My daughter lost her iPhone 13 while we were on holiday and forgot her iCloud account password. I had added my phone number as a trusted number when I briefly had an iPhone 7, but I'm now using an Android phone. I bought her a replacement iPhone 14 and followed the password reset process during setup. It asked for my trusted number to send a code, but then prompted for a PIN from my old iPhone 7, which I can't remember.
I got the new iPhone 14 set up using my account, and everything seems to be syncing fine with iCloud and iMessages. However, when I tried resetting my daughter's password through the Apple Support app, it again asked for that old iPhone 7 PIN. When I hit "I don't have this phone," my new iPhone 14 wasn't listed as a trusted device. Does it take time for it to be considered trusted?
I called Apple support, but they couldn't assist me. I attempted the account recovery, which is frustratingly convoluted. It asks for personal ID but then wants to send emails to the same address I can't access. I managed to get it to use my own email, which is also on her trusted list. I'm feeling stuck here. Any advice?
2 Answers
The new iPhone 14 is linked to your Apple account, which means it's not a trusted device for your daughter's account. That's why you're running into issues resetting the password. You'll need her old devices to verify her account.
Honestly, both you and your daughter should've kept better track of those accounts. Consider signing her out and setting up a new iCloud account. It might be a harsh lesson, but it could help keep things more organized in the future.
That’s easy to say, but her iCloud holds years of photos. The focus should be on recovering the existing account, not starting over. Why have trusted contact info if I can't use it for recovery?
But isn't my old iPhone 7 a trusted device for her? I thought my account had trusted access to hers.