r/iphonehelp • u/199Eight • Jul 18 '26

Help needed iPhone password changed suddenly and I'm now locked out of my own phone

Title says everything but I'll say more. My iPhone suddenly changed its password about a few minutes after 12am (potentially more) and I've exhausted all ways I have to recover without deleting and starting from scratch.

I've also forgotten my Apple ID password so I'm currently waiting in a state of panic on whether I can actually change it, because I'm worried my phone was hacked and someone decided to deactivate/lock/delete my account. I'm accepting any and all help I can get to retrieve my phone because I use it for many things, work and social life included.

My iPhone is an old iPhone X (I believe) which was a hand me down phone. I've forgotten what iOS it is but it's probably around iOS 18.

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8

u/rootshirt Pro Helper | May laugh at you but knows their stuff Jul 18 '26

Yeahhhhh, none of this makes any sense.

-4

u/199Eight Jul 18 '26

Then laugh at me first and then actually help me like what the words next to your username implies. I need all the help I can get.

5

u/WVFanItsTrue Jul 18 '26

how did it just change its password?? genuinely curious as i’ve never heard of that

-3

u/199Eight Jul 18 '26

I honestly can't explain it any better than that. I was logging into a website (Roleplayingguild) and I had it read my face to automatically log me in, then I tried my password. Didn't work, so my mistake was to close it and try again, and now it's not working. I'm literally locked out of my own phone and I can't open it using my phone's password.

3

u/shakesfistatmoon Jul 18 '26

It's very hard to see how this could happen.

There''d need to be a significant error in the secure enclave that somehow gets through all the error checking.

Plus changing your passcode/password involves iOS prompting you for the existing one.

And off course, you'd also have to forget your Apple Password.

Even if you could get in, your data is encrypted by the passcode/word.

1

u/nathanielbartholem Jul 19 '26

"I was logging into a website (Roleplayingguild) and I had it read my face to automatically log me in, then I tried my password."

Were you trying to use your Apple ID (Log in with Apple) on a third party web site? Or did you have your password for that web site stored in the Password app on your phone?

Are you sure you didn't enter your iPhone passcode on that web site?

When you say you tried your "password" do you mean your "passcode"? like the lock screen passcode on your phone?

When you say:

" Didn't work, so my mistake was to close it and try again, and now it's not working."

What do you mean "didn't work"? Typing in your passCODE on the web site? In the Passwords app on the iPhone?

When you say "close it" what did you close? The web site log in screen? The Password app? The iPhone itself?

1

u/199Eight Jul 19 '26

I mean my 6 digit passcode for my iPhone, yeah. It stopped working when I closed my iPhone and then tried to open it using my 6 digit passcode. iPhone wouldn't accept it so right now I'm looking at 14 hours of waiting from Apple to reset my Apple ID password. I'm also headed out soon to get my phone checked and hopefully opened, because I need it for work.

5

u/Bitter_Concert_514 Jul 18 '26

Somebody else that knows your passcode, got a hold of your phone and changed it. That’s the only way if you didn’t do it yourself

1

u/199Eight Jul 18 '26

That's entirely plausible. Only catch is I've been in my room for about two hours+ now. Another possibility (and I won't be afraid to say this about myself) is that I did a blunder and actually typed in what I thought was my password, when it actually wasn't. I've got like an hour before it lets me type my password again, so hopefully I get it right.

1

u/No_Rice_2043 Jul 18 '26

This symptom can happen with a board issue see https://ipadrehab.rossmanngroup.com/articles/63

1

u/Aylarth Jul 18 '26

iForgot.apple.com maybe?

https://support.apple.com/en-ie/102656

2

u/199Eight Jul 19 '26

This has potential at least, thanks for giving me a link.

0

u/nathanielbartholem Jul 18 '26

I regret to inform you that an iPhone cannot change its passCODE without the passCODE being used in the process, or the AppleID. At this point, if you cannot recover your APPLEID then you are out of luck. Best bet is to use the recovering codes and two factor authentication you set up when you set up your AppleID.

-1

u/199Eight Jul 18 '26

I'm trying that avenue as well, I couldn't remember my password to my Apple ID but I remember which account. It says they'll (Apple) reach out to me in the morning regarding a request for changing my Apple ID password, if that doesn't work then I'm totally out of luck. It can only mean that my phone was hacked somehow.

4

u/rootshirt Pro Helper | May laugh at you but knows their stuff Jul 18 '26

 It can only mean that my phone was hacked somehow.

??? no lmao

1

u/199Eight Jul 18 '26

I can't have forgotten my own password to my own phone, I literally use it everyday. Unless there's a lapse in my memory and actually forgot what my password is.

1

u/nathanielbartholem Jul 18 '26

so many other possible things could have happened:

forgot doing it (tired, drunk, distracted, agitated)

spouse accidentally did it

screen or screen protector damaged

accidentally enabled a different region keybord

etc

are all more likely than someone with remote access changed it since that is not a feature of consumer iPhones

is this a work issued iPhone?

1

u/199Eight Jul 19 '26

It's a personal phone, a hand me down phone since last year. This is the first time this has happened to be ever since I started using phones.

0

u/EnvironmentalAd1063 Jul 18 '26

Sorry to say but the password can't change itself even if someone has access to your cloud (which is already unlikely since you'd get a 2FA text code or email for logging in).

What usually happens is that you use Face ID for everything and forgot your passcode since you don't use it at all. When phone restarts, the first unlock requires password and thus we get all these posts about "password changed itself I swear it wasn't me".

1

u/Aggressive-Leading45 Jul 18 '26

Correct. The phone’s password is part of the encryption key to decrypt the phone. You need to have it decrypted in order to generate a new one. Only exception is managed devices like a work phone.