Posted in Cracks & Hacks, How To & Tutorials and tagged with , ,

Protect Your iPhone With An Alphanumeric Password

Written on July 13, 2009 by Sebastien 26 Comments

You can easily passcode protect your iPhone by going to Settings > General > Passcode Lock. However, this only gives you the ability to set up a 4-digit code. If you’re a security freak and want to add an extra layer of protection to your iPhone, there is a simple hack that will let you create an alphanumeric password of as many characters as you want.

1. Download this file to your computer.

2. Email this file to an email account you have on your iPhone and open the attachment from there.

3. You should see the following screen:

4. Tap “Install”. You should get a warning message. Confirm by tapping “Install Now”.

5. It will then ask you to create a strong passcode of 1 or more characters. At this point, you can use letters and numbers to create a passcode as long as you want. Confirm your passcode.

6. You’re done. Now when you slide to unlock your iPhone, you will have to enter your alphanumeric passcode.

If you enter an incorrect password 18 times, it will wipe out your iPhone. To remove the data wiping feature, go to Settings > General > Profiles > Remove.

If you want to deactivate this alphanumeric passcode, go to Settings > General > Passcode Lock.

I think that’s a nice and simple hack for anyone looking to make his iPhone data a little safer.

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26 Comments »

  • Tony Toronto said:

    Wow great fuckin’ tip.

    I have never heard of this. So of course, you then have to ask how safe and how legitimate is this process, because after all we are dealing with passwords and protection.

    And I understand that by the looks and screenshot of this, it looks like to be a natural process that does not require jailbreaking?

    About time, the 4 digit lock code was not cutting it in terms of pass protection.

    Thanks for tip!

  • Dina Dimopoulos said:

    Works beautifully! Thanks!

  • Ra said:

    Was look for somthing like this. THANK YOU (K)

  • Salar said:

    Shit I did this and now the keyboard that comes up wouldnt let me to put one of the letters in my passcode urghhhhh and I scare to keep doing it then it would wipe out my iphone

  • Salar said:

    nvm it worked after restarting my phone

  • mike said:

    great app.
    i think that it would be better if you type the wrong password 3 times or more, and it would email you the location of the iphone, and after 20 times it would erase the iphone personal date.

  • Keith said:

    I tried this hack and it didn’t even work. It just loaded a txt file. Let me know if I’m doing something wrong.

  • Sebastien said:

    @Keith Did you download this using Safari?? If so, try downloading again from FireFox and go through the process again. It should work fine.

  • Rn3sto said:

    Pretty nice but you would take some time every single time you want to unlock it.

  • Dennis McNally said:

    How do you install this?The file shows up as a note book file after downloading on a win Xp computer.

  • paocer said:

    works

    but i was able to view my files via the iphone browser even when it is locked

  • paocer said:

    btw how do you remove this?

    thanks

  • Zeeshan Sohail said:

    @ paocer: Read the blog post!

  • Jerry said:

    hey is their a way to get this to not expire? I had to make a new password after a day of use…

  • Chuckles said:

    Love having a password instead of a 4 digit number. Hate the audit policy though. Workaround so that I don’t have to reset the password EVERYDAY?

  • bill said:

    I want to deactivate the alphanumeric passcode. I went to Setting>General>Passcode lock and theres no option to deactivate or turn it off. I am able to change how long it stays unlock (up to 4 hours) but not turn it off.

    Can you help

  • Joza said:

    I want to deactivate the 13 digit numeric passcode. I went to Setting>General>Passcode lock and theres no option to deactivate or turn it off. I am able to change how long it stays unlock (up to 4 hours) but not turn it off.

    Help please
    ps:I have jailbreak,3G and OS 3.0

  • Sebastien said:

    The option should be there…. Worst case scenario, do a restore.
    s

  • Joza said:

    No men
    not restore.
    You have some responsibility for your post and to you follovers on twitter,damm.
    Where to post pics from my iPhone with this option?

  • Sebastien said:

    Hey dude, I have no responsibility whatsoever. These are hacks and you do them at your own risks! Send the picture of your Settings > General screen on Twitter and I’ll look at it.

  • Simon de Lisle said:

    I had the same problem and I just this second figured it out. To deactivate the password and return to the 4 gigit code just enter in a 4 digit number as your password and that is it. I couldn’t believe it was that obvious!
    S.

  • Simon de Lisle said:

    I had the same problem and I just this second figured it out. To deactivate the password and return to the 4 digit code just enter in a 4 digit number as your password and that is it. I couldn’t believe it was that obvious!
    S.

  • Chris said:

    Won’t let me enter a 4 digit passcode, says “Enter a strong passcode with 1 or more characters.”

    Looks like I’ll be restoring, lest I figure this out.

  • Alfr3dc2 said:

    Will this work on unjailbroken iphone?

  • nima said:

    you can remove this by following this steps:
    1. Open the “Settings” application.
    2. Tap the “General” option.
    3. Scroll to the bottom of the General screen and tap “Profiles.”
    4. On the Profiles screen tap the profile you wish to remove (in this case the one setting the long alphanumeric passcode).
    5. When the profile info is displayed, tap the “Remove” button.
    6. Confirm that you want to remove the profile — tap the “Remove” button.
    7. Type in your long passcode when prompted.
    8. When the profile has been removed you will be left on the Profiles screen.
    9. Tap the general arrow in the upper left.
    10. Scroll up to the “Passcode Lock” option on the General screen and tap it.
    11. On the Passcode Lock screen tap “Turn Passcode Off.”
    12. Type in your long passcode.
    13. Tap the “OK” button in the upper right.
    14. When complete you will be on the General screen.
    15. The long passcode has been removed, if you wish to enable the original short numeric passcode continue with steps 16 – 18.
    16. Tap the “Passcode Lock” option.
    17. You will be prompted to enter a simple 4-digit passcode.
    18. Done.

  • Alex said:

    Works great! Thanks.

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