I have an iPhone 13 running iOS 27.0. I signed out of iCloud while troubleshooting an issue with my profile picture, but I no longer have access to the trusted phone number because I lost the SIM card. When I try to sign back in, verification fails with messages saying the phone number cannot be used at this time. I started Account Recovery, entered my old trusted number, and continued when asked whether I could use it. Apple then asked me to verify my iCloud email address, which I cannot currently access. Although my Gmail address is linked to the account, I was unable to use it for verification. I was eventually asked to provide a current phone number, but every number I try produces error 24056. I have important accounts and thousands of paid-for iCloud photos tied to this Apple account. What is the best way to continue recovery?
1 Answer
Try starting the recovery process from Apple's official account-recovery website instead of continuing through the phone's Settings app. Also, avoid doing this from beta or pre-release iOS software if possible, since account recovery and verification can behave incorrectly there. Use a trusted device or a stable, fully updated version of iOS, and follow the recovery prompts from there. If the same error continues, you may need to wait for the recovery process or contact Apple Support, since there generally isn't a way to bypass two-factor authentication manually.
I tried starting recovery through the website and still received the same errors. I even tested creating another Apple account, but phone-number verification failed there too, so I am not sure whether the issue is specific to my account or the device.