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Apple ID/iCloud Password Question

A friend of mine had their phone stolen a little bit over a week ago. Long story short, we want to change his Apple ID password because we believe that the people that stole it may have a means to access it. The same thing goes for his iCloud password. We were wondering, if we change the Apple ID password, does that also change the iCloud password? Or do we need to change them separately?

iPhone 12 Pro Max

Posted on Mar 7, 2022 4:29 PM

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2 replies
Question marked as Helpful

Mar 8, 2022 5:00 PM in response to ApplePerson1978_

  1. If the phone has a lock screen passcode (which is also required to turn on Face ID), no one, including Apple, can get into Settings or anything else on the phone.
  2. Apple will not help anyone but the original owner bypass activation lock -- and they require proof of purchase and other information before they will help. There are all kinds of sad stories of even the people who really are the owners and they cannot get help because they don't have the receipt and other required information.
  3. Same answer as 2.


The only significant risk that I have seen is if the thief knows the Apple ID, then sends a fake message to the owner and the owner responds and gives away his password.

12 replies

Mar 7, 2022 6:13 PM in response to ApplePerson1978_

Potentially not from everything. See the following from What to do after you change your Apple ID or password - Apple Support

In some cases, you don't need to update your Apple ID or password on your device until the next time you're asked to sign in to the store or service.


I would recommend reviewing the steps in If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is lost or stolen - Apple Support and If Find My iPhone or Find My iPad isn't enabled on your missing device - Apple Support



Mar 7, 2022 6:38 PM in response to FoxFifth

Okay, I actually am asking this because I don’t want the stolen device to be logged out, at least not yet. Apparently if a device that is activation locked and has an erase pending is logged out/removed from the Apple ID, the activation lock would be removed. We don’t want that to happen as then the people who stole the phone would be able to access it, which is why we are so hesitant to change the password. If we decided to just setup a two-factor authentication for now, would that log out all/any devices from the Apple ID either?

Mar 8, 2022 8:02 AM in response to ApplePerson1978_

I don't believe that any of those steps will remove activation lock. To do that you would need to remove the device from your account as described below from How to remove Activation Lock - Apple Support


Remove Activation Lock on the web if a device is offline

  1. Go to www.iCloud.com/find.
  2. Sign in with your Apple ID and password.
  3. At the top, click All Devices.
  4. Select the device that you want to remove from iCloud.
  5. Click Remove from Account.


Mar 8, 2022 3:27 PM in response to ApplePerson1978_

Changing the password or turning on two-factor will not remove activation lock from a device.


Normally, none of this discussion would be much of an issue. An iPhone with a passcode can't be accessed by anyone without the passcode. If it didn't have a passcode, it can be remotely locked as described in If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is lost or stolen - Apple Support


Apple ID passwords are sometimes divulged after a device is stolen when the thief sends a message indicating the phone has been found. They send a link pretending to be Apple and if the owner responds and logs into a site that looks like Apple, they divulge their password and the thief then uses that to turn off Activation Lock.


But your original post stated "... we believe that the people that stole it may have a means to access it." I interpret that to mean it is someone known to the owner who may know the phone passcode. Given that, I would change the Apple ID password no matter what.

Two-factor authentication is always a good idea but simply changing the password is sufficient in most situations. However, it can stop someone who knows the password (e.g., from phishing).

Mar 8, 2022 4:43 PM in response to FoxFifth

Truth be told when I said that we believe the people that stole the phone may have access to the Apple ID password, I was mostly just saying what my friend asked me to say. To go into specifics, there are 3 reasons that he has been incredibly paranoid concerning his Apple ID.

  1. Apparently there is a tab called “Passwords” in settings. He is worried that they can access that and see his Apple ID password among other passwords that he has saved in there. I tried to explain to him that they would need his Apple ID to get past activation lock to even access that, but he has still been skeptical.
  2. He is worried that the people that stole it may take it to a nearby Apple store and claim that they lost the phone, thus why there is an erase pending, and that they can’t get past the activation lock because they forgot the password. I am assuming that any responsible employee would require proof of purchase before giving such information out, but once again he is skeptical. Do you know if, assuming the employee bought the fake story, would they actually have the means to allow the person that has the phone access to 1. the phone itself and 2. the Apple ID password?
  3. Similar to the second reason, he is worried that the people that stole it can either fill out some form on the Apple website or talk to a representative on the phone and convince said representative of the story I noted earlier. I have no idea how possible this one is.

Are any of his worries here genuine causes for concern? He says that he is probably being paranoid, but I understand why he is so worried.

Question marked as Helpful

Mar 8, 2022 5:00 PM in response to ApplePerson1978_

  1. If the phone has a lock screen passcode (which is also required to turn on Face ID), no one, including Apple, can get into Settings or anything else on the phone.
  2. Apple will not help anyone but the original owner bypass activation lock -- and they require proof of purchase and other information before they will help. There are all kinds of sad stories of even the people who really are the owners and they cannot get help because they don't have the receipt and other required information.
  3. Same answer as 2.


The only significant risk that I have seen is if the thief knows the Apple ID, then sends a fake message to the owner and the owner responds and gives away his password.

Mar 11, 2022 3:12 PM in response to ApplePerson1978_

No I don't think it is. Apple does not easily allow someone access to an account. Even the actual owners frequently cannot get access to their own accounts.

For security reasons, Apple doesn't divulge the requirements.


Also, if your friend had a passcode on the phone, then the fact that the phone was lost or stolen doesn't increase the risk of access to the Apple ID any more than it was if the device was still in his/her possession.

Apple ID/iCloud Password Question

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