HT203055: If you can't sign in to iCloud after you change your Apple ID password

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Syclone0044

Q: Enabled 2 step verification then disabled it - now cannot sign in to iOS 6 iCloud account

I have a primary iPhone 5 64GB running iOS 6.1.4, and a work iPhone 5 16GB running iOS 9.3.1.

 

A few months ago I enabled 2 step Verification for my Apple ID and things were fine. I got tired of its erratic behavior asking me to verify too often and sometimes failing to send the codes to verify, so I disabled it. In order to do this, I was required to upgrade my old password to a stronger password.

 

Ever since then, my primary device (iPhone 5 / iOS 6.1.4) is unable to sign into iCloud. My new password is correctly entered, but it just keeps prompting for the password over and over. If I deliberately type the wrong password, it gives a different error, so that proves I'm entering it in correctly.  The System Log shows invalid token for authentication. (While Photo Stream and iCloud Backup do not function anymore, oddly enough iMessage continues to work!)

Is there any way to fix this? I'm a very technical person, I have XCode, and am extremely detail oriented. I badly would like to get my iCloud working on iOS 6 again so I can back up everything before I consider finally upgrading to iOS 9 on my primary device. I can't backup to iTunes on my Mac Mini 10.9.5 Mavericks, because it fails saying in syslog MBDeviceBackup failed to copy keychain data. I tried disabling Encrypted Backups and it still fails the same way.

 

I considered signing out of iCloud on the device (so I could try signing back in), but this entails clicking "Delete Account" with scary warnings that make me afraid I'll lose something, even though it doesn't really seem like I will.

 

The Apple HT203055 article does not explain WHY this issue occurs. Is there some type of irreversible change that happens when you enable/disable 2 step Verification, that breaks iOS 6? Why wasn't I warned about this when I read the article originally informing me how to enable 2 Step verification?

 

Thanks for your help.

iPhone 5, iOS 6.1.4, 64GB

Posted on May 4, 2016 6:15 PM

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Q: Enabled 2 step verification then disabled it - now cannot sign in to iOS 6 iCloud account

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  • Helpful answers

  • by gail from maine,

    gail from maine gail from maine May 4, 2016 6:25 PM in response to Syclone0044
    Level 7 (26,148 points)
    iCloud
    May 4, 2016 6:25 PM in response to Syclone0044

    OK, so not sure I'm understanding what seem to be conflicting statements:

     

     

    Ever since then, my primary device (iPhone 5 / iOS 6.1.4) is unable to sign into iCloud. My new password is correctly entered, but it just keeps prompting for the password over and over. I\

     

    I considered signing out of iCloud on the device (so I could try signing back in), but this entails clicking "Delete Account" with scary warnings that make me afraid I'll lose something, even though it doesn't really seem like I will.

              

     

    You are indicating that you cannot sign in to iCloud, but then stating that you don't want to sign out. Can you clarify how you would sign out of iCloud if you are not currently signed in to iCloud?

     

    Also, FYI - the scary warnings apply to the data on your device, not to the data in your iCloud account. Once you sign in that same iCloud account all of that data is restored.

     

    Cheers,

     

    GB

  • by fromsouth,

    fromsouth fromsouth May 4, 2016 6:56 PM in response to Syclone0044
    Level 5 (4,806 points)
    iCloud
    May 4, 2016 6:56 PM in response to Syclone0044

    I believe that Companies (not only Apple) retired those tokens for 6.1.4 and until you update you are SOL. I also believe that you will run good chance of trouble of losing some info with jump from 6 to 9, but the sooner the less risk you have.  Good luck.

  • by gail from maine,

    gail from maine gail from maine May 4, 2016 7:45 PM in response to fromsouth
    Level 7 (26,148 points)
    iCloud
    May 4, 2016 7:45 PM in response to fromsouth

    Hi - can you explain what you mean by tokens in this context?

     

    Thanks,

     

    GB

  • by fromsouth,

    fromsouth fromsouth May 4, 2016 7:54 PM in response to gail from maine
    Level 5 (4,806 points)
    iCloud
    May 4, 2016 7:54 PM in response to gail from maine

    https://auth0.com/blog/2014/01/27/ten-things-you-should-know-about-tokens-and-co okies/

     

    Not really my area, but may be first two results of google search will help. Remember there was a period of about a month where Apple Facetime didn't work and then after April's update it started working and in march of the same year there was a problem with Verisign certs? Apple also had to update version of ios 6 for ipods of 4 gen to accommodate new certs.

    http://www.macrumors.com/2014/04/17/ios-6-facetime-issues/

     

    http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/19676/token-based-authentication-sec uring-the-token

  • by Syclone0044,

    Syclone0044 Syclone0044 May 4, 2016 9:20 PM in response to gail from maine
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Desktops
    May 4, 2016 9:20 PM in response to gail from maine

    Yes it's stuck in some bizarre state where clearly I AM signed into iCloud because I can open the iCloud in Settings and it shows my account, but upon doing so, I receive numerous prompts for my password. And my iMessage continues to work (which I understand is an iCloud feature?). So Apple really screwed something up because I'm left in this inconsistent state and not sure how to resolve it.

     

    If I sign out of everything, App Store, iMessage, iCloud, etc. and then sign back in... I'm nervous that I might be in an even worse position than I'm in right now, like maybe I won't even be able to sign into iMessage then and my phone will be even more broken.

  • by Syclone0044,

    Syclone0044 Syclone0044 May 4, 2016 9:21 PM in response to fromsouth
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Desktops
    May 4, 2016 9:21 PM in response to fromsouth

    What tokens did they retire? Why did I not have any problem until about 3 weeks ago when I disabled my 2 step Verification on my Apple ID and was forced to change my password?

     

    And what makes you believe I'll lose any data upgrading from 6 to 9? Do you have any sources for this claim? Thank you.

  • by gail from maine,

    gail from maine gail from maine May 5, 2016 6:54 PM in response to Syclone0044
    Level 7 (26,148 points)
    iCloud
    May 5, 2016 6:54 PM in response to Syclone0044

    Well, you don't want to sign out of everything - just iCloud. Leave everything else signed in. You will have to put in your password to turn off Find My iPhone, so if it is not letting you use your new password, try the old one. If you can get signed out, then doing that and signing back in should take care of the issue.

     

    Post back with questions.

     

    Cheers,

     

    GB

  • by fromsouth,

    fromsouth fromsouth May 5, 2016 8:10 PM in response to gail from maine
    Level 5 (4,806 points)
    iCloud
    May 5, 2016 8:10 PM in response to gail from maine

    gail from maine wrote:

     

    Well, you don't want to sign out of everything - just iCloud. Leave everything else signed in. You will have to put in your password to turn off Find My iPhone, so if it is not letting you use your new password, try the old one. If you can get signed out, then doing that and signing back in should take care of the issue.

     

    Post back with questions.

     

    Cheers,

     

    GB

    He does not have to put in his password to sign out - he is running IOS 6. No activation lock.

  • by gail from maine,

    gail from maine gail from maine May 5, 2016 8:18 PM in response to fromsouth
    Level 7 (26,148 points)
    iCloud
    May 5, 2016 8:18 PM in response to fromsouth

    Good catch!

     

    GB