Forgot your iPhone backup password? What it means for your messages

Look for the password first

When you turned on Encrypt local backup, Finder offered to remember the password in your keychain. Search for backup in Keychain Access or the Passwords app on that Mac.
Try the passwords you used around the time you set it up, including your Mac’s login password and your iPhone passcode.
If someone else set up the backup, ask them.

If it is gone: reset the password on the iPhone

On the iPhone, open Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone, Reset, then Reset All Settings, and enter the iPhone passcode.
This removes the backup encryption password. Apple says it does not delete your data or passwords, but it resets settings such as wallpaper, Wi-Fi networks and display brightness.
Connect the iPhone to the Mac and make a new backup. If you turn encryption on again, choose a password you will remember and write it down.

Then export

Open the new backup in TextExhibit and type the new password once. The app uses it only to read the backup on your Mac; it is not stored with us or sent anywhere.

What to keep in mind

Resetting the password does not unlock older backups made with the old password. Those stay unreadable.
If the phone is lost or erased and the only copy is an encrypted backup with a forgotten password, the messages in it cannot be read.

Questions

Should I turn off backup encryption?

Encrypted backups also hold saved passwords, Health data and other sensitive information, so many people keep encryption on. It does not get in the way of exporting, as long as you know the password.

Is the backup password my Apple Account password?

No. It is a separate password you chose in Finder or iTunes when you turned on encryption, though some people reused another password.

Can an app guess the password?

Guessing is very slow by design, and we do not offer it. TextExhibit only opens backups with the correct password.