How to Recover a Forgotten Photo Vault PIN
A while ago, we wrote a post about recovering a forgotten Screen Time passcode. That got me thinking about other popular passcodes that don't have a built-in recovery mechanism. Then a customer emailed me that they forgot their Photo Vault passcode!
It turns out that for versions of the Photo Vault app prior to early 2019, the Photo Vault passcode is stored in the backed up preference files, and it's easy to get out of an iPhone or iPad backup. After early 2019 Photo Vault app updates, the Photo Vault PIN is stored more securely in the iPhone keychain, and not just stored in the open in the settings. Decipher Backup Browser can recover the Photo Vault PIN passcode from an local backup for all current versions of the Photo Vault app.
Download Decipher Backup Browser and make a backup of the iPhone with the Photo Vault PIN/passcode you need to get.
Download Decipher Backup Browser
How to Recover a Forgotten Photo Vault PIN
Read and follow these steps to recover your Photo Vault PIN passcode:
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Click on the backup of your iPhone/iPad in the left column of Decipher Backup Browser. If you don't see your iPhone in the left column, you'll need to make a backup of your iPhone in iTunes (Windows) or Finder (macOS)
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Select "Photo Vault PIN/Passwords" from the center column.
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Your Photo Vault PIN will show in the right column in the full version of the program. In the free trial, you will see a preview with the PIN obscured, along with an estimated date that the PIN was stored.
Important notes:
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If you have changed your PIN in the past, you may see multiple PINs listed. Your current PIN should be the one shown with the most recent date.
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Decipher Backup Browser can recover a Photo Vault passcode from both encrypted backups as well as unencrypted backups. If your backup is encrypted, you may see your PIN listed twice: once for the PIN stored in the keychain and once for the PIN stored via other files in the Photo Vault backup.
If you need to save/recover photos and videos from Photo Vault from an iPhone backup, you may find this tutorial for recovering Photo Vault photos helpful also!
Can you recover a Photo Vault PIN from an unencrypted backup?
Yes! Decipher Backup Browser will recover a Photo Vault PIN from both encrypted and not encrypted backups.
Can you recover a Photo Vault Pattern Lock PIN?
Yes! Decipher Backup Browser can recover Photo Vault "Pattern Lock" pins. Pattern locks are the style of PIN where you drag lines connecting nine points on the screen.
The recovered Pattern Lock for Photo Vault will display as digits 1 through 9, corresponding to the nine possible points you could drag between. The layout looks as follows.
Can you recover a forgotten Photo Vault Folder Password?
Yes! Decipher Backup Browser will also recover your Photo Vault folder passwords.
Read and follow these steps to recover your Photo Vault folder passwords:
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Click on the backup of your iPhone in the left column of Decipher Backup Browser. If you don't see your iPhone in the left column, you'll need to backup your iPhone.
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Select "Photo Vault Folder Passwords" from the center column.
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Your Photo Vault folder Passwords will show in the right column in the full version of the program. In the free trial, you will see a preview with the folder names and obscured passwords, along with an estimated date that the password was set.