A Request for myLot's Apple Users

By Yuki
@yukimori (10144)
United States
June 17, 2023 12:28am CST
My friends, I have had the most exhausting time this evening trying to assist a client with recovering their Apple ID after they brought an iPhone with a software issue in for recovery. They did not know the password for their Apple ID. They had thought ahead and recorded it... in a note on their iPhone, which backed up to iCloud but was inaccessible without the Apple ID and its password. They could not receive the SMS verification because the phone number belonged to that iPhone... which was inaccessible as mentioned They did not know the password for the e-mail linked to the Apple ID. They did not know the password for the second email address that was used as a two-factor authentication for the first. And of course the phone number linked to both email accounts was the one tied to the iPhone. I tried everything I could think of, including one rather questionable trick to see if we could somehow receive one of the 2FA codes... and came up empty. Now we're playing the 24 hour waiting game to see if Apple will allow them to reset the password or not... and if not our only option is going to be to submit a request for Apple to remove Activation Lock, which requires sending proof of the iPhone purchase to Apple Support and more waiting and won't even get them back into the same Apple ID until the passwords for all those other accounts are successfully reset. And this isn't an isolated incident, unfortunately. So please. I'm begging you. If you don't know your Apple ID's password, please please pretty please with a cherry on top go reset that right now while you have access to your email address(es) and a functioning phone and everything else that you might need to make your life (and a poor Apple technician's) just a teensy weensy little bit easier. And if it's not something that's easy to remember, please keep a note for yourself somewhere you can find it in addition to the copy you keep in your Notes app.
6 people like this
6 responses
@sol_cee (38223)
• Philippines
17 Jun
Ohhh you scared me there. I only keep notes on my Notes. Not on paper. Thanks for reminding me
3 people like this
@prashu228 (37526)
• India
17 Jun
Haha don't get scared..
1 person likes this
@yukimori (10144)
• United States
17 Jun
Sorry, I didn't mean to scare! I was hoping to maybe help Apple users here avoid some of the heartache my poor client went through today.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (137142)
• United States
17 Jun
That would make your job too easy, though. It's fun to see you struggle for hours on something like that.
2 people like this
@yukimori (10144)
• United States
17 Jun
Yeeeeeeeeah, no. Never again.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (137142)
• United States
17 Jun
@yukimori I totally understand.
1 person likes this
@prashu228 (37526)
• India
17 Jun
Struggling makes you happy No doubt you are evil
1 person likes this
@prashu228 (37526)
• India
17 Jun
That's a good suggestion. It's always better to keep notes
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (86766)
• United States
16 Jul
Hi Yuki..just wanted to say hello. I know nothing.
@just4him (306527)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
11 Jul
I don't have Apple, but I do have all my passwords written in a safe place, not on the computer.
@JimBo452020 (42629)
• United Kingdom
17 Jun
I am so glad that I am an Android user.
1 person likes this
@yukimori (10144)
• United States
17 Jun
Seeing how frequently issues like this arise for iPhone owners has definitely cemented my status as an Android user. This just... doesn't happen with Android phones.
1 person likes this