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Why do I have to keep on entering my Apple ID password?

Four days ago when I got up I saw a message on my MacMini (OSX 10.11.5) from Fantastical telling me that my iCloud password was incorrect. I entered the password that I knew was correct several times, but it kept on being rejected. I gave up and cancelled the dialog.


A few minutes later I got a message from the OS telling me that the Mac could not connect to iCloud because the password was incorrect.


When I went to iCloud in System Preferences to enter the password I received a message telling me that my iCloud account was suspended and that I would have to go to iforgot.apple.com to reset the password. No information on why the account was suspended and no choice for me about continuing to use the old password.


So, no choice. I went to iforgot and reset the password.


Then the nightmare began….


I have a total of five Apple devices all of which are associated with the same AppleID, iCloud, iTunes account, etc: Two AppleTV 4s, an iPhone 6s, an iPad 3 and a 2009 MacMini.


Once I reset the password the MacMini became essentially useless because of a huge number of password requests: iCloud, iMessage, iTunes, Apple Music, Mail and on and on for well over half an hour. About the same thing happened with all the other devices. By the time I stopped counting I had entered my new password on the various devices over 50 times? Is that really necessary?


But, it didn't stop there. This continued for days with the same password being requested on various devices over and over and over again.


Four days later it's still going on. I have been using iMessage on my iPad regularly. But, this afternoon I got the message: "Sign in with your Apple ID to activate iMessage". What the heck? I activated iMessage on this iPad years ago and updated the Apple ID password last Saturday. Why again?


I was just about to order a new iPad Mini today to replace my old iPad, but I wonder now if that would be wise. Do I really want to stay invested in an infrastructure that has caused me such grief over the past four days?


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Posted on May 24, 2016 12:37 AM

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Posted on May 26, 2016 2:15 AM

Success at last! It's been over 24 hours since I was asked to enter my password. With luck the nightmare is over.


The final hurdle was getting my iPad back on iMessages. I kept getting the dreaded "An error occurred during activation" message. After failing over several days I finally got it activated by using .me instead of .mac in my AppleID. Worked instantly.

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May 26, 2016 2:15 AM in response to Buadhai

Success at last! It's been over 24 hours since I was asked to enter my password. With luck the nightmare is over.


The final hurdle was getting my iPad back on iMessages. I kept getting the dreaded "An error occurred during activation" message. After failing over several days I finally got it activated by using .me instead of .mac in my AppleID. Worked instantly.

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May 29, 2016 5:50 AM in response to Buadhai

And the beat goes on…..

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Yes, even though I have been making purchases all along since I changed my password, somehow, out of the blue, Apple wanted me to reverify my credit card data.


Absolutely nothing changed. Apple is delusional.

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May 24, 2016 4:45 AM in response to Buadhai

It possible the original password reset request was initiated because someone may have been trying to hack into your account (or someone had mistakenly used your account email to log in to their account because of similarities). Apple has no control over over that.


What I would suggest, and it may seem a bit tedious, is to log out of iCloud on all your devices and then go to https://appleid.apple.com/ and log in. If you have no log in errors regarding your password remain logged in for the next step. If you receive password errors follow the instructions to reset your password.


Once you have successfully log in to the Apple ID management web site stay logged in. Now, one at a time, log in to your iCloud account on each of your devices but refresh the page at the Apple ID management web site between each added device. Make sure that each device as they log in to iCloud are added to your "Trusted Devices" list at the Apple ID management web site.


Once all devices have been logged in to your iCloud account consider activating Apple's Two-factor authentication to protect your iCloud account from unauthorized access. For more information and how to activate Two-Factor authentication see this web page.


Two-factor authentication for Apple ID - Apple Support


NOTE: Two-factor authentication is Apple's new mechanism for protecting iCloud accounts. It is not to be mistaken with Apple's old Two-step verification. They are activated differently.

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May 24, 2016 5:43 AM in response to Gino_Cerullo

You're joking, right? I've wasted huge amounts of time dealing with this issue and you're offering something even more time consuming and tedious? I'm sorry, but no.


As for 2FA, I've already tried that and turned it off because it was so incredibly burdensome. A huge waste of time.


I bought my first Mac in 1984 and have never bought a personal computer from any other company since then. I've been an Apple shareholder for a decade.


Right now all I feel is betrayal and humiliation.

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May 24, 2016 5:58 AM in response to Buadhai

Another thing that I wonder about. I have two devices (an Apple TV and a MacBook Air) at my condo south of Bangkok. I haven't been there recently so haven't changed the password on either of those. I wonder if part of the problem is them "phoning home" to Apple with the wrong password?


What am I supposed to do about that? I won't be able to get there for another few weeks so what Apple is seeing is a continued use of the wrong password.


What a mess.

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May 24, 2016 6:28 AM in response to Buadhai

As I stated in my first sentence,


"It possible the original password reset request was initiated because someone may have been trying to hack into your account (or someone had mistakenly used your account email to log in to their account because of similarities). Apple has no control over over that."


When designing these services Apple has to decide the trade-off between ease-of-use and security. In light of recent revelations, Apple has chosen security at the expense of ease-of-use.


It may occasionally place more burden on the user but had the opposite been true and had someone hacked into your iCloud account you would be singing a different tune.


Sorry you are having problems with your iCloud account. I hope you work it out to your satisfaction.

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May 24, 2016 3:03 PM in response to Gino_Cerullo

"It possible the original password reset request was initiated because someone may have been trying to hack into your account (or someone had mistakenly used your account email to log in to their account because of similarities). Apple has no control over over that."

I understand that. What I don't understand is why Apple didn't provide more detail on why my account was suspended and why Apple didn't give me a choice as to whether or not I wanted to reset my password.

I also understand that if I reset my password I would have to enter the new password once per device. I do not understand why I've had to enter my new password over and over and over again on each device.

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May 28, 2016 5:42 PM in response to Buadhai

Oops! Spoke too soon.


This morning when I woke up my iPad it insisted on having my iTunes store password. That's nine days after I originally reset my password. My guess is that I'm up to having to re-enter my password nearly a hundred times now….


Will it never end?

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Jul 26, 2016 3:41 AM in response to Buadhai

So, I'm hit by this once again. Yesterday I received an on-screen notice on my Mac telling me that my Apple ID was suspended for security reasons. No detail at all. Could I at least be told where the suspected breech occurred? I guess not.


This time I didn't have to change my password, but was given the opportunity to unlock it. I did. Since then I have been, once again, in password ****.


Apple TVs, Mac, iPhone, iPad - Password wanted over and over and over again.


Ready to watch CBSN on the Apple TV. Sorry, enter your iCloud password. Not easy on the Apple TV, so fetch the iPad, run the Remote app, wait for the keyboard to appear. Enter. All set? No, now I must enter my iTunes store password. It's exactly the same, but enter it again. Fetch the iPad, etc., etc.


Sorry, there must be a better way.

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Why do I have to keep on entering my Apple ID password?

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