Choose a stronger password dialogue

When attempting to sign in to iCloud after entering AppleID, password and second stage factor, I am presented with a Choose a stronger password dialogue. I am using Chrome on Windows 7, 8 and 10. Cancel simply returns me to the Sign in to iCloud screen, though I am signed in, my name now appears on the top right hand corner of the iCloud page. If I sign in again the Choose a stronger password dialogue is again displayed.


Options on my name are Account settings, Help and Sign Out. Account settings shows me my name, storage, my devices and hide may email. My Devices only shows one device, the iPhone that provided the second factor to enable me to sign in. The other three options show Verify your identity, none of which do anything, and under the Apple ID is the Mange option. This takes me to a sign in screen, after which the Choose a stronger password dialogue is presented, and the story continues as has been described above.


Is there a way out of this apparantly interminable loop?


Also, but this is not the question of this topic, the current page on which I am typing this question, shows that I am logged in on three devices not one of which is the machine which I am now using to enter the question. I am logged in presently on five devices. The information appears to be incomplete, as it is also on the iPhone.

Windows, Windows 6

Posted on Oct 11, 2021 2:46 PM

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13 replies

Oct 12, 2021 12:39 PM in response to SeftonHall

Hey there SeftonHall,


Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. From your post, it sounds like you're being prompted to use a stronger password for your Apple ID, is that correct?


Since this has been happening, have you changed your Apple ID password? Let's have you change your password using your iPhone. The instructions are in the second link below.


Security and your Apple ID


Change your Apple ID password


That should help. Let us know if you have any questions.


Cheers!


Oct 12, 2021 5:08 PM in response to SeftonHall

You must set up iCloud Keychain on connected devices ( signed in with same Apple ID and password on the same network ) see some articles to autofill the secured password that should not be repeated in the past , you can create a different password in form of sentence , inserting punctuations , the first character of starting word can be capital the total strength of a password is 32 including space and words , the strength will be green and bar will be loaded as shown and explained in the article Tips for creating secure passwords on Mac - Apple Support

If you change password from any device ( iPhone ) it has to be updated in another when you sign in from a browser the pop screen will appear when signed in with old Apple ID and password using 2FA , so the new strong password has to be filled in Autofill iCloud passwords in a web browser on your Windows computer - Apple Support

Read these articles for iPhone / iPad and in general for other browsers Set up iCloud Keychain - Apple Support

Make your passwords available on all your devices with iPhone and iCloud Keychain - Apple Support

Make your passwords available on all your devices with iPad and iCloud Keychain - Apple Support

Note : repeated password will not be accepted if you had created password exactly same as " password " or you might have created just like 1234 .....


Oct 13, 2021 11:24 AM in response to SeftonHall

I am not using chrome still you mentioned .

when I press Change Password, unless as I mentioned above New password and Confirm password do not match. The dialogue is not dismissed, it stubbornly sits in the centre of the window making its uncertain and impossible demand. Certainly the password has not been changed for the original password is still used elsewhere.

In users and groups login items if found clear all of them , automatic login as off .

Can you switch to safari browser for the time being and see what happens .


Oct 12, 2021 3:40 PM in response to barberlives123

Sir


Thank you for taking the time to reply to my query, and though the reply is helpful in that it refers me to other means to change my password, it is not the question that I asked. You will be aware that it is necessary to use the AppleID to sign in to this support site. My AppleID and password are accepted here using two factor authentication. I have signed in just now in order to reply to you.


Perhaps I should have mentioned that I had used the 'Choose stronger password' dialogue in an attempt to change my password for a stronger one, having read Apple's instructions on the use of a strong and not easy to guess password. Entering the old password and the new much stronger password twice (on the first attempt with two slightly different new passwords which confirmed that the Change password button did respond) it was still not possible to dismiss the dialogue.


Furthermore, although I had attempted to change the password, it had not actually been changed. The old password is still the password.


So my question is not 'How do I change my password?' but rather how do I dismiss this dialogue which asks me to change it? My current password complies with the Apple requirements, and does not need to be changed.


Thank you.



Oct 13, 2021 1:50 AM in response to tygb

tybg,


Thank you for your reply about setting up keychain, however that is not an answer to my question which is not 'How do I change my password?' nor 'How do I set up keychain?' but rather 'How do I dismiss the dialogue?'


Perhaps I should have asked the question 'What is the specific reason that the dislaogue cannot be dismissed?' or 'What is in the code behind the Change Password button on the dialogue that is causing it to simply return to itself?' I cannot read what happens on the server to answer this question, if I could then I should (not very happily you may understand) read it and follow it through to discover what has triggered the behaviour that is seen here.


