How to turn off two factor authentication?

have absolutely no need for Two Factor Authentication. No financial info, I don't shop on my phone or make purchases from iTunes or the App Store. I don't carry my phone in my hand everywhere I go or use it constantly. I use it as a phone. I don't even have email saved on it. I use it to make calls, text, as an alarm clock, camera and for directions.

You're making the same incorrect assumption most of the people who have difficulty with 2FA make. It is not designed to protect your phone (or your Mac or any other piece of hardware). It is designed to protect your Apple ID.

Unless there is something amiss, you should rarely have to enter the 2FA code on your phone. The only time I had to enter it was when I originally set it up. If you have only one Apple device, you should have a phone number (landline or mobile) set up as a trusted number. When are you seeing a request for the code on your phone? If you explain, someone may be able to help you figure out what's going on.

I suggest that you review Apple's documentation:

Two-factor authentication for Apple ID - Apple Support

There is nothing to sort out. This is a requirement to be able to use the most current iOS and macOS, and it is a security measure that has been put in place by many more vendors than just Apple. In the days before rampant hacking, you had to put in Security Questions. Did you feel that Apple was controlling you then? It's the price of doing business on the internet in 2019.

GB

Yes, it appears you can turn off two factor verification. I was just reading an article, and it says that you can unenroll in two factor verification for a period of 2 weeks, and then set it back up with the privacy setting that does NOT require two factor verification.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204915

However, I'm in the middle of MBA midterms, and haven't been able to look deeper into it. The article is a little ambiguous to me. I can't tell if you can only turn it off when you first turn it on. I hope an Apple tech reads this thread, because I need to turn it off, because my husband needs to access iCloud in an area where he has internet access (limited), but no cell service..

I'm going to be checking further into this later this week -- frankly, I trust Apple far more than I'd ever trust Google and Microsoft, who make a lot of money selling our information. Have you heard about the latest Google privacy violation in Europe? Just a thought. For a corporation, I think Apple does a great job.

libby226 wrote:

Why can't we call Apple and answer our security questions / give set up information to obtain a code?

Because anyone can call Apple, convince the Apple representative they are you, and get your password or security questions reset. And it is trivially easy to convince any customer service representative they are you, because all of your personal information (name, address and previous addresses, income, SSN, phone numbers, email addresses, mother's maiden name, place of birth, passwords you have used-essentially everything that is known about you) is for sale on the dark web (thank you, Equifax and Facebook). That's why Apple implemented 2 factor authentication, because it takes human fallibility out of the equation. You are in sole control of your information.

If you have a trusted device, you do not need connectivity of any kind.

See <<< https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204974

A better way may be to do some basic research before joining a conversation where you don't understand how the technology. actually works.

If you recently (less than 2 weeks) have turned ON your two-factor authentication and would like to turn it OFF, go to the email that's linked to you apple account, and search for the email that notified you that your settings were changed, and push the link that gives you the option to return to previous setting. It will then ask you to set a new password. Then go back to your settings to verify the two-factor is off.

It is extraordinarily user friendly. It protects the user's Apple ID from being compromised, a very common occurrence that you can learn about by reading all of the posts here from users whose accounts were hacked.

There have been some high profile instances of user's iCloud accounts hacked. (remember Jennifer Lawrence?) This was not a case of iCloud being hacked; somehow the hacker got the credentials of the hacked accounts. As there is enough publicly available information to impersonate anyone today (thank you, Equifax) it is not hard for a hacker to get a password reset for any account on any service, including iCloud, by social engineering Apple's account security team. So having a strong password is not sufficient (apparently Jennifer Lawrence didn't, but that's a different issue). Thus, if someone wants to hack your Apple ID they can, unless it has 2 factor authentication enabled. With 2 FA enabled Apple can no longer reset your password or even see your account. So account security becomes the responsibility of the user exclusively. Most of the complaints come from user's who don't want this responsibility.

