I currently have MFA setup for 1 account, it's been like this since MFA release. I signed into another Apple ID through Mail in order to use the email service of this account.
I know MFA needs to be enabled and setup on the device. Can I have my main go-to Apple ID use MFA as I've been using and then establish MFA for the other Apple ID and use the same device?
Ok, so here is what I did to make this work and it is working:
On my iPhone:
Primary ID (@me) remained logged in and TFA enabled (it has been like this for years).
Secondary ID (@mac) added as a Mail account.
On my iPad:
Logged into iPad as @mac and enabled TFA.
Was prompted to enter credit card for verification purposes and setup passcode for security purposes.
Had to send a text message to verify, sent to my ONLY number (this number is associated with my @me as well).
Back on the iPhone I was prompted to finish setting up TFA, but the prompt had my @me account and I then entered my @me password. Seemed to have finished at this point.
Went to iCloud.com and signed in with @mac and I was prompted with TFA. My iPad received a code immediately, but I chose click "Didn't received a code..." and then selected Text Message. The text came to the iPhone, I entered the code into iCloud.com and I was successful.
Both @me and @mac have my ONLY number as a trusted number and my iPhone as a trusted device. When I originally signed into my iPad with @mac, my iPhone was already listed as a trusted device prior to setting up TFA. Maybe because I had @mac signed into as a MAIL account...
So... when signing into @mac I will have to choose Text Message in order to have the code sent to my trusted number which is my iPhone. When I sign into @me I will be prompted on my iPhone with the "Allow" box then the code. Seems a single device can be associated with an Apple ID for TFA in order to be prompted, but as long as there is a trusted number I should be good to go.
Ok, so here is what I did to make this work and it is working:
On my iPhone:
Primary ID (@me) remained logged in and TFA enabled (it has been like this for years).
Secondary ID (@mac) added as a Mail account.
On my iPad:
Logged into iPad as @mac and enabled TFA.
Was prompted to enter credit card for verification purposes and setup passcode for security purposes.
Had to send a text message to verify, sent to my ONLY number (this number is associated with my @me as well).
Back on the iPhone I was prompted to finish setting up TFA, but the prompt had my @me account and I then entered my @me password. Seemed to have finished at this point.
Went to iCloud.com and signed in with @mac and I was prompted with TFA. My iPad received a code immediately, but I chose click "Didn't received a code..." and then selected Text Message. The text came to the iPhone, I entered the code into iCloud.com and I was successful.
Both @me and @mac have my ONLY number as a trusted number and my iPhone as a trusted device. When I originally signed into my iPad with @mac, my iPhone was already listed as a trusted device prior to setting up TFA. Maybe because I had @mac signed into as a MAIL account...
So... when signing into @mac I will have to choose Text Message in order to have the code sent to my trusted number which is my iPhone. When I sign into @me I will be prompted on my iPhone with the "Allow" box then the code. Seems a single device can be associated with an Apple ID for TFA in order to be prompted, but as long as there is a trusted number I should be good to go.
Not a problem!
So with what I stated, it is possible to have 2 completely different Apple IDs send TFA codes to 1 device. One of the codes is sent through iOS while the other is sent via text message.
Since both IDs have the same trusted device, I wonder why the codes would not be sent in the same manner. All has to do with which ID is signed into the phone, but still...
Would TFA not use a "trusted" device instead of a phone number?
I'm thinking I would sign out of my current Apple ID on my iPhone, then signin with the second TFA-less Apple ID, then setup TFA. I know I can only be signed into 1 device with 1 Apple ID for all services such as backup, but I really just want to have TFA for this account for security purposes.
If you have two devices, that should work.
A trusted device is an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch with iOS 9 and later, or Mac with OS X El Capitan and later that you've already signed in to using two-factor authentication. It’s a device we know is yours and that can be used to verify your identity by displaying a verification code from Apple when you sign in on a different device or browser.
To the best of my knowledge, any given devise can only be associated with 1 Apple ID. The phone would be associated with the iD used to sign into iCloud.
That might work, but I'd test it when I had another device handy in case it didn't.
If you do that, you will need two different phone numbers to receive verification codes.
Apologies for stating MFA, I've been deploying Office 365 and have issues with Microsoft's service named MFA and Apple renamed Dual-Authentic action to TFA. Very confusing their is no standard name scheme.
I do have many Apple devices that can be used, but I only carry my iPhone 99% of the time. I was asking if that single iPhone can be used to receive the verification codes from 2 different devices.
Like if I wanted to sign into iCloud.com with my secondary Apple ID (which is only signed into on my primary iPhone as a Mail account only), would that code come to said iPhone which was "trusted" during that initial TFA setup of the secondary Apple ID.
MFA?
Multi-factor Authentication.
I think, perhaps, they mean what Apple refers to as Two-Factor Authentication.
Thanks. That was my guess, but wanted to be sure.
I just logged into that linked with @me and then with @mac, neither displayed the opposite accounts as a reachable account.
Thanks for doing me the favor of checking.
Thanks for the feedback. Curiosity question - if you log into the link below using either ID, do you see the other ID under Reachable at? If you do, it appears you may be using the same Apple ID in both places.
1 MFA Device For 2 Apple ID Accounts
