ios update 16.4. Update Apple ID settings log in loop

Same here, over two hours on the phone with apple support and as of yet no solution. I have a follow up appointment tomorrow, the support guy needed some time to sort a few things out. We'll see if it works out.

Some more details:

• The issue seems te be related to the encryption on a few services, like KeyChain and HomeKit. Other non-encrypted services continue to work just fine.
• It happens on all devices related to this iCloud account (iPhone, iPad, MacBook).
• Resetting a device or settings doesn't help
• Logging all devices off of iCloud, restarting them and trying to log them in one by one doesn't help
• Setting up a new device with the borked account doesn't help
• There is no way to somehow reset the encryption/keychain/whatever (I tried all available options with the support guy).
• Removing and changing device codes didn't help
• Removing the recovery key didn't help (which I now cannot enable anymore, it triggers the same loop...)

Let's hope this get fixed very soon.

The issue is resolved in iOS 16.6 and iPadOS 16.6 and MacOS 13.5.

If you are still having the issue after updating your device to iOS 16.6, please check your iCloud Keychain Settings to make sure iCloud Keychain is turned on. You can check this by opening the Settings App, tapping on your name at the very top, then tap iCloud, then tap Passwords and Keychain. Make sure it is turned on.

If it is off, when you toggle it on, you will be prompted to enter your Apple ID password and then your device passcode, and then it should turn on.

Please note: I have seen some cases (similar to one of the previous posts) that if you have a Mac, when you turn on iCloud Keychain on the Mac, it somehow resets or resynchronizes the keychain and you will have to reenter your Apple ID password and device passcode a second time on your iPhone and/or iPad, but after that, everything is fine and it will not prompt you again. The key is to make sure you have iCloud Keychain enabled/on across all of your devices.

I had another session with support today. It was good as all data was collected, bad because I described the issue already on March 30th. So Apple did nothing and lost 3 weeks.

Based on my experiments I can confirm following:

1. It is obviously an issue with iCloud Keychain related to iOS 16.4 and 16.4.1 + MacOS 13.3
2. 16.3.1 is solving this issue, so problem can be reversed as lower versions work correctly with Apple IDs having this issue on new OS versions

I also stopped spending time looking for a fix, it is a SW bug which must be fixed by Apple.

[Edited by Moderator]

This started for me when I updated all my Apple devices on Mar 28th to most current OS: iOS 16.4, Mac OS 13.3, tvOS 16.4, etc. Spent countless hours with Apple Support getting bounced around from Tier 2 Techs who said they’d call back but don’t or escalate my case to Engineering but I never hear back. Every time I call a new case ID gets generated and I have to go through my sad, frustrating story multiple times and still no solution. I’m ready to switch to Android and get rid of all my Apple devices. Seriously Apple! Get your security and privacy software in order!

Bottomline, can’t reset encrypted data, keychain or two-factor authentication. My Apple ID is held hostage and I’m at my wits end.

Worst part, I have funds in my Apple Cash that I can access because of this bug.

Same problem. Been on the phone with apple support a couple of times, no solution as of yet. iOS 16.4.1 didn't fix it. The problem is that lots of services don't work at the moment because of this: Apple Pay, homekit, iCloud keychain. It's a real pain.

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one experiencing this. I have tried a few things including all the online tips and "remedies" and nothing appears to be solving the problem. Hope this gets fixed soon.

I have two accounts affected with this issue. I spent few hours with support in Europe last week and there is no ideas and no solution.

Before 16.4.1 got released I downgraded one of the devices to the 16.3.1 and it logs into the iCloud without issues, so it is a BUG introduced in 16.4. and still existing in 16.4.1.

My Iphone 13 mini also affected by the same issue after software update! I spend a lot of time to fix the problem, none of them worked, really hope the next update will fix this very annoying problem!

Same problem, cannot update Apple ID settings or log into passwords and keychain.

After six hours on the phone over two weeks I was told today that it is now a know issue and I will have to wait for an update.

Logged in logged out, changed Apple ID password, recorded logs on iMac, MacBook and iPhone and sent to apple, did it all and nothing worked.

