What are the benefits for turning on a recovery key for my Apple ID VS using account recovery when I lose access to my trusted devices or phone numbers, for example if your phone number gets changed?

Question

What are the benefits for turning on a recovery key for my Apple ID VS using account recovery when I lose access to my trusted devices or phone numbers, for example if your phone number gets changed?

Hello, my name is Stephen and I have a question. I've been doing a lot of research for one of my roommates trying to help him get access to his Apple ID, but haven't had so much luck because he couldn't remember the password and he lost his recovery key. I did my best to help him by following Apple support articles on how to regenerate a new recovery key because he was lucky his iPhone was still logged into his Apple ID, he just couldn't sign out of it because he didn't remember his password. In the end he told me he didn't care about the Apple ID, he just wanted me to help him sign out of his Apple ID, so I made sure he had everything that was important to him backed up, and I erased his iPhone for him using my mac. But my question is, What is the benefit of having a recovery key for your Apple ID VS using account recovery instead? Is it just faster to recover your Apple ID if you have a recovery key? I did research on this and haven't found an answer, I'm just not sure if enabling the recovery key option would be the best idea, so I thought I would ask, if I do I plan on keeping the recovery key in a textfile on an encrypted diskimage with a strong password so it can't easily be hacked, would that also be a good idea if I do decide to turn on the recovery key? I'm blind, so I cannot use a pen and paper to write it down, and I don't really have any options of writing it in braille either. Any answers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

iPhone 13, iOS 16

Posted on Feb 15, 2023 10:00 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Grace2211

Community Specialist

Feb 17, 2023 11:34 AM in response to Stephen Zelley

Hello Stephen Zelley,

Thanks for posting your question in Apple Support Communities.

We'd like to provide you with a few details that may be able to assist you with two-factor authentication.

"A recovery key is a randomly generated 28-character code that you can use to help reset your password or regain access to your Apple ID. While it’s not required, using a recovery key improves the security of your account by putting you in control of resetting your password. Creating a recovery key turns off account recovery. When you generate a recovery key, you can't use account recovery. Account recovery is a process that would otherwise help you get back into your Apple ID account when you don’t have enough information to reset your password. Learn more about account recovery.

Using a recovery key is more secure, but it means that you’re responsible for maintaining access to your trusted devices and your recovery key. If you lose both of these items, you could be locked out of your account permanently. With that in mind, it's important to keep your recovery key in a safe place. You might want to give a copy of your recovery key to a family member, or keep copies in more than one place. That way you always have your recovery key when you need it."

Click here for more details: How to generate a recovery key

In your case, it may be best to use two-factor authentication without a recovery key. With two-factor authentication, a trusted device or trusted phone number can verify your identity when you sign in to a new device or browser. You can find more info here: Two-factor authentication for Apple ID

When you use you use two-factor authentication and can’t sign in or reset your password, account recovery can help you regain access to your account, after a waiting period. In this case, you are not asked for a recovery key.

Check out this resource for more details: How to use account recovery when you can’t reset your Apple ID password

We hope this helps.

Take care.

Reply

What are the benefits for turning on a recovery key for my Apple ID VS using account recovery when I lose access to my trusted devices or phone numbers, for example if your phone number gets changed?

Similar questions