And its Photo Deduplication can assist you with eliminating duplicate and similar photos for free in a hurry.