Something strange is happening. Some Apple IDs mysteriously block their users’ access, and so far there is no explanation as to why this happens. But it’s a reality, and it happened to me early this morning.
Apple iPhone 15: one of the devices affected by a mysterious lock.
You can read another version of this story by Davey Winder, another Forbes contributor. here.
First reported by users on social media, this has been happening since the evening of Friday April 26, with people turning to their Apple devices such as iPhones, iPads and Macs, only to discover that they have been locked.
This happened to me Saturday morning, April 27, and it was not a good feeling. Above all, it’s just confusing. What did I do to make my iPhone tell me my Apple ID was blocked? Has someone compromised one of my passwords? Had I left my iPhone unlocked somewhere without realizing it? Had the guy on the train who I asked to take care of my business while I went to the bathroom somehow accessed the data on my iPad?
Sure, all my devices still worked, but none would let me access Apple apps until I verified that I was indeed me. And it turned out to be impossible without resetting my Apple ID password.
As the day went on, I read on social media that I was not alone in this situation. Which was very comforting – maybe I hadn’t done anything wrong after all.
Getting back to my account required a simple and straightforward process: finding a new Apple ID password and setting it up. Not that difficult (but will I remember that? Thank goodness for 1Password), but a nuisance. Additionally, as 9to5Mac pointed out, app-specific passwords previously set up via iCloud have also been reset. Oh, and I had to set up Messages on my Mac again.
In fact, I got away with it. Stolen device protection is turned on, but I was at home when I checked my phone this morning. If this had happened a few hours earlier, I would have been on the train I mentioned, which the iPhone would have rightly deemed to be an unreliable place.
It’s difficult to know exactly how widespread this phenomenon is, but the scale of comments on social media suggests this is not an isolated incident affecting just a few people.
Apple doesn’t yet know what might have happened, and the company’s System Status web page says everything is fine with Apple ID, which may at least mean that Apple thinks the problem is not happening now. But the cause remains a mystery.
Let’s look at the positive side: it’s good to refresh passwords more often than many of us (including me certainly). But it’s a process I could have done without today.
I will report back as we learn more.