Hopefully this will be escalated and addressed quickly. Not having these functions does limit my use of their OS.

Bumping this. Super annoying. Have spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to fix this. I created a shortcut for settings for my home screen so I wouldn't have to see the annoying red dot on my screen but I would still love a real fix.

The same issue is happening to 3 out of 5 of my family members. It seems to be a keychain service or server-side issue, as it doesn't not matter which device they use, all devices (including desktop Macs) signed-in with their Apple ID request to update Apple ID settings over and over. Example: I can take an iPhone or iPad that is signed-in as me (that does not have the issue), then reset/erase it and set it up as a new device for one of my family members, and when signed-in with their Apple ID that same device immediately starts prompting to update Apple ID settings. So this issue seems to be affecting certain Apple ID accounts (not specific devices).

The question I have is, how many customers are affected? From my small sample size of extended family members, it feels like at least 50% or more of Apple IDs have this issue (many may not even be aware they are having the issue if their settings app is in a folder and they don't pay attention to the red badge).

The functionality that is blocked is that you can't save or update passwords into your iCloud keychain and have it sync across your devices. If you add a new password to your keychain, that password is saved only to that one device and is not sync'd to other devices via iCloud Keychain.

My advice is don't spend any more hours on this. I've spent countless hours trying to fix this for my family members, many hours on the phone with apple support, changing passwords, erasing and resetting devices, etc. This is going to have to be escalated to engineering and either a software patch or a back-end server side patch will be needed to fix it.

One last point: In my home we have upgraded to the new HomeKit architecture (we use HomePods as hubs to run our smart devices, lights, etc.) I'm curious, are any others that have this issue also HomeKit users that have upgraded the Home app and HomeKit to the new architecture? It's probably not related, but I was just curious if perhaps there was a correlation between this iCloud Keychain issue and Apple IDs that are a member of an 'upgraded' HomeKit home?

After another hour spent with support yesterday, my conclusion is: IT DOES NOT LOOK VERY PROMISING.

SW dept. in US is aware of the issue and is working on solution, but there is no expected date of providing solution to the users. There are hundreds questions back, on topics answered already and discussed several times over last weeks. So it feels like nobody seriously works on that problem, but rather plays on time.

I don't think that this issue is getting currently real attention at Apple, I assume they have bigger things like iOS17 on their plate and this is only bothering few users using services requiring keychain (it looks like unimportant minority).

Additionally, all indications show that upcoming updates DO NOT include fix, at least until now.

As all works fine with old SWs issue shall be a simple fix, if Apple would just focus on it.

Only solution which seems viable now is new iCloud account, as those new accounts work properly, at least in my test runs. But it is really last instance and probably reasonable only for those needing working Apple ID immediately.

FYI: If you can't Access your iCloud Keychain, or Apple Cash, etc. in a pinch, the not so convenient solution is to erase/reset the device, plug it into a Mac or iTunes and do an erase/update and install iOS 16.3.1 as several people have verified that the issue does not occur in the 16.3.1 version (it first appeared in 16.4).

[Edited by Moderator]

Hopefully there will be a 16.5.1 patch release that addresses this issue.

I'm finding more and more services that are not working correctly due to this issue. For example, HomeKit. If I open the Settings App and Update Apple ID Settings as requested by signing-in with my Apple ID and entering my device passcode, it somehow causes a problem with HomeKit and removes my Apple ID from all Apple TVs that are in the Home. I have to re-add myself to the Apple TVs. Then, if I Update Apple ID settings again, it removes me again, very annoying. I also have 3 family members with this issue, and for one of my family members, we can't even enable Messages in iCloud because of this issue. The Messages app displays a warning that the Apple ID account needs to be repaired, so we tap the prompt to start the repair process, and although it does repair it on the iPhone, it immediately breaks Messages on the iPad. Then if we repair it on the iPad, it breaks Messages on the iPhone. So apparently only one of the devices can have Messages in iCloud enabled at a time, until this issue is resolved.