How is this acceptable to wait 2 weeks to recover your ID?

How can someone go without their phone for that long? My wife lost her phone and we walked into a store and purchased a new iphone ($800 at the drop of a hat because we've been using iPhones for over a decade) like normal. She forgot her login password and the only option it gave her was account recovery and after 24 hours it says now that we have to wait 13 days to get access to her account again. How is that remotely acceptable in this day in age? Utterly ridiculous to say it is for security purposes. One should be able to with a state ID, drivers license, security questions, or something. We are thinking about returning her phone and going with an android for the first time after all of this. After all the money we've spent on apple products to simply get a "there is nothing we can do" from support and tell us to wait for 14 days. Pathetic!

Posted on Aug 14, 2023 11:50 AM

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Lawrence Finch

Community+ 2026

Level 10

243,904 points

Posted on Apr 9, 2024 9:12 AM

roboticflamingo wrote:

Btw it's possible that a user can get in to a knot with an Apple ID if you set up or login on a new device and you cannot remember the password (esp if you have multiple devices), and the only way out is to recover account. For some reason, it only listed devices that I am not associated with, despite having another machine logged in nearby. In my case it says 2 weeks, as a software engineer - it's kind of stupid because I have actually authenticated via multiple methods (phone and email). It's a bit below par for sure. I don't mind it being secure, but it's a bit OTT IMO.

Well, how acceptable would it be if a hacker did NOT have to wait 2 weeks to get access to your account? As pretty much everyone’s personal details are available for a price on the dark web, verifying your identity is much harder than you realize. Both your phone and your email are public information and can be spoofed, to use your example.

The alternative is for YOU to take total responsibility for your account security by creating a Recovery Key. Once you do that Apple will not be able to unlock your account at all, but, as long as you keep your Recovery Key secure, you can do it yourself with no waiting period. See→Set up a recovery key for your Apple ID - Apple Support.

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47 replies

Dec 28, 2023 9:11 AM in response to ah5454

I agree this is unacceptable. I left my business phone at a known location but have not yet been able to retrieve it. I locked the phone but decided to try and back it up and then erase it for security reasons. Unfortunately, my password is not correct so I have verified with Apple my business email, I have provided them with a personal number and verified that number, and yet I am unable to access my account, erase my phone, or anything else shy of flying back to where I left the phone for 23 days. This leaves me very uncomfortable from a security standpoint. In this day and age, I should have more access to my account than this system currently allows - do better Apple. I have 723 employees and I picked Apple phones because I felt confident in my ability to better control them, but this has changed my mind.

Aug 17, 2024 3:50 PM in response to ah5454

Requires both channels to be compromised. They are more than enough

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How is this acceptable to wait 2 weeks to recover your ID?