What do I do if one (but not all) of my devices is an old iPad that can't be updated to iPadOS 15? If I log that device out and someone adds me as a recovery contact, will that prevent me from logging in again the future?
This document has related information. You won't be able to send them a request from the old device but if you have a device which will allow you to send a request they get a code they can read to you and you can enter on any device.
This document has related information. You won't be able to send them a request from the old device but if you have a device which will allow you to send a request they get a code they can read to you and you can enter on any device.
Follow-up: I decided to try it by backing up the iPad, logging out, adding the other device as a recovery contact, then logging the iPad back in again. It appears to have worked.
Which leaves an unanswered question: Why is this two-step necessary?
I don't see where this document supports your answer (though of course that doesn't mean your answer is wrong).
Say I have two devices, one with iOS 15 and one that's too old to support it. What I have learned so far is that if someone tries to add me as a recovery contact, they will be turned down with a note that I must update all of my devices to iOS 15 first or log out the ones running earlier versions of iOS.
So let's assume I log out on my old device. I can then become someone else's recovery contact. What will happen if I now try to log in with the old device again? Will I be blocked because I am acting as someone's recovery contact? If not, what was the point in forcing me to log out in the first place?
The idea is that one must have verification from two independent sources in order to do higher level things with an account or device. Up until now, all somebody needed to use your account on another device was your Apple ID and password. A thief just needed your information to be able to log in and get full access to your account. Now they might need access to something like your home telephone too. If the thief is sitting 5,000 miles away, that might be hard for the thief to do.
Many companies are introducing two factor security. 30 years ago all an account meant was being able to post to a BBS about flower arranging. Accounts these days can have large amounts of financial, privacy, and health records attached to them.
I feel your pain arkoenig. Not only the original question but the lack of any replies addressing it correctly. I too have an older iPad, as I suspect a large amount of people have such devices, and to be prevented from using this feature unless you make that device blind to the iCloud features it does support is frustrating. I may try what you did but there will be a worry in the back of my mind that recovery may not actually work when needed because if that reconnected old device.
What do you mean by "correctly"? Nobody on this forum works for Apple so we cannot "solve" your problem by calling somebody and tell them to stop remove the 2 factor requirement. All we can do is try to explain how to work with it.
Some people have older devices but a much larger number of people have newer devices.
So...is the idea that one must log out of and into an older device in order to prove through two-step authentication that the login is legit?
Account recovery if one of my decides doesn't support iOS 15?
