Reset passcode on iPod touch

Q: I have an iPod touch and I forgot the 4 digit passcode, can you help me?

– Kate

A: Unfortunately there is no way to bypass the password requirement on the iPod touch. If you have a MobileMe account with the “Find My iPhone” feature enabled, you can reset the password remotely and then enter the new password to access your device. Otherwise you will need to restore it completely back to factory settings, erasing everything on it in the process.

After several attempts at entering the password, your iPod touch will start to make you wait between attempts. You can reset this delay by connecting the device to iTunes on your computer, but this will not actually unlock the device; merely reset the password attempt counter.

iTunes normally backs up your iPod touch each time you connect it to your computer, and it will do this even if the device is locked, provided you’re connecting it to your primary computer. You can check the status of your device backups by visiting the Devices tab in your iTunes Preferences.

Provided you have a recent backup and all of your media content and apps are in your iTunes library, restoring the iPod touch is a relatively painless process. Simply connect your device to your computer, open iTunes, and click the “Restore” button which appears on the “Summary” screen in iTunes.

This will erase your iPod and reload the operating system. Following this, your device will restart and iTunes will prompt you to restore your backup onto your device. After your backup has been restored, iTunes then re-syncs all of your content onto your iPod touch, assuming you were using automatic synchronization. If you were managing your content manually, you will have to re-add your media content back on yourself.