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Level 2

278 points

Your Apple ID was used to sign in to iMessage on an iPhone 4

Hello,

Today I received an email from Apple informing me that "Your Apple ID was used to sign in to iMessage on an iPhone 4". I have not personally changed my iMessage setting on my iPhone 4 in a long time (months and months). I promptly checked Settings > Messages > iMessage on my iPhone 4 and saw that it was with the ON position. I slid the ON to OFF and back to ON again where I was asked to enter my Apple ID and my password. After doing so I received (within minutes) a new "Your Apple ID was used to sign in to iMessage on an iPhone 4" email message stating the change.

I have logged into my iTunes account and checked my Manage Devices panel to double-check the devices using my Apple ID and found that there is no extra unknown device present. All that are there are devices I recognise and have authorised to use my Apple ID.

Has Apple just deployed a messaging mechanism that has just happended to send me an email notifying me that my iMessage is ON despite it's being on for months, or is there something more sinister taking place that isn't yet apparent in my iTunes account where I'd expect as first port of call to see if anything was array?

I have also checked my Apple ID associated Purchases and there is nothing odd or untoward there that would cause me to be alarmed.

In any case, as a precaution, I have chandged my Apple ID password, just to be confident and with peace of mind on my part that my iTunes account and iMessage feature is safe and secure under my control.

As expected, iMessage onmy desktop and iCloud prompted me automatically for verification. iCloud on my iPhone 4 follwed suit and iMessage went through the "Waiting for activation..." protocol that I expected it to.

Regards,

Paul

p.s. it would be helpful if Apple's email notification message "Your Apple ID was used to sign in to iMessage on an iPhone 4" indicated the time and date of each sign in). As is, there is no indication of when a sign in using my Apple ID occurred in the message sent to me from Apple.

Posted on Sep 7, 2012 4:40 AM

25 replies

Sep 12, 2012 3:47 AM in response to Paul Irvine

Paul,

There is a lot going on dealing with security...with the Flashback malware, holes in Java, and so on...a lot of things are creeping in to protect users. Just try installing software with Mac OS X 10.8 now...thing called Gatekeeper makes you go through a few extra keystrokes to do an installation when it feels the software is not from a trusted source. That is supposed to tighten things up and prevent malware, trojans, etc., from installing.

As I said earlier, got that message for activating FaceTime, not just for using iMessge, so it looks like it is an app-wide protection.

Ralph

csz123

Level 1

0 points

Sep 14, 2012 10:59 AM in response to Paul Irvine

In the past 4 days, I have received this message "Your Apple ID was used to sign into iMessage on an iPhone 3GS" in an email over 100 times.

100 emails, in my inbox, in 4 days. I unlocked this phone to use in Europe, but I've been sending SMS messages for a couple of months with none of these notificiations. I don't know what the bugs are in the Apple system, but they are incredibly annoying.

Paul Irvine Author

Level 2

278 points

Sep 28, 2012 1:03 PM in response to csz123

Notably since the rollout of iOS 6, the notifications have ceased.

nwriko2

Level 1

9 points

Oct 4, 2012 4:21 AM in response to Paul Irvine

No they haven't! Just got one today but with a further twist I got warned that my apple ID was used to access iMessage from "iPad" which I do have but it's an iPad 1 without iMessage capabilities!

Oct 20, 2012 3:08 AM in response to nwriko2

I also got a notification pop-up on my iPhone today stating that my @me.com Apple ID has been used to sign into iMessage on "iPad", which was a bit generic for my tastes, and raised my suspicions because my iPad has been signed in to iMessage for a long time, and has a name other than just "iPad". I also did not get any email like I normally get when there's a sign in on a new device.

It makes me wonder if it's just a glitch or if my Apple ID has been compromised in some way.

I really wish that iCloud or the Apple ID site had a detailed way to see which devices had accessed what services and when.

May 1, 2013 12:13 AM in response to smartygus

I had the same pop-up message happen to me. I do not own an iPad. Changed my password but I wish I knew more.

Sep 15, 2014 11:12 AM in response to smmpharmd

I had a very similar problem over the weekend. I did not use iCloud on a mac for some time, instead I used it on Windows and Linux in several occasions.

I signed into iCloud using Firefox webbrowser from my home location on fresh formatted linux and windows installations and did never get a message stating that my ID was used to sign in. This last weekend tho I received this message 2 times and again 1 time today on monday. Now I have actually changed my password and formatted my computer with linux (sabayon latest weekly build) only. I signed in and did not receive any message till today. I then installed again Windows 8.1 pro as a second OS signed in via the webbrowser and then via mozilla thunderbird 1h later I received a message with the warning, that somebody signed in using my ID on a Webbrowser.

Now first of all thunderbird isn't a web browser (if it is really the case that other mail clients would cause this mail, i think, I also used the default mail client on linux sabayon to sign in when I received the message the first time this weekend.)

And second of all, without the IP of the person that connected to my account this information is completely useless!!

So yes I also wish I knew more, and wishing so I chatted with the apple support team which was unfortunately (eventho extremely friendly) unable to tell me anything about the connector's identity. Or simply (if it is really possible that for some reason I would not have the right to know this IP, which I believe is not the case) telling me if it was my own home location IP or not. Because that is for sure I personally have not used my ID from any other IP than my static one from home.

Well long story short.

The information that "someone" has used my Apple ID to connect from whatever device or client, without stating the connector's IP is completely useless!

icolleen

Level 1

8 points

Jul 11, 2015 12:07 PM in response to myselfandi

i agree! I have one iphone and one pc - that's it. everytime I boot up my pc and check my icloud.com email I get an email from apple saying someone JUST logged into my account via web browser DUH it was me!! I always get the email right when I log in to my email LOL STUPID

and if I log in and have 0 emails .. within a minute I get an email I'm like OH COOL AN EMAIL and it's from APPLE telling me SOMEONE just logged into my account via web browser

duh

redic

I <3 you apple but ya this needs to stop LOL

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jul 11, 2015 12:11 PM in response to icolleen

icolleen wrote:

i agree! I have one iphone and one pc - that's it. everytime I boot up my pc and check my icloud.com email I get an email from apple saying someone JUST logged into my account via web browser DUH it was me!!

How are Apple to know that, would you prefer if they just assumed all logins were you without notification?

Jul 11, 2015 12:17 PM in response to icolleen

You will only get that notification if you are blocking cookies in your browser, or clearing them on exit. Apple's server "knows" its you because it placed a cookie on your browser. If there's no cookie it's a "new" browser as far as the Apple server is concerned. There's also a checkbox to remember the browser on the sign-in screen. If you don't check it no cookie is set.

Your Apple ID was used to sign in to iMessage on an iPhone 4