Two-Factor Authentication is not available for Child's Apple ID?

A year after the solution to this question was posting, the answer remains true in my experience.

I was troubleshooting my (minor) son's iMessage account… he was no longer able to send or receive iMessages. When going through his account, there was reset info for devices that were not his or mine! So I decided it was time to set up two-factor authentication for him. And there is no option where it should be in iOS 9, and none in the iCloud web site either.

I'm not sure why this isn't allowed. I'd like my son to be especially secure with anything that connects him to the internet! Of course this is probably not even on Apple's radar. So little hope of making this safer.

Still not sure how I'm going to fix the iMessage issue. Off to those forums I guess… 😟

It could be that a child typically has no payment method on file, which is a major element (but not yet a requirement) of 2FA's account recovery process.

It may be a matter of not allowing a child's account to be set up with 2FA, to prevent that account from being non-recoverable in the future.

Hi,

What a unpleasant surprise to find out the account I just created for my son (9 years old) to stop using my iCloud account on an iDevice can not be secured with a 2FA method... I find it a weak point for Apple and hope they include it to this type of accounts.

The inability to enable two factor authentication on my children's iCloud accounts has been frustrating, but I've got fantastic news!

Today both of my children got notifications on their devices to enable two factor authentication. They're both using devices running iOS 10.3+ To enable two factor authentication go into the settings of the iOS device and Enable 2 factor authentication under their iCloud settings.

Thanks a lot @Bry83,

I did not received any notification from iDevices associated to my children accounts but after reading your entry, I checked directly their Apple IDs through the the website id.apple.com without success, since it does not appear there any mention to 2FA... but then tried on directly on the iCloud configuration through the iPads and voila! Here there is :-)

I confirm as well I manage to enable 2FA on my 5 and 9 years old children, not only from iOS 10.3+ but also from an iOS 9+ running on an iPad 2.

Very satisfied with Apple on including this security element to our young users :-)

It would be great if it stops asking for more than 3 times the password on their accounts any time they want to download an App.

Feedback for Apple goes here >>> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

You'll need to enable two-step verification by logging into their ID at https://appleid.apple.com/

You can enable two-step verification with any Apple ID, not just those upgraded to iOS 9.3

Two Step requires both ends (web & device) to be on the same page.

I believe if you enable it on the web site it enables it on the devices. I never enabled mine on my device, only through the web site. I have kids in the Family Sharing and logging into their accounts online, I see the option to enable two-step verification.

In doing some more looking it looks like two-step verification and two-factor authentication are two different things.

I see the options to enable two-step verification from my kids' devices from the web site. I would need to check on their devices when I get home to see if two-factor authentication is there or not.

My son's account looks different when logging into https://appleid.apple.com/