Using PIN instead of a password for encryption on Galaxy S3 I have a Galaxy S3 with OS 4.4.4 and am required to encrypt it for my job. I greatly prefer to use the PIN lock screen instead of the password due to the annoyance of having to type in the password every time you want to check your phone.

After updating to 4.4.4 and setting up the phone from a factory reset it will ONLY allow me to choose "Password" for the lock screen type when I go to encrypt. However, I have been able to select both "Password" and "PIN" before 4.4.4/factory reset. (now the PIN option is grayed out and says 'Turned off by administrator, encryption policy, or credential storage').

What exactly has caused my phone to no longer accept the PIN? Was there some update to the security settings? Is there any way to restore the PIN functionality?
It is not possible to change the PIN any more in the settings because everything except the alpha numeric password is greyed out. The solution is Tasker together with Secure Settings:
Create a task "ChangePin", add an Action "Plugin", "Secure Settings" and choose "Password/Pin" under "Dev Admin Actions" as Action. Choose "Enabled", "Pin Code" and enter the new Pin code, then run the task.
This action will also change the encryption password to the weak PIN, so proceed to the next section. For more details you can check at Samsung India site in its support option.