I repeat what I have said above, that my AppleID is happily functioning on my Apple devices, which also know that I am signed in to iCloud on another device. It is the other device, the one on which I have logged in to iCloud that the dialogue causes a problem and cannot be dismissed.


In short, as in an examination, please read the question, the whole question and nothing but the question, and then your reply may be relevant to the question.


If your reply about setting up keychain is relevant to the question, please explain how it is relevant and what it is about keychain that which changes the behaviour of the dialogue., and specifically how the code behind the dialogue responds.


Thank you again.

Oct 13, 2021 4:49 AM in response to SeftonHall

Its not necessary to change Apple ID password from appleid.apple.com when secondary authentication account is set up the password can be changed from recovery mode , also can be changed from www.icloud.com

You are following these steps .

How to change apple id password from iCloud.com

Enter www.icloud.com from a web browser in the upcoming pop up window the existing Apple ID address will be shown , don’t click on continue with password rather click on cancel , circle rotates .

Manually type apple id address and click on enter key the previous password will be autofilled automatically as icloud keychain was set up , click on small drop down arrow in password field and click on other passwords .

Safari preferences opens , enter mac admin pasword to open the lock , tap on apple id say example1@icloud.com and click on fill .

Another window appears for maps , click on do not allow .

Once again another window appears do you want to change password , click on change password .

A full size window appears showing empty fields to enter two factor authentication code , drag and drop this window to a very large extent sideways .

System preferences opens the circle rotates after a while a small window appears system preferences wants to make changes , enter your password to allow this , enter your new apple id password in the empty field and click on save , hence Apple ID password is changed from iCloud.com 



Oct 13, 2021 9:37 AM in response to tygb

tygb


Thank you again for taking time to write, but you have not answered my question, rather you have answered a different question. I have no wish to change my password or set up key chain.


How do I dismiss the 'Choose a stronger password dialogue'? and secondly, why does the dialogue appear?


I have not turned off notification of compromised passwords and my password is strong, but Apple icloud.com asks me to choose a stronger password and neither allow me to either dismiss the request nor use the dialogue to change the password.


I have already said it but perhaps I may do so again: as in an examination, please read the question, the whole question and nothing but the question.


Thank you



Oct 13, 2021 10:22 AM in response to SeftonHall

The browser is not in front of me , you are not changing password from iCloud.com or clicking on any link forgot Apple ID and password , may be you have check mark the box of keep me signed in .

In normal working browser the pop up to change password will never appear , click on cancel .

If you shut down the browser and restart do it appear again in iCloud.com


As per your discussion in thread .


Perhaps I should have asked the question 'What is the specific reason that the dislaogue cannot be dismissed?' or 'What is in the code behind the Change Password button on the dialogue that is causing it to simply return to itself?' I cannot read what happens on the server to answer this question, if I could then I should (not very happily you may understand) read it and follow it through to discover what has triggered the behaviour that is seen here.


Oct 13, 2021 11:03 AM in response to tygb

tygb


Thank you for your reply. We seem to be making progress. You are correct, I am not resetting my password nor saying I have forgotten my AppleID. I am trying to sign in to iCloud.com using Chrome. That is all. The password is fine, it works happily on the iPhone and iPad.


I have shut down the browser on another machine, not this one on which I am signed in to discussions.apple.com. I have cleared all cookies, cached images and files, passwords and sign in data, autofill form data hosted app data. I have not cleared browser history, site settings (none) and download history (none). I have then closed the browser a second time.


In a new browser session I have entered icould.com into the address bar. I am presented with the sign in to iCloud screen as shown in your screen shot above. I have signed in without checking the box 'keep me checked in'. I have received an authentication code on my iPhone, which I have entered in the browser. I am presented with the 'Choose a stronger password' dialogue as shown in my screen shot above.


Cancel takes me back to the Sign in screen, but my name now appears in the top right hand corner of the window, with a drop down menu: Account settings|Help|Sign Out.


If I select Account settings I see the options which require me to verify my identity. If I select one of these items nothing happens. If I select Apple ID Manage I am taken to the sign in screen for appleid.apple.com.


When I sign in to appleid.apple.com I receive the authentication code, as expected, which I enter. I am then presented with the 'Choose a stronger password' dialogue again. Cancel takes me back to the sign in page. If I complete Current password, New password and Confirm password nothing, other than an indication of the strength of the password, appears to happen when I press Change Password, unless as I mentioned above New password and Confirm password do not match. The dialogue is not dismissed, it stubbornly sits in the centre of the window making its uncertain and impossible demand. Certainly the password has not been changed for the original password is still used elsewhere.


