yebdox

Q: Wife mysteriously signs in iCloud account on friend's phone.

My wife is good at a lot of things, but unfortunately, she is technically inept. Yesterday, when a friend tried to share a photo that she had on her iPhone, my wife took her friend's phone from her friend, and claims to have typed in my cell phone number,  to forward the photo to me thru Messages. (I never received the photo.) Subsequently, her friend  found my wife's calendar, contacts and to do list showing up on her phone, intermixed with her own data. When I looked at her friend's phone to troubleshoot, I found in the settings that she had somehow logged her friend's iPhone into her own iCloud account. Her friend's iPhone actually showed that it was registered with both her and my wife's iCloud accounts simultaneously, which I didn't even think was possible.

 

I managed to delete my wife's account from her friends phone, which also erased her friends contact list and calendar. Fortunately, even though her friend was unaware of the importance of backing up, she must have used the default settings with her iPhone setup, so that she was able to restore her contacts from iCloud.

 

I'm trying to figure out what she did, so that I can prevent her from doing it again, but I cannot reverse engineer what she did. In the meantime, I have begged her not to touch any phone or computer that is not hers. The security breach could have had serious consequences personally and financially, if the woman had not been a friend.

 

Can anyone with more experience figure out the steps necessary for the above to take place, so that I can warn my wife against this kind of thing? She has no idea how she did it, which I'm sure is true, and just a little frightening, but after 30 years, I'm getting used to it:) I'm starting to think she's some kind of Manchurian candidate who is a diabolical techno-terrorist during moments of unconsciousness. God help us, if she ever goes into politics.

iPhone 6s, iOS 9.3.2

Posted on Jun 22, 2016 11:12 PM

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Q: Wife mysteriously signs in iCloud account on friend's phone.

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  • by Coolbobcat2,Helpful

    Coolbobcat2 Coolbobcat2 Jun 23, 2016 6:25 AM in response to yebdox
    Level 3 (516 points)
    Jun 23, 2016 6:25 AM in response to yebdox

    Hi yebdox,

     

    I understand your wife went to use her friends iPhone so she could send a photo to you through the messages app, but after doing that you soon later discovered that your wife's iCloud account was logged onto her friends iPhone and that you'd like to know what steps could've lead that to happening.

     

    If I were in your situation, I would be frightened as well. I think it's also good that you take the security of your wife's iCloud account seriously.

     

    It can be a little hard trying to figure out the steps your wife might've done to see how her account could've got on her friends iPhone. Maybe your wife got a prompt to enter in her iCloud account, when in reality the device might've been prompting her friend to enter in their iCloud account instead. There are also other ways you can login into your iCloud account, like through the Settings app. Perhaps your wife accidentally signed into her e-mail account through the settings app as well, which might explain why her contacts, and calendars were appearing on her friends device.

     

    I think even if you can't necessarily retrace back the exact steps to how her iCloud account got on her friends device, I think discussing with her and training her on ways to protect her iCloud account would be great. Along with that, you can also change her iCloud password to a new password if you think that will help you feel safer, here: https://appleid.apple.com/. You can also turn on two step verification for your Apple ID to help prevent unrestricted access to your account, for more information on that, please refer to this knowledgebase support article from Apple: Frequently asked questions about two-step verification for Apple ID - Apple Support. Additionally, you can find more information about maximizing the security of your account here: Security and your Apple ID - Apple Support.

     

    I hope this helps you yebdox.

  • by LACAllen,Helpful

    LACAllen LACAllen Jun 23, 2016 6:25 AM in response to yebdox
    Level 5 (4,522 points)
    iCloud
    Jun 23, 2016 6:25 AM in response to yebdox

    somehow logged her friend's iPhone into her own iCloud account. Her friend's iPhone actually showed that it was registered with both her and my wife's iCloud accounts simultaneously, which I didn't even think was possible.

     

    It's not.

     

    She would have had to sign out of the friend's iCloud services at Settings > iCloud. This would have generated several dialogs about removing various content depending on what had been enabled. If Find My Phone was on, this would have required the friend's password. Not something that can be done by accident.

     

    Having said that, one can sign in with a different Apple ID to iTunes and App store, Messages, FaceTime and GameCentre.

     

    That would perhaps give the impression 2 different "iCloud" (actually Apple IDs) are in use at the same time.

  • by yebdox,

    yebdox yebdox Jun 23, 2016 6:24 AM in response to Coolbobcat2
    Level 1 (17 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 23, 2016 6:24 AM in response to Coolbobcat2

    Thanks, I have since learned that one can add one's Mail, Messages, Contacts and apparently Calendar to a phone with an iCloud account already linked, but NOT a backup, documents, find my iPhone or photo stream, so there is apparently some measure of security in place. I assume once I deleted her account from her friend's phone, she would not be able to restore my wife's account, unless she somehow backed it up, which might have happened unknowingly, if she went to charge her phone (she apparently did not understand backups, but did know to plug her phone in to her computer to charge, with the default backup in place to iCloud.)

     

    I think the scenario in which she may have responded to prompts intended for the owner of the phone is most likely. With two unaware users, the phone owner/friend may not have had Messages setup, and so my wife must have entered her own account, thinking it was required, without understanding in the least what she was doing. She has no recollection of any thing she did, only what she was trying to do. Given that I never received the intended photo, and given that iCloud setups seem to have everything turned on when first logging in after setup (mail, messages, photostream, etc) and given that the additional accounts on a phone are limited to only an additional accounts Mail, Messages and Contacts, I'm thinking that that is what happened. Now my only question is if that log in to my wife's account is stored in backup on her friends Mac or in iTunes or iCloud, when her friend went to charge her phone, and if it would by default restore my wife's account when her friend reconnects with iTunes on her computer, or if the default backup takes the removal of my wife's info into account and deletes it from the backup as it updates it.

     

    Thanks for the feedback. I'm still amazed at what can happen with technology in the hands of well intended folks who choose to remain ignorant of the tools they are using, which has always been my wife's approach to computers, phones and contemporary technology.

  • by Coolbobcat2,

    Coolbobcat2 Coolbobcat2 Jun 23, 2016 9:13 AM in response to yebdox
    Level 3 (516 points)
    Jun 23, 2016 9:13 AM in response to yebdox

    Hi again yebdox,

     

    You're more than welcome! I'm glad I could provide you some helpful information. What you said could be correct. Because my knowledge is vast in iTunes, I can't give you a direct answer about your question regarding iTunes. If you do have some time, visiting this knowledgebase support article from Apple will show you the steps your wife might've done, or might nave needed to do to "sync" her information from her friends Mac, if your wife did somehow do it: How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support.

     

    I know with the digital world it can be hard to manage your data, but Apple provides tools to help you do so. If you want to find out about these tools and tips, you can find more information here: http://www.apple.com/privacy/manage-your-privacy/.

     

    I hope this helps you.