Computer Related > Forgotten Apple account password Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Rudedog Replies: 16

 Forgotten Apple account password - Rudedog
I'm really hoping one of the iPhone users on here can stop WWIII in our household.....

Wife has forgotten here Apple account password, reset process should be simple BUT unfortunately she is still logged into her account on her phone and iPad.

It seems that the facility to 'change password' is only available when you aren't logged in, and guess what ..... you can't logout unless you have your password!!

So we are now stuck in a never ending spiral, I've searched google with no luck as no one covers when you are already logged in.

Can any of you guys help??

We have started the account recovery process as that seems to be the only option but we have received an email today saying that they will ring at a very exact time but this is no good as it's during the day time and my wife can not touch her phone while at work (works for the NHS in theatres like myself).

We are at our wits end.
 Forgotten Apple account password - PeterS
What about trying to login to the apple site from the browser on laptop or pc, and re-setting from there since you won’t be logged in?

www.apple.com/uk/shop/account/home
 Forgotten Apple account password - Rudedog
Thanks, tried that.

It advises that you do it via an Apple device and then sends you an unlock number to the mobile phone registered to the account (two stage authentication), which of course doesn't work as we are still logged in.

I suspect it's to stop criminals resetting stolen phones but it's a PITA for someone who has genuinely forgotten their password.
 Forgotten Apple account password - zippy
Don’t suppose you live near an Apple Store? They might be able to help.
 Forgotten Apple account password - Rudedog
Yes that was an option we are considering, could be best way of sorting it and we have one in Bromley which isn't too far.

 Forgotten Apple account password - Bromptonaut
How on earth did Mrs Rd forget the name of her first pet....
 Forgotten Apple account password - Rudedog
If only it was that easy!

It was at a time when she had several site wanting new passwords and many now want complex combinations and no reuse of old ones.

I suspect it's a really obvious one but she's now locked out which adds to the problem.

Believe me this is a testing time in the household for someone who just about gets on with an iPhone or using the Firestick.
 Forgotten Apple account password - No FM2R
>>It was at a time when she had several site wanting new passwords and many now want complex combinations and no reuse of old ones.

Password managers, it's the only way.
 Forgotten Apple account password - smokie
Can't help the OP but we both now use a method (algorithm sounds grander I suppose) to create passwords for accounts so that in the event of the abrupt demise or incapacity of either then the other can still log on (designed with utilities and banks etc in mind)

There are prefixes, suffixes and other characters in certain positions which change depending on variable stuff like the web site name, the nature of the website and other things which you can "classify". Sometimes certain bits are capitalised. The core character sequence is just some characters which we have remembered, and can easily be changed when we decide to.

The password is always a minimum of 8 characters, looks just like a random set of characters (as opposed to actual words) and often includes a special character by default thereby fulfilling all security requirements. You can of course end up with two identical passwords for different sites but it's pretty unlikely.

So for instance you could have the number of characters in the website, followed by the last letter of the tld capitalised (e.g. m for .com) followed by an pound sign for sites where you have any financial detail, or a % if you don't, followed by other characters (ideally also made up by cleverness but on the examples below my street name, bor) to bring it to an 8 character minimum) then the third letter of the website - so for this site

8M%borr

and for NatWest

7M£bort

and for eBay

4K£bora

(The above are only 7 characters and really require something different to the street name "padding" to 1) make it min 8 characters and 2) reduce similarities)

So you can imagine that although we might have different views on, say, whether the saite contained financial info, and therefore we might not always get it right first time, we can usually hit the right password in two or three attempts. Of course, email needs to be strictly set up as that's often essential if a password has been "forgotten" (i.e. you can't work it out).

If someone compared a number of our passwords a pattern would start to emerge but even then it wouldn't be absolutely clear as some bits are pretty random. You can use smart stuff like if the website name has an even number of characters then the special character is at position 2 (i.e. even) uit if it's odd then it's at position 3 (odd!) to make it even more varied.

But maybe a password manage is easier... :-)
 Forgotten Apple account password - No FM2R
>>But maybe a password manage is easier... :-)

D'ya think?

One 25ish character pass-sentence and problem solved.
 Forgotten Apple account password - sooty123
That's sounds incredibly complicated!
 Forgotten Apple account password - VxFan
>> Can any of you guys help??

You may well have stumbled upon this with your Google searches, but here it is anyway.

support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204921
 Forgotten Apple account password - Rudedog
Yes this the call my wife is waiting for at some very precise time today. No good if you are at work with no access to your mobile.
 Forgotten Apple account password - No FM2R
I've got no better suggestion than going to an Apple Store. Sorry.
 Forgotten Apple account password - VxFan
>> Yes this the call my wife is waiting for at some very precise time today.
>> No good if you are at work with no access to your mobile.

Bit confused here. The info says:-

"When the wait period is over, Apple sends you a text or automated phone call with instructions to regain access to your account. Follow the instructions to immediately regain access to your Apple ID."

A text can be read anytime, and if voicemail is activated on the phone, then the automated phone call will go to voicemail and can also be listened to anytime.

Or am I missing something?
 Forgotten Apple account password - Rudedog
Seems a text was sent and we have finally sorted this tonight, still had to remember to change the iPad linked to the account otherwise we could have been back to square one.

I think the confusion came in that they say 'follow the instructions immediately' and gave a very precise time (09.48) so we assumed that there was a short expiry time on it.

Turns out we were able to use it many hours later.
 Forgotten Apple account password - VxFan
>> I think the confusion came in that they say 'follow the instructions immediately' and gave
>> a very precise time (09.48) so we assumed that there was a short expiry time
>> on it.

The keyword that you overlooked was "to".

i.e. "Follow the instructions to immediately regain access to your Apple ID"

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