iphone asking for password to random apple id

If you haven’t already enabled Apple’s two-factor authentication, please do that before you even think about any simplification of your password. A system that constantly asks users for their passwords in situations, such as an iOS device’s Settings app, that don’t allow the use of a password manager will encourage those users to choose the simplest, most easily-remembered password possible.Īpple’s rules - “a minimum of 8 characters, a number, an uppercase letter, and a lowercase letter” - are fairly strict, but cranky users are careless users and will seek the simplest way to meet them.Īnd if they don’t have two-factor authentication set up to protect their account, in which they confirm strange logins via one-time codes or push notifications to one of their devices, a password easy enough to enter constantly can also be easy to guess.Ĭonsidering all the hats an Apple ID must wear, from purchasing music at iTunes to helping you locate and, if necessary, remotely wipe a lost iPhone, that’s a serious risk.

And not just only because of the time it costs Apple’s users. In either case, this is a problem Apple needs to solve. “I think it’s happening intentionally, just not for reasons ordinary mortals like us can discern.”

“I believe it’s not a matter of something going wrong, so much as Apple using some mysterious, inscrutable logic to determine when they should ask people for their passwords,” he wrote in an email. Joe Kissell, author of the book Take Control of iCloud, made a similar observation.

Iphone asking for password to random apple id