Apple is killing me ...

[aicul]

Apple security is just over the top; its a piecemeal of this and that, that in isolation make sense; but together are absurd.

Here are some frequent examples I encounter;

1. very often I use my iPhone to battery death daily. Fantastic touchID requires code re-activation to start working again. That's so great to use touchID for iTunes and every time have to reset it.
   
   
2. occasionally apple decides I need to revalidate one of my iCloud accounts; ok; then it starts asking questions/answer that I frankly don't recall; result account blocked
   
   
3. password strength is so absurd that I need to write down the password ?? yes mainly because apple decides to ask for a password change when I'm actually working and doing something else; so I just enter anything that will get me past the "strength" check so that I can do my work
   
   
4. to unlock a blocked account you can ask for instructions to be sent to your email; guess what the email is in the blocked iCloud account; check-egg situation
   
   
5. Suddenly iTunes wanted an account update otherwise no shopping. So I go in and discover the only item missing was "Mr" or "Mrs". Fantastic to ask that on an iTunes account based on a rechargeable card.
   
   
6. I wake up and have a few urgent things to do. Not possible apple pushed a security update and these were automatically installed. Great now Word has stopped working and that a 1 hour job to fix. So much for the urgent work.

I could ramble on, the point is I totally agree that security is important, but it should not be something that suddenly stops your life.

Preventing me from purchasing with a rechargeable card because suddenly the MR/MRs is mandatory is nonsense. Asking for a password reset when I'm doing some work is nonesense. Etc. Pushing any update at any time of the week and not implementing some control on automatic updates is plain silly.

Wish Apple would consider the security experience to be something more transparent, less revoltingly blocking at inappropriate times.

Wish I could opt-out of some excessive features of security and accept my risk/responsibility instead.

 

[C DM]

Pretty sure update installation can be configured.

 

[Tech198]

Apple security is just over the top; its a piecemeal of this and that, that in isolation make sense; but together are absurd.

Here are some frequent examples I encounter;

1. very often I use my iPhone to battery death daily. Fantastic touchID requires code re-activation to start working again. That's so great to use touchID for iTunes and every time have to reset it.
   
   
2. occasionally apple decides I need to revalidate one of my iCloud accounts; ok; then it starts asking questions/answer that I frankly don't recall; result account blocked
   
   
3. password strength is so absurd that I need to write down the password ?? yes mainly because apple decides to ask for a password change when I'm actually working and doing something else; so I just enter anything that will get me past the "strength" check so that I can do my work
   
   
4. to unlock a blocked account you can ask for instructions to be sent to your email; guess what the email is in the blocked iCloud account; check-egg situation
   
   
5. Suddenly iTunes wanted an account update otherwise no shopping. So I go in and discover the only item missing was "Mr" or "Mrs". Fantastic to ask that on an iTunes account based on a rechargeable card.
   
   
6. I wake up and have a few urgent things to do. Not possible apple pushed a security update and these were automatically installed. Great now Word has stopped working and that a 1 hour job to fix. So much for the urgent work.

I could ramble on, the point is I totally agree that security is important, but it should not be something that suddenly stops your life.

Preventing me from purchasing with a rechargeable card because suddenly the MR/MRs is mandatory is nonsense. Asking for a password reset when I'm doing some work is nonesense. Etc. Pushing any update at any time of the week and not implementing some control on automatic updates is plain silly.

Wish Apple would consider the security experience to be something more transparent, less revoltingly blocking at inappropriate times.

Wish I could opt-out of some excessive features of security and accept my risk/responsibility instead.

That's what comes quite frankly from a company who thinks what is best for everyone, and not allowing users to decide for themselves. Not banting on Apple either as i praise them for security, but they don't want your accounts to be compromised, security is their top goal, and they think it should be like it for everyone else using a Mac/iOS/TvOS device.

That's where i draw the line, because my own security come first even before Apple's but as someone who uses strong passwords everywhere anyway, i don't notice the in-convinient as much as others may do. The inconvenience of needing to verify something constant is a bit of a pain... i'd agree with that. so I would actually call that "Apple's overly cautious"

 

[nnoble]

I could have written your post myself, and not just Apple is making the products I've bought and paid for unusable at the very moment I'm in a hurry. Microsoft OneDrive came up with an erroneous excuse to 'sort out problem with account'. I took vital time out of a busy schedule only to find no such problem existed. my suspicion is that it was connected to a Black Friday promotion that was sat there in my account page. I was livid.

 

[eanwhite]

On the other hand, the piecemeal approach allows one to configure only the security one wants to use. Almost every security feature can be turned off or configured to default unlock when the passcode or user password are entered. For instance, on a phone, one may allow instant access to the iTunes store or require the password be entered again. From Apple's point of view, suspect the lawyers are terrified that one's phone, which is full of credit card data, could be insecure. A secure password manager such as 1Password allows one to store security questions and answers along with passwords. Just my tuppence…

 

[aicul]

Almost every security feature can be turned off or configured to default unlock when the passcode or user password are entered.

Unfortunately that's not true;

- I cannot opt out of the security questions in iCloud
- I cannot set a weekday for the OS X upgrades; they are either anytime or manual
- I cannot tell iOS that a power down should not require the numeric code prior to touchID activation

etc..

It's piecemeal because it was slowly expanded to meet new dangers; but occasionally it makes sense to re-see everything as a whole and make it "reasonable".

I always thought that users should be allowed to "opt-out" of ridiculously strong passwords and assume their risk.

The current approach at Apple is like putting a bank level security on the garden shed. It doesn't make sense.

 

[C DM]

Unfortunately that's not true;

- I cannot opt out of the security questions in iCloud
- I cannot set a weekday for the OS X upgrades; they are either anytime or manual
- I cannot tell iOS that a power down should not require the numeric code prior to touchID activation

etc..

It's piecemeal because it was slowly expanded to meet new dangers; but occasionally it makes sense to re-see everything as a whole and make it "reasonable".

I always thought that users should be allowed to "opt-out" of ridiculously strong passwords and assume their risk.

The current approach at Apple is like putting a bank level security on the garden shed. It doesn't make sense.

As far as iCloud goes, although once in a while
iOS might prompt for iCloud password, I can't say I've seen it ask to go through security questions. That's not to say that it might not for someone, but seems like there is probably something else in play there to cause that.

Seems like going for manual updates is what you seem to want, which is an available option.

As far as iOS and how TouchID and passcodes work after powring off (and a few other conditions) it's based on how encryption and secure enclave in iOS devices work.

 

[aicul]

Indeed; as my initial thread states : its a piecemeal of this and that, that in isolation make sense; but together are absurd.