In the digital age, security is essential. Our devices store very valuable and personal information, and protecting that information has become a priority. That’s why we set up a passcode on our iPhones. A passcode that we can change regularly and, after changing it, we might forget. Fortunately, the situation has a solution. Let’s see, then, how to unlock our iPhone if we have forgotten the passcode after changing it.
A grace period for the first few days with a new passcode
With the arrival of iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, Apple has introduced a truly useful feature: a grace period of 72 hours after changing the passcode. If we have recently changed the passcode of our iPhone or iPad and forget it, now we have up to three days to use the old passcode and regain access.
How? Very easy. If we enter an incorrect passcode, simply touch the “Forgot Passcode?” option at the bottom of the screen, which allows us to use the “Try Passcode Recovery” option using our old passcode to set up a new one.
Furthermore, the feature also considers the following scenario: What if we are changing the passcode to prevent someone who knew the old one from accessing the device? Apple has thought of this and offers a function called “Expire Previous Passcode Now.” With this feature, our old passcode will no longer be valid, thus ensuring an additional layer of security. Expiring the previous passcode is as easy as following these steps:
- Open the Settings app on our iPhone or iPad.
- Go to Face ID & Passcode or Touch ID & Passcode.
- Tap on “Expire Previous Passcode Now.”
- Confirm by selecting “Expire Now.”
With this, iOS 17 has made the process of regaining access to our device after a passcode change easier and more secure. Considering always choosing a secure, preferably alphanumeric passcode, changing the passcode is, pun intended, safer than ever before.
