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Lost iOS passcode plus no backups equals lost data

Rob Pegoraro
Special for USA TODAY
Apple's iPad

Q: My iPad broke, I finally sent it out for service and now I can't remember the passcode. Is there a somewhat easy way to get back into it without erasing all of my information?

A: No. This is the downside of effective security: If you can't produce the password, numeric code or whatever other data point that confirms your identity, the system has to treat you as if you were a stranger.

An Apple tech-support note spells out your remaining options on newer iPhones or iPads: Either you reset the device and then restore its contents from an iCloud or iTunes backup, or you reset it and lose any data onboard that hadn't been synced up to third-party sites.

There's no Plan C. You can't unlock the thing with a magic sequence of taps of the screen. You can't change the passcode using iCloud's Find My iPhone tool. (Google's Android is different in that aspect; read on for details.) You can't show up at an Apple Store with two forms of ID and a smile and ask the Genius Bar staff to liberate it.

Since iOS 8 shipped, even police investigators with a warrant can't get at an iPhone's data.

The upside of this is solid certainty that the device you carry every day can't be pried open by crooks or spooks. The downside is that if you don't turn on iCloud backups or forget to do regular iTunes backups and then forget your passcode, you're sunk.

Can somebody forget a four-digit sequence for a device they use all the time? Sure. Ever forget an ATM passcode? (A bank can reset that for you because it knows you much better than Apple.)

The risk of forgetting a passcode may increase if you activate Touch ID fingerprint recognition on your iOS device. You'll still need to set a passcode, but only have to enter it on such relatively rare occasions as after restarting the phone or tablet.

And what if you're trying to unlock the device of a family member after their death, as one man in California explained in an e-mail? That was painful testimony for me to read after complimenting Apple for strengthening its device security.

But while you can't engineer your way out of this problem after it happens, you can take two steps beforehand — like, say, right as you set up a new gadget gift — to prevent it from happening. Both may seem like bad security advice. But if you're only trying to thwart garden-variety attacks, not a concerted effort by a persistent adversary, they should be fine.

One is to create a "keepsake" passcode that is personally memorable to you but not something discoverable from a Web search. Pick a string of digits with emotional resonance — but not your wedding anniversary, your birthday or a recent street address — and it can be easier to recall on demand.

Another is to write the password down and put it in a fixed location you can easily reach, and where close friends or family members can know to look as well. Yes, stashing that slip of paper in a favorite book could backfire if a spy breaks into your house — but in that case, you have bigger problems than a locked phone.

Whatever you do to create and remember a device passcode, you should back it up regularly to iCloud, iTunes or both. But you didn't need me to remind you about that, right?

• Tip: In Android, you can (sometimes) remotely reset a screen lock

What about Google's Android? It, too, lets you protect your phone with a passcode; you can also trace a pattern over the screen to unlock it. (Neither method locks out potential snoops unless you've turned on storage encryption; that's only the default on new Android phones shipping with the 5.0 "Lollipop" release). But that screen lock isn't the end of the story.

You — or, to be fair, somebody with access to your Gmail login — can also reset the phone's passcode or pattern via your Google account. A Google tech-support note explains how you can do that starting from the phone itself or from Google's Android Device Manager Web app.

But remember two limits: The first workaround doesn't work in Android 5.0, and the second can't reset a screen-lock pattern, only a passcode. So here, too, you can wind up locked out of your own device.

Rob Pegoraro is a tech writer based out of Washington, D.C. To submit a tech question, e-mail Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/robpegoraro.

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