Iphone said I had to change the unlock code ???

[papashaun]

This morning I turned on my IPhone 6 Plus ( ios 9.2.1 ) - used the touch id to get in to it and was greeted with a message on the home screen ( in a white rectangular box ) stating that I had to change the unlock code for the phone, then was only given an option for a 4 digit code when the previous one was 6 digit
Have never seen this before on this or any previous iPhone so changed my apple id account password using computer rather than using the phone, and contacted Apple. The rep I talked to said she had never heard of this before and transferred me to a technical rep who also said he had never heard of it happening - asked me to hold while he talked to some other tech people - and then told me that none of them had ever come across this.
We then again reset the unlock code which now gave me a 6 digit code again
Phone is working ok, my apple account seems to be ok with no unusual activity

Just curious if anyone else has experienced this ? ( or any ideas why the phone would ask for a change to the unlock code ? )

 

[Camato]

Was on a drive in my car listening to some music and maps app. Parked I wanted to change the music.. Strange popup appeared: I should change my lock code.
I got no Chance to permanently dismiss it. It came back after I unlocked my phone again.
It forced me to change my code to 4 digit.
After that, I was able to change to my old 6 digit code again. Strange.. Thought it was some security stuff like: “you did not change your passcode since your last iPhone. change it please”

But it seems you are not alone.

 

[theshoehorn]

Generally you shouldn't see this unless you have an MDM managing your iPhone... do you have email for work or something setup?

 

[papashaun]

Hi thanks for the replies - and apologies for wrong terminology - did mean the passcode rather than carrier " unlock " code

No - phone is not managed by anyone else. I do use it for work but am self employed so it is effectively a personal phone but had never seen this before with any of my iPhones - and when Apple said they had never come across it either was beginning to wonder what was going on !

 

[ohio.emt]

I've had it pop up once before. Never really figured out why.

 

[zorinlynx]

Do ya'll use Exchange servers owned by your employer? Sometimes they enforce weird policies on setting lock codes, disabling features (some will disable the phone camera!) and so on. That could explain this weirdness if nothing else does.

 

[cambookpro]

My friend had this yesterday. He had six digit passcode and was asked to change it to a four digit.

We both have our school Exchange email setup on the phone, but only he was asked to change his passcode. I use alpha-numeric.

 

[ielessar]

Do you have any profiles installed? Check under Settings > General > Profile

As the person above replied, this usually shows if your device is enrolled under an MDM program.

 

[papashaun]

Do you have any profiles installed? Check under Settings > General > Profile

As the person above replied, this usually shows if your device is enrolled under an MDM program.

Thanks for the reply - Checked under settings / general and there isn't any " Profile " option shown at all !

 

[ielessar]

Thats weird. Should be right under Wifi sync and VPN, and above Regulatory.

Where'd you get your iPhone from?

 

[papashaun]

Thats weird. Should be right under Wifi sync and VPN, and above Regulatory.

Where'd you get your iPhone from?

Have Wifi Snc then VPN then Regulatory - nothing in between

Phone was bought 2nd hand in August last year ( had bought a new 6 then decided after a few months to go up in size to a 6Plus - so bought this one and sold the 6 ) - phone has not had any problems at all other than this code change prompt. Was originally for a different carrier but had been unlocked - the guy I bought it from and myself went through the process together face to face at his place to remove it from his apple id and set it up with mine etc reset it and made sure it worked with my carrier. Have updated ios version as new versions came out so is now on ios 9.2.1
As far as I know it was only used as a personal phone by the guy I bought it from - and as I say have not had any problems at all with it apart from the change unlock code thing

 

[ielessar]

I guess you don't have the profile section because you never installed any.

Now I think a possible reason is if you're using Exchange, it can force you to change your code. Something similar to what MDM does.

 

[papashaun]

Thanks ielessar - appreciate your time

As far as I know I'm not using Exchange - in fact am not sure what that is apart from I guess something to do with email ? For email I use " Fastmail " as my email provider ( imap account ) and have a gmail account set up also. Have the Fastmail app and the Outlook app installed on the phone as well as the stock mail app. Don't have an employer email type of set up where I would access any email from an employer's server kind of thing as I am self employed