How to Fix “iPhone Passcode Expired”

Updated on January 5, 2024

‘iPhone Passcode Expired’ is an error that you see a pop-up saying that your iPhone unlock passcode has expired when you are using your iPhone. If you see this message, you don’t need to panic as a couple of fixes are there to have your back.

Here you will learn almost all the possible ways to rectify the problem, even if the phone was given to you by your office, and the iPhone unlock passcode expired as a result of the company policy.

Why Is My iPhone Saying My Passcode Has Expired?

Sometimes, it can be an error or conflict with the software or the settings, so the message pops up suddenly and you actually did nothing wrong.

If you have signed in to your school or college account or the iPhone was given to you by a company or organization, the phone will download and install a profile so that it can be accessed and managed remotely. In another word, your iPhone is controlled by your company, school, or organization through MDM. When such a profile is installed, its passcode policy may come with an expiration duration after which it keeps displaying the message ‘Passcode Expired. Your iPhone unlock passcode has expired’.

Does Apple Password Expire?

If it’s about Apple ID, it doesn’t expire. However, Apple strongly recommends you change the password as frequently as you possibly can to keep your account protected against unauthorized access.

On the other hand, if the question is about the iDevice’s passcode, yes, it does expire. If you signed in to your school/college account or the phone was given to you by the organization you work with, the profile policies may have a time threshold after which the device will inform you that your iPhone unlock passcode has expired.

How to Stop the “iPhone Passcode Expired” Pop-up

As mentioned earlier, depending on the reasons for the message that is popping up, the solutions may vary. Some of the most common fixes for the issue are explained below:

Solution 1: Force Restart iPhone

Force restarting your iDevice pulls the power from its circuit momentarily and then reboots the device, thus removing any junk information from the memory that might be preventing your iPhone from behaving normally.

Because the processes of force restarting an iPhone vary in different models, all the methods are covered here:

For iPhone SE 2^{^nd} Generation, iPhone 8 and Above

Press and release the Volume Up button.

Quickly press and release the Volume Down button.
Press and hold down the Sleep/Wake button.
Wait until the phone restarts and the Apple logo appears on the screen.

Release the Sleep/Wake button.
Wait while the phone boots normally.

For iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus

Press and hold down the Volume Down and Sleep/Wake buttons together.
Wait until the iPhone restarts and the Apple logo appears on the screen.

Release both the buttons.
Wait while the phone boots normally.

For iPhone SE 1^{^st} Generation, iPhone 6s, and Below

Press and hold down the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons together.
Wait until the iPhone restarts and the Apple logo appears on the screen.

Release both the buttons.
Wait while the phone boots normally.

Solution 2: Reset iPhone Passcode

Resetting the iPhone passcode ensures that your phone complies with the policies that came along when you installed a profile defined by your school or organization. You can learn how to reset your iPhone passcode by following the instructions given below:

On your iPhone, go to Settings.
Go to Touch ID & Passcode (for iPhones with Touch ID) or Face ID & Passcode (for iPhones with Face ID).

Enter your passcode when iPhone prompts.
On the Touch ID & Passcode or Face ID & Passcode screen, tap Change Passcode.
When iPhone prompts, enter your current passcode.

Next, enter and then re-enter a new strong passcode for the phone.

Solution 3: Reset All Settings

Resetting all the settings on your iPhone to their factory defaults ensures that all the conflicting configurations are removed, and that the phone is ready to be used as a fresh device. The advantage of this approach is that no apps or personal data is removed whatsoever, and the impact remains limited only to the settings. You can reset all settings to get rid of the ‘iPhone Passcode Expired’ error by following the process given below:

On your iPhone, go to Settings.
Go to General.
Scroll down to the bottom and tap Transfer or Reset iPhone.

Tap Reset from the bottom of the next screen.
Tap Reset All Settings from the menu that pops up.
Enter your passcode when iPhone prompts.

Tap Reset All Settings from the bottom of the screen.
Tap Reset All Settings again when you’re prompted.
Wait while your iPhone restarts before you can start using it normally again.

Solution 4: Update iPhone

If your iPhone still has an older version of iOS installed in it, you might get the error “iPhone Passcode Expired”. To fix this, all you need to do is, install the updated version of the operating system if it is available. The process to do so is given below:

Make sure that your iPhone is at least 50% charged.

Ensure that the phone is connected to a stable Wi-Fi network and that it can access the Internet.
Go to Settings.
Go to General.

Tap Software Update.
Wait while your iPhone checks for any available software updates.

Note: If an update is available, you will see its details on the screen. Else, you will see a message saying, ‘iOS is up to date’.

Assuming that a newer version of iOS is available, tap Download and Install from the bottom.
Wait while your iPhone updates and restarts.
Continue using the phone normally.

Solution 5: Restore iPhone using recovery mode

Restoring an iPhone is a two-part process where in the first part, you connect the phone to a PC with iTunes and put the phone in Recovery Mode, and in the second part, you restore it.

When you restore, iTunes downloads and installs a fresh copy of iOS on your iDevice, thus removing all the glitches and inconsistencies that it may have. The process to restore iPhone is given below:

Part 1: Put iPhone in Recovery Mode

To put your iPhone in Recovery Mode, you must:

Use the Lightning cable to connect the phone to a PC that has iTunes installed on it.

Launch iTunes.
Now, you can use the methods given in Solution 1, but instead of releasing the buttons after the Apple logo appears, you must keep them pressed until your iPhone enters Recovery Mode. You will know that the phone is in the said mode when you see a cable and a PC symbol or iTunes logo on the screen.

Note: As explained in Solution 1, the combination of buttons that must be pressed varies according to the model of the phone you have.

Part 2: Restore Your iPhone

To restore your iPhone after putting it into Recovery Mode, you must:

Click Restore on the iTunes information box.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the requirements.
Wait while iTunes downloads and installs a fresh copy of the latest iOS on your iPhone and reboots.
Start using your iPhone normally.

Solution 6: Remove MDM

As explained at the beginning, you see the error “iPhone Passcode Expired” might be because your iPhone is under MDM. MDM stands for Mobile Device Management. If your iPhone is supervised by a company or school, the MDM profile can be removed only by the supervising instance of Apple Configurator. For this, you may need to contact the IT administrator and request them to grant permission to make changes.

On the other hand, if the IT administrator has defined a policy where you, as a user, can manage your profile, you can:

Go to Settings.
Go to General.
Go to VPN & Device Management.

Tap Profile.
Tap to select the culprit profile.
Tap Remove Profile.

Follow the on-screen instructions from there to complete the process before you can start using the phone again.

What If You Can’t Find IT Administrator

If you’re unable to contact the IT administrator and your iPhone doesn’t allow you to remove the profile either, you must look for a third-party solution that is both easy to use and can get the job done efficiently. One such program is iMyFone LockWiper. Some important tasks that LockWiper can perform include:

Remove MDM lock.

Unlock Touch ID and Face ID.
Unlock if your Apple ID or password is forgotten.
Erase iPhone.

Remove screen time passcode.

Conclusion

You will not see the ‘Passcode Expired. Your iPhone unlock passcode has expired’ message unless your iPhone has a profile that came with such a policy. Nevertheless, if you come across this situation, you can always try the solutions given above.

Michael Yang

Michael is the founder of ClarifyHow and has also been a test engineer for phones and computers since 5 years ago. He gets various problems while working and fixes most of them by himself or his colleagues, so he would like to share his experience and knowledge.