Lakesidejulie wrote:
I inadvertedly started setting up two factor verification and now I can’t get rid of the number 1 on my settings icon. The email I got says to turn off I have to change my passwords, don’t want to do that
Within two weeks of having enabled two-factor authentication, use the link in the mail message to disable it. Past two weeks, or if two-factor was enabled when the Apple ID was created, two-factor authentication cannot be disabled.
To see what that red 1 on settings indicates, tap on it. If that’s a password change, you’ll have to change it. If something else is shown, correct that. If everything is clear, sign out of your Apple ID and sign back in, and check again.
Why two-factor authentication? As for an Apple ID security breach due to phishing or due to password re-use and (endemic) cramming attacks that can result in devices that are now permanently unavailable without providing original purchase receipts to Apple, all of the iCloud contents, all iCloud backups, and all of the device-local data and the most precious photos erased and permanently gone, and discussions with the financial providers over charges on the payment card accounts.
Because that’s where these stories too often end. It’s really saddening too, to have to explain to people that our irreplaceable photos or our conversations with our now-departed friends and relatives are, well, gone.
Two-factor provides a last-ditch mechanism to prevent this from happening, if (when?) a password is compromised; phished, or guessed, or breached, or whatever.
