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

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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

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Answer 1

AKRBTN

Level 6

8,299 points

Sep 7, 2012 5:01 AM in response to Paul Irvine

Are you sure the first email was really from Apple? Could have been a phishing attempt. Is it exactly the same as the one you legitimately got after you re-signed in to iMessage, and did it come from the same address? (I mean real address - not what appears as the name.)

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Answer 2

Sep 7, 2012 5:10 AM in response to Paul Irvine

Paul,

I received a similar message last night after using FaceTime for the first time on my MacBook Pro...had been using it on the iPhone for some time. The message read:

Dear ****,

Your Apple ID (***) was used to sign in to FaceTime on a a MacBook Pro.

If you have not recently set up a MacBook Pro with your AppleID, then you should change your AppleID password. (and then a hyperlink to how to change your password).

That email was a surprise because I use the system for a lot of things, but may just be an expansion to the notification system. Actually it is good to know they are aware and alerting you to the activity. If you DID NOT do what the email is saying you did, then you should take action. Otherwise treat it as helpful is my theory.

Ralph

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Answer 3

Paul Irvine Author

Level 2

278 points

Sep 7, 2012 5:21 AM in response to AKRBTN

Hi AKRBTN,

I saw the email message but did not click on it to act upon its "Learn more" prompt. The destination of the URL that is in the email message states: support.apple.com/kb/HE36

I did not provide any detail on my part to this because I know that if I want to chnage any element of my Apple ID or iTunes account, I need to do so in my iTunes Store account access then in Account Information > and click where it states "Edit" next to my Apple ID, then go to: https://appleid.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/MyAppleId.woa/wa/directToSignIn?loc alang=en_uk and pursue whatever I need to do there and nowhere else.

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Answer 4

Paul Irvine Author

Level 2

278 points

Sep 7, 2012 5:29 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

In the page body of support.apple.com/kb/HE36 it states another hyperlink going to: iforgot.apple.com

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Answer 5

Sep 7, 2012 5:37 AM in response to Paul Irvine

That kb article is a year old and is legitimate, the forgot AppleID link plays some question games with you and then sends an email to your registered email address with ID info...has not been sinister in the past to my experience.

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Answer 6

Paul Irvine Author

Level 2

278 points

Sep 7, 2012 6:20 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

Thanks Ralph. It's just odd that when I made no sign in with my Apple ID into iMessage on any iPhone 4 since the very start of the year - that today I receive a notification email from Apple notifying me about a log in. The email sender suggests the first message came from "noreply@apple.com". The subsequent emails I expected to receive (since intentionally changing my Apple ID password) today also suggest they're from "noreply@apple.com".

I've been a member since October 2000 and in all that time today is the first time I've ever needed to change my Apple ID password as it's pretty robust and testament having had no threat to it since then to date.

Best safe than sorry but just wanted to question about the trigger for the first message.

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Answer 7

Sep 7, 2012 6:36 AM in response to Paul Irvine

Can't say what triggered the messge if there was no activity, unless Apple just started that notification. There hasn't been anyone posting about it so that would lead one to believe it is tied to some type of activity and not a mass-mailing (hate to accuse Apple of spam 😝).

I am ignoring the one I got since it is clear I did exactly what it is referencing...tied FaceTime to my AppleID.

If you feel better changing your password, by all means do so and safe computing.

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Answer 8

Paul Irvine Author

Level 2

278 points

Sep 7, 2012 7:06 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

Thanks Ralph. I rarely get unwanted messaging from Apple other than what I expect to receive so that's what called my attention to this particular instance. Thank you and thanks too to AKRBTN for your assistance.

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Answer 9

Sep 7, 2012 7:45 AM in response to Paul Irvine

Very strange...I received the exact same message this morning. I am checking my iTunes account now, but I went ahead and changed my password just in case. I do wonder if it was some kind of error that was sent out to certain users though considering this happened the same day.

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Answer 10

karupoeg

Level 1

0 points

Sep 7, 2012 11:32 AM in response to exquizite2

I just received the very same message too (and I havent done anything with imessage settings) . May this have something to do with the recent leak of UDID? Should I be worried?

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Answer 11

Sep 7, 2012 5:24 PM in response to Paul Irvine

Same here i change my password and from everything linked towards that email although the most strange thing is that i have an iphone which is hactivated that means no imessage for me and i get a message that my imessage have been recently activated thing that is impossible... i checked the phone and status is still waiting for activation etc....

Seems its some kind of joke massive spam from Apple scaring of and making us changing passwords what a pain in the *** but better secure rather then running after ....

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Answer 12

Sep 7, 2012 6:46 PM in response to Ralph Landry1

OK, just signed in FaceTime with my iMac, which has never been used for FaceTime, and got the same email I quoted above but with the machine changed appropirately. This notification looks like a new item Apple is using to alert users to an AppleID access just in case they did not perforrm that access.

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Answer 13

Sep 7, 2012 7:00 PM in response to Ralph Landry1

And as a further test, just logged into iMessage on the iMac and received the email again, this time refering to accessing iMessage and AppleID, etc.

Certainly looks like a legitimate notification coming from Apple.

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Answer 14

Sep 11, 2012 11:54 AM in response to Paul Irvine

For the past week or two, I've been getting these darn warnings once a day if I've sent a text message from my iPhone! It's getting annoying. I wonder if it's Apple's way of telling us iMessage has subsumed the SMS functionality (which is annoying in and of itself)?

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Answer 15

Paul Irvine Author

Level 2

278 points

Sep 12, 2012 2:14 AM in response to Paul Irvine

Interesting that others too have noticed this behaviour. I'm reassured that it appears to be an official occurrance. Something has obviously been injected to the service. Perhaps more will be revealed during Apple's event in San Francisco.

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