How else can I describe it? On iCloud.com the dialogue can be dismissed, to return you to the Sign in screen, or by passed to go to the non-functional page asking for verification of identity, but it cannot be dismissed taking you to a functional page. On appleid.apple.com the dialogue can only be dimissed to return you to the Sign in screen.


Kind regards


Oct 13, 2021 3:30 PM in response to tygb

tygb


Thank you for your reply. To try to use Safari is an obvious suggestion, but I do not have it installed on the PC. On the iPhone it is possible to login to icloud.com without any difficulty with Safari. The settings page is shown with all items activated. On the iPad, the log in fails and the little whirling fan continues indefinitely, well for at least ten minutes....


I had cleared, apart from history, all of the cache in Chrome for the previous test.


Curiously, trying this on a Linux machine (running Cinnamon-Mint) and using Firefox iCloud does not display the dialogue, but there is an outline on a blank screen of about the correct size, but without content. Refreshing the page takes me to the Settings page exactly as shown in the previous note. Trying to access 'Veriy my identity' takes me to the sign in screen and from thence to the blank page with the empty outline of a dialogue. So the behaviour in Firefox under Linux is quite similar to the behaviour in Chrome under Windows, expect that one cannot see what is on the dialogue.


I have tried on Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer. Microsoft Edge displays similar behaviour to Chrome.


Internet Explorer 11, with its default settings, complains bitterly (and badly) under Windows 8: "This page canrsquo;t be displayed

Turn on TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 in Advanced settings and try connecting to https://www.icloud.com again. If this error persists, it is possible that this site uses an unsupported protocol or cipher suite such as RC4 (link for the details), which is not considered secure. Please contact your site administrator. " I think someone forgot to insert an ampersand, and someone else did not do the QA very well. Also whatever code was used to generate the message had failed to interrogate settings correctly as TLS 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 were already turned on. Now is this Microsoft code in the browser - perhaps not as surely the browser can correctly interrogate its own settings - or was it Apple code in the icloud.com default page. Given the problem with the uncertain and impossibly demanding dialogue, I do wonder whether it is Apple code that is failing in all of Firefox (under Linux) and IE (under windows 8) and Chrome (under Windows 7, 8 and 10).


Under Windows 10 IE11 also complains, again badly: Unsupported Browser You can use your current browser, but iCloud works best with the latest version of Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, or Internet Explorer. Given that the machine is set to apply updates automatically, I think it is running the latest version of IE11. It then complains the there is a connectin error: iCloud encountered an error while trying to connect to the server. Well it had no problem connecting with Chrome and has no problem connecting with Apple. The support option on the message takes me to support.apple.com which confirms that all services are operating normally, but fails to provide a scroll bar to allow one to read down to the bottom of the page.


Perhaps it is a bug in the Apple code on the default iCloud page which is causing the problem in all but Safari. I am sorry that I cannot presently test on Safari.


Perhaps I should have mentioned that on the Windows 7 machine, I have the iCloud desktop app installed. This runs quite happily, and displays the details that I would expect to see on the iCloud settings page.


I have provided more information, but sadly not the specific piece that you wanted. Have you tried Firefox, Edge, IE or Chrome?


Kind regards

Oct 12, 2021 4:20 PM in response to Eric--F

Eric


Thank you for your reply. It was because I could not access my AppleID on the iPhone that I attempted to login to iCloud. After several attempts to do so, and asking Google a variety of different questions a prompt eventually returned on the iPhone, which I had previously ignored, asking me to review new T&C. Having successfully navigated through the new T&C pages the AppleID become fully unlocked on the iPhone. Had I not ignored the T&C then I would never have attempted to login to iCloud to stumble across the problem with the dialogue.


As requested however, I have looked at the settings on the iPhone and can confirm that it will now allow me to change the password on it 'because [I am] signed into[sic!] iCloud and have a passcode enabled.' I have no wish however to change the password. As I have replied to barberlives123 the current password conforms to Apple's requirements.


The problem is that the dialogue cannot be dismissed - Cancel returns you to the sign in page and the change password option is not available until you complete the form, even then all the dialogue appears to do is show the strength of the new password, check whether the two copies of the new password are identical and if not report that they are not and return you to the dialogue - and seems therefore to hinder access to iCloud. This cannot be the correct behaviour.


If you really think, rather know, that changing the password on the iPhone will change the behaviour of this dialogue then I shall change it, please let me know and explain the technical reasons for that. My current password works quite happily on my iPhone and iPad. They communicate quite happily with each other and with iCloud. The problem does not appear to be with the AppleID but rather with the code that runs in either the browser or on the server with which the browser is communicating behind the dialogue.


Kind regards

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