Something strange is going on. Some Apple IDs mysteriously lock out their users, and so far there’s no explanation as to why this happens. But it really exists – and it happened to me early this morning.
Apple iPhone 15: one of the devices affected by a mysterious lockout.
April 28 update below. This post was first published on April 27, 2024.
This was first reported by users on social media and has been happening since Friday evening, April 26, with people using their Apple devices such as iPhones, iPads and Macs only to find they have been locked out.
It happened to me on Saturday morning April 27 and it was not a nice feeling. It’s especially baffling. What did I do to cause my iPhone to tell me I could no longer access my Apple ID? Had someone compromised one of my passwords? Had I left my iPhone unlocked somewhere without realizing it? Had the man on the train who I asked to watch my stuff while I went to the bathroom somehow gain access to stuff on my iPad?
Of course, all my devices still worked, but none would let me access Apple apps until I verified that I was me. And this proved impossible without resetting my Apple ID password.
As the day progressed, I read on social media that I was not alone in this. That was very reassuring; maybe I hadn’t done anything wrong after all.
Getting back into my account required a simple, straightforward process: coming up with a new Apple ID password and setting it up. Not that difficult (but will I remember? Thank goodness for 1Password), but annoying. Additionally, as pointed out by 9to5Mac, app-specific passwords previously set via iCloud have also been reset. Oh, and I had to reset Messages on my Mac.
Actually, I got off lightly. I turned on Stolen Device Protection, but I was at home this morning when I checked my phone. If it had happened a few hours earlier, I would have been on the train I was talking about, which the iPhone would have correctly assumed was not a trusted location.
It’s difficult to know exactly how widespread this is, but the volume of comments on social media suggests it’s not an isolated incident affecting just a few people.
There’s no word yet from Apple on what might have happened, and the company’s system status page states that all is well with Apple ID, which could at least mean that Apple thinks the problem isn’t happening now. But the cause remains a mystery.
Let’s look at the bright side: it’s good to renew passwords more often than many of us (certainly myself). But it’s a process I could have done without today.
I will report back as soon as more becomes known.
April 28 update. There’s still no word from Apple on what may have happened, but there are increasing reports of people being affected. If The edge A user on Mastodon reportedly said he was told by an Apple support team member that “sometimes random security improvements are added to your account.” That’s fair enough, but it doesn’t seem to be: there just seem to be too many people reporting that they’ve had the same problem, including more than a few readers who’ve contacted me, to make this seem like a small, random thing.
It is not the first time this has happened: a software developer reports that something similar will happen in the fall of 2023.
The thing is that each case is individual, so it is difficult to say whether everyone in the current situation is affected by a bug or whether there are many different reasons for the reset. Although it seems confusing that so many things are happening at the same time.
One of the most time-consuming parts of getting things right seems to be coming up with new app-specific passwords. These are the ones that like certain apps and Fantastical
If this affects you, dude Forbes contributor Davey Winder has an excellent guide to figuring out app-specific passwords, with the sensible advice that since you’re only allowed to use a maximum of 25 of these passwords, now might be a good time to delete any unused passwords.