There was a thread a several of months ago from someone who was hacked. The hacker changed the account password, changed the answers to the security questions, change the account's address and phone numbers, then put the phone into lost mode and held it for ransom. They also took the victim's contact list and used it to send email ostensibly from the victim to all of the contacts. Apple Security said they could not do anything because none of the real information supplied by the victim matched information saved in the account.

In addition, Apple will be offering some services only to accounts that have 2 FA enabled.

But the bottom line is if someone wants to hack your Apple ID they can do it easily if it doesn't have 2 FA. The only thing that protects you is that it is unlikely anyone wants to hack you specifically out of the hundreds of millions of Apple ID users. Of course, if you are in the public eye, have enemies or perhaps a disgruntled relative or ex the situation is different.

My original statement was, an users should be able to opt in and out of two factor authentication instead of an entity forcing it on them because it is for general public not a corporation.

But we can't.

Apple is not alone in pushing their users to a 2FA process of some sort.

This community is for asking and answering technical support questions.

Debating Apple policy and decisions they have made is not allowed.

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

No, not Verizon. Your employer. If you have an email account from your employer they can set security options. If you ever had an account from an employer and didn't remove the profile you can still be restricted. Go to Settings/General and scroll to the bottom. Just below VPN there may be an entry called Device Management or Profiles. If it exists open it and see if there is a profile present.

abdur003 wrote:

two factor authentication on condition in my mobile, please advise me how to turn off two factors authentication .

Thanks

Read the "Apple Recommended" answer at the top of this and the other 54 pages of this thread.

XandMan70 wrote:

I myself have a documented issue with Apple tech support, they have hinted, that it might be with their 2FA (which actually is the new MFA Multi-Factor Authorization, 2FA is the older version) that may have creep in during the past few updates and the implementation on a new generation encryption along side it may be affecting some users. Syncing and upgrading Apples vast user base and devices isn't a small task, understandably so.

This is the closest you've come to actually soliciting help here, although you have yet to explain what this "issue" is in any detail -- care to share what that is, with specifics? Others may learn, or offer help.

If you guys value Apple at all, then you should be welcoming users, and helping out, not berating users and telling them to go elsewhere.

You have been helped out in as much as what you've posted -- you complained that you can't turn 2FA off, and the answer is that you can't. That is the only help that can be offered; you just don't like the answer.

No company that is liable for user data on their online servers is ever going to give you “TOTAL DISCRETION TO PROTECT OURSELVES AS WE SEEM FIT” - not Amazon, not google, not apple, not your bank, your retirement account provider, your investment broker, your own employer, your health care provider your MS or Sony store account - no company. Not one is ever going to give you that “TOTAL” discretion when they are the ones legally liable for the data you choose to put in their systems.

Yes it is your data - you can choose to put it on any particular companies system, or you can choose not to. That is your “TOTAL” discretion. Beyond that, the company sets the security policy for using their discretionary services.

Well this is a hot issue! I thought I had 2FA but after reading all these posts,( skimming, ii admit)I’m honestly not sure I do. Or at least have it set up properly. I have one trusted phone number, an iCloud email and 2 trusted devices. I’ve never had problem but am I missing some pieces of it?

Why are you doubting your 2FA setup?

Please don't let any of this thread influence you.

An email address is not used in 2FA. Trusted phone number(s) and device(s) are how it is managed.

See this article for details. >>> https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204915

Legally, no it should not be up to the user. You don’t get to decide how private companies you choose to create accounts with secure the data on their hardware. You’ve never had that option. The company holding the data, and legally responsibility for its security, has always had the right and obligation to set security as they see fit.

As a consumer, your only option is whether to use a companies online services, or not.

And they are not overly interested in your convenience or not. They are concerned with limiting their liability for security breaches by users who are notoriously lax with passwords and logins. Those same users who sue at the drop of a hat when their accounts are compromised.

Sadly two factor authentication is foistered upon us and it can't turned off or removed.

You need to have two devices every time you do something relating to your account, the device you are changing and an authentication device. So if you are travelling, don't forget to take both devices with you.

The best solution is to buy a Windows pc or an Android.

Unfortunately is just purchased a new ipad, but on the plus side i did not purchase a new macbook - which i will not be purchasing now.