One of the big wins of using a password manager is that you don’t need to remember or enter most passwords—the app does that for you. Even those passwords that must be entered manually can be looked up if you forget them.
However, people who don’t use password managers regularly forget passwords and have to reset them—some surveys suggest that roughly half of all users admit to forgetting at least one password each month. While most account passwords can be easily reset by email, the Apple Account is a notable exception. Because it contains so much sensitive information, Apple protects it against relatively easy email hacks, which means recovering a forgotten Apple Account password requires different methods. So what should you—or someone you know—do if they forget their Apple Account password? And, what can you do in advance to make recovery painless?
Apple Account Recovery Methods
Apple offers five ways to regain access to an Apple Account if the password is forgotten and needs to be reset:
- Two-factor authentication: When you try to change your Apple Account password, Apple first sends an approval request to any trusted device that you can unlock with a passcode or password. By using this second, trusted factor, Apple can be sure that you’re the person requesting the password reset.
- Trusted phone number: If no trusted device is available because it has been lost, broken, or stolen, Apple falls back on sending a six-digit code via SMS text message or a voice call to a trusted phone number. While not quite as secure as a trusted device, this is still a good way to reset a password.
- Recovery contact: If neither a trusted device nor a trusted phone number is available, as might be the case for someone who has only an iPhone and has lost access to it, users can turn to a recovery contact—a person who can help in an emergency. The recovery contact simply looks up the one-time code and shares it.
- Recovery key: If the user has enabled a recovery key—a 28-character code—they can enter that to reset the password instead of using Apple’s Account Recovery (next). Using a recovery key is fast and easy, but you must first set it up and store it in a location accessible during a password reset. Only tech-savvy people who want more control over the account recovery process should set up a recovery key.
- Account Recovery: As long as the user hasn’t set up a recovery key, Apple offers an Account Recovery service when no trusted devices are available, no trusted phone numbers can receive verification codes, and no recovery contact is set or reachable. Account Recovery takes hours or days and relies on automated checks to confirm that the person resetting the password is doing so legitimately.
Setting Up Recovery Methods
Let’s run through how to set up each of these so you can enable the appropriate ones for your account and help your Apple-using family and friends do the same. Setting up all of these methods takes place in Settings > Your Name > Sign-In & Security (iPhone or iPad) or System Settings > Your Name > Sign-In & Security (Mac).
- Set up two-factor authentication: Nearly everyone already has two-factor authentication enabled. To confirm that, look at the Sign-In & Security screen. If two-factor authentication is off, turn it on; if it’s active, tap or click Two-Factor Authentication to view your trusted devices.
- Specify trusted phone numbers: You can set one or more trusted phone numbers in the same Two-Factor Authentication screen that lists your trusted devices for two-factor authentication. Scroll to the bottom and tap or click Add a Trusted Phone Number, as shown above.
- Add recovery contacts: Adding a recovery contact is similarly easy. On the Sign-In & Security screen, tap or click Recovery Contacts, then tap or click Add Recovery Contact. Apple suggests family members and frequent correspondents, but you can specify someone else as well. People in your Family Sharing group are added automatically; other people have to accept your request. There’s no harm in having multiple recovery contacts. If someone adds you as a recovery contact, you’ll see that at the bottom of the Recovery Contacts list. To help someone recover their account, tap their name on the Recovery Contacts screen, then follow the prompts to provide them with a recovery code.
- Create a recovery key: To set up a recovery key on the Sign-In & Security screen, tap or click Recovery Key, then follow the onscreen instructions. When you’re done, print or write down your recovery key and store it in a secure place. To complete the setup, you’ll need to confirm the key. Once you’ve set up a recovery key, resetting the password requires entering the key and a verification code sent to a trusted phone number. Also note that if you turn on Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, you must have a recovery key or recovery contact because Apple won’t be able to help you recover your account.
- Invoke Account Recovery: You don’t need to do anything to set up Account Recovery—it’s merely the last-ditch option in case everything else fails.
Although that might seem like a lot, it should take only a few minutes to make sure two-factor authentication is turned on, specify a trusted phone number or two, and add one or more people as recovery contacts. Most people shouldn’t set up a recovery key because it prevents them from using Apple’s account recovery process.
Reset the Apple Account Password
You can start the process of resetting your Apple Account password in three places:
- On a trusted device: If you have a trusted device—one that you unlock with a passcode or password—using it to reset the password with two-factor authentication is by far the most straightforward approach.
- In the Apple Support app on a borrowed device: If you don’t have a trusted device but do have access to a trusted phone number or recovery contact, you can initiate the process from someone else’s device using the Apple Support app. Scroll down to Support Tools, tap Reset Password, tap Help Someone Else, enter your Apple Account email address or phone number, and follow the onscreen instructions.
- On the Web: If no other Apple device is available, you can start the password reset process using any Web browser at iforgot.apple.com.
If you need to fall back on Account Recovery, Apple says to avoid using any devices currently signed in with the Apple Account whose password you’re trying to reset, as activity on the Apple Account will automatically cancel the account recovery process. Remember, it can take days, though you can see how much longer you have to wait at iforgot.apple.com.
Finally, let us reiterate that storing the Apple Account password in a password manager—such as the free Passwords app Apple bundles with the current versions of its operating systems—means you can always look it up if you need it.
(Featured image by iStock.com/Francisco Javier Ortiz Marzo)
Social Media: Don’t let anyone you know get locked out of their Apple Account if they forget the password. Learn how to set up different recovery methods—then help your family and friends protect their accounts too.
