Question and answers
Make sure you can access your Apple ID should the worst happen
Your Apple ID’s password is precious. You need it to sign in to iCloud and each time you download something from the iTunes or App Store.
If you’re having trouble signing in using your Apple ID, you can easily reset its password by requesting a link to be send to the email address registered to it. See the steps in our walkthrough to do this.
That will only work if you still use this email address. If you don’t, visit the Apple ID website, appleid.apple.
com, and sign in, click Edit under Account, then Change Email Address (only available if the current one isn’t mac.com, me.com or icloud.com).
In future, when signing in using your Apple ID, use the new email address and your Apple ID’s password. If your Mac was already signed in to iCloud, your old email address may still be shown in System Preferences. This won’t actually affect your data but, for peace of mind, you can sign out and then in again with the new address to refresh the display. Multiple address es If you have additional email addresses, you can add them to your account: Under Account at the Apple ID site, click Edit, then Add More under the Contactable At heading, enter an address and follow the steps to confirm it’s yours. FaceTime and iMessage users can then contact you on these addresses. However, you can’t use these addresses to sign in to the Apple ID website or get password reset emails from iforgot.apple.com.
You can add a phone number here too, which is useful for authentication if you need to reset your password by contacting Apple Support.
There’s also an option to “Add a rescue email.” This is useful should you need to reset your security questions. Under Security, click Edit, then Add an Email Address and follow the on-screen instructions. Note that
if you enable two-step verification or two-factor authentication for your ID, (which we’ll discuss later), you’ll have a notification email address instead, which is used to send account and security information to you.
Apple ID dilemmas
If you’re ever in the unfortunate situation of being unable to reset your password by email or answer your security questions, you can contact Apple Support to verify your identity over the phone. If this is successful, a password reset link will be sent to the email address of your choice after 24 hours. Similarly, if Apple Support can verify you’re the account holder, it can reset your security questions, so you can set new ones the next time you sign in.
Your identity needs to be confirmed in two different ways – say, answering one of your security questions and by receiving a verification code via SMS. Apple Support can also send a code to a device that’s signed in to your Apple ID. Resetting your questions requires a temporary support PIN, created using a link at the bottom of the Apple ID site. Apple Support can talk you through this.
You can also verify your identity by providing the first six and last four digits of the long number of your registered credit card, along with the expiry date. Many people hit a snag here as these details aren’t up to date. If your account is currently accessible, sign in to the Apple ID site and update that info.
Under Payment and Shipping, click Edit Payment Information (or Add New Payment Card if you haven’t added billing info before). A form for your card details will appear. The info you enter is used when you buy from the iTunes and App Stores, and if you’ve chosen to pay for more storage for your iCloud account.