Account Recovery for Apple ID not recognized on MacBook Air

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Level 1

4 points

Account Recovery for Apple ID not recognized on MacBook Air

I set up Account Recovery for my Apple ID on one device (cell). I assumed it would apply to my laptop signed in with the same Apple ID, but my laptop is not recognizing it.

Does Apple require Account Recovery to be configured separately on each device, or should it automatically sync across devices? What could be causing this?

Devices: MacBook Air (macOS Tahoe 26.1) and iPhone 15 (26.3 iOS)

Both signed into the same Apple ID.

MacBook Air 15″, macOS 26.3

Posted on Feb 18, 2026 11:02 AM

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Answer 1

sberman

Level 10

273,162 points

Feb 19, 2026 1:55 PM in response to 1stfruit

Apple Account Recovery works on your Apple device.

This explains.

How to use account recovery when you can’t reset your Apple Account password - Apple Support

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Answer 2

sberman

Level 10

273,162 points

Feb 19, 2026 3:44 PM in response to 1stfruit

I am baffled.

Here’s your next step.

Contact Apple Support

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Answer 3

1stfruit Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 19, 2026 3:34 PM in response to sberman

Hi sberman,

Thank you for your reply.

I am signed into the same Apple ID on both my iPhone and my Mac. As requested, I set up a new account recovery method on my iPhone, and it was successfully accepted.

However, my Mac is not recognizing this update. It is still:

Prompting me to set up an account recovery method.
When I attempted to set one up on the Mac, I was given a verification number, but when I entered it correctly, I received a message stating it was incorrect.

After several attempts, I also tried entering the number that was provided on my iPhone, but that did not work either.

Could you please advise why the recovery method is not syncing between my devices and how I can resolve this?

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