How to approve an iPhone (Mac and iCloud)

I was having this same problem. What I ended up doing was turning on the key chain on my iPad.( the device I was trying to use to approve my iPhone.) I was then asked to go on to another device to approve my iPad. At the bottom of the screen it had an option and blue text that said cannot approve this device. I clicked that and it asked me if I wanted to reset my encrypted data and I click to reset. It warned that it may delete all my passwords and everything that go along with the keychain but I hit reset anyway. Then with my fingers crossed I turned the key chain on my iPhone on. It asked for my passcode and then said I needed to approve my device. This time I was promoted to approve the device by entering my password on my iPad. Problem solved. Oh and by the way all my passwords etc. where still there.

So the solution was simple for me all I do was turn on key chain on both of the devices, the one I was approving, and the one I was using to approve the other device. After that I just de licked that notification from the start, and filled out my password, passcode, and this time it sent a message to my phone asking if I wanted to approve my IPad

I just had the same problem & was in a never ending loop. I could not approve my new iPhone by logging into icloud as requested by my new iphone. Here is what i did that finally made the error message go away. I went to icloud and turned off 2 factor authentication. when you do this it asks you for answers to security questions. I answered the security questions. then i turned off my new iPhone and turned it back on. this time when the phone booted up, i was able to log into settings with apple id and password. it is no longer asking me to approve the new device.

I ended up just selecting the reset data option and honestly I’m not sure what it even reset, everything is the same as before (I don’t use Keychain but that might be one thing it does reset.)

After that everything worked fine and the verification codes came through without issue.

So after signing into icloud from my mac and it still didn't work, I turned my phone off and the mac finally approved the phone. I was able to sign in on the phone and on the mac and everything was resolved... only took 3 hrs to update the phone to make this work 😟

I can't solve the problem but I have a solution.

1. You will go to Itunes on your pc.
2. You will connect your old phone to a PC.
3. Then you will create a backup (In Itunes) of your old phone.
4. You will disconnect your old phone and connect your new.
5. You will install that backup on your new phone.
6. You will go to approve your phone but then you will tap on “Can't approve this phone”
7. When that window pop up you will press reset.

So if you have more devices you can try to do the same just you will create a backup of all your devices.

Maybe it helped I hope so.

I'm not an expert and sorry for my English.

When you get the code on the iPhone, is there a password box to sign in? If you see a password box, enter the password (ABC) followed by the code (123) or ABC123.

Can you generate and receive a code on the computer?

I contacted Apple. I chatted with one representative, talked to another one who consulted other few senior advisers. The issue is still not resolved yet. Apple suggested me to go to Icloud to add one new phone number and use the new phone to generate a verification code.

I did as instructed but was not successful, Robert from apple, who seems to be the most senior adviser told me I could not do it because I changed my password in 2 hours. I have to wait for 24 hours to try it again to see if it will work.

Good luck, guys!

Instead of logging into the iCloud website, has anyone tried approving an iPhone by having a look at the iCloud settings on an associated Mac where the iCloud account has been set up and is signed in?

>Apple Menu

>System Preferences

>iCloud...

Might there be an alert there that triggers approval of the phone? Disclaimer: I don't know that this is correct, it's just a thought.

Hi, I’m having the same problem. I updated my iOS for the 11.0.1 version, and now I need to approve my iPhone, but my iPad didn’t receive the prompt... I also tried to log in with a friend’s iPhone, but it needed approval too so it didn’t work either... I tried with my notebook, in the iCloud web version, and in the iTunes app, but nothing worked...

Please, help me

[Image Edited by Host to Remove Personal Information]

you are the most amazing star to have figured it out!! it worked for me too. I would just add, how to turn on your keychain in iPad or iPhone: in settings app, go to accounts & passwords, then into iCloud (under accounts) and in there you will find the keychain switch.

I signed into my iCloud account on my MacBook and my phone gave me a verification code, which I entered on my computer to sign into my iCloud account. Still, nothing is happening on my phone.

What happens if you click the bottom link?

I was able to activate the iCloud services, and I’m still receiving the two-factor authentication passwords, but the message to approve the device is still on