Bizzare iCloud account behavior - Password changed?

[PinkyMacGodess]

My mother-in-law is a 75 year-old woman that has been dragged into the 'modern world'. She has an iMac, an iPad, and iPhone and she does very well with it. Mostly...

But today, she can't login to check her iCloud email.

We set her main Apple ID account to an account she doesn't have access to because she was changing the password several times a week, which screwed up her iPad and iPhone, and occasionally her iMac.

Well, today, she got a message that her iCloud password had been changed. Odd, I thought... So I logged into her Apple ID account, and there is nothing about a password change. Odd... So I tried to log into her iCloud account, and, nope. I get the shaking box... It's not the right password. But how can that be? I was just in her account yesterday because she lost her iPhone and had to get in to send a sound so she could find it.

This is just bizarre... And now, today, she can't get into her iMac either, although that could just be her...

It's my understanding that the iCloud password can not be changed without access to the Apple ID email account. So, she couldn't have changed it, and there was no notice at the Apple ID account that the password had changed...

She lives three hours away, and I really don't want to force her Apple ID password change and have to drive up there to update her i-devices with the new password. And possibly deal with her iMac too...

Question: Is it possible to change the Apple ID password from an iMac, without access to the Apple ID email account? Are there any open attacks that would allow someone to compromise an iMac to the point of being able to pull this off?

I called Apple Support, and got nowhere...

Thanks for anyone's assistance...

 

[Rigby]

It's a bit unclear what exactly you mean by "main Apple ID account". If I understood you correctly, you are using a separate email address (something like grandma@gmail.com) as the Apple ID. If that is the case, it is of course possible to change the iCloud password without having the (in this example) Gmail password. From the iCloud perspective the email address is just a user name, its associated password doesn't matter. So yes, if she knows the iCloud password, she can change it.

 

[genshi]

Actually, iCloud mail is down for a LOT of people right now, yet no one seems to be reporting it. It's not being reported here on Macrumors, Apples System Status doesn't show an issue (it rarely does until it's too late) and no one seems to have reported it on Apple's Support pages... but DownDetector is showing that there is an issue. My iCloud mail went down about two hours ago, can't access it on the Mac's Mail app nor in the browser at iCloud.com.

 

[NoHo]

This happened to me last week. At first it kept prompting me to reenter my iCloud passwords but it wouldn't take them. It went on for a couple days then eventually resolved itself somehow.

iCloud is a mess.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

According to the Apple Support rep, there would be a notification in the Apple ID email inbox stating that the iCloud password was changed.

Say she has abc@def.com for the Apple ID, and abc@icloud.com. So changing the iCloud password *should* send a notification to abc@def.com that the password was changed. Right?

I agree that 'iCloud is a mess'. At this point, I have, I think, FIVE email addresses with Apple.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

The iTunes Store is 'unavailable' right now at this moment. AGAIN!

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Here's what I think happened.

iCloud was on a 'mental break', and she tried to log in to get her email. The app said that there was a problem logging in to iCloud, and suggested, wrongly, that she change the password. Not knowing what to do, she changed the password.

After that, the whole world shifted off its axis, and iCloud stopped working for email for her.

I had been in her iCloud account that previous day, and after she said that she was getting the message to change her password, I couldn't get in on the first try either, but tried again, and got in. I also, from memory, got the 'Password error' screen to, but blew through it.

It seems that when iCloud goes snowshoeing in Tibet, the other ancillary apps don't know how to deal with it, and give out canned, and wrong, responses...

I remember when part of this whole thing happened was when iCloud was down repeatedly. So it kept telling her the reason it couldn't get in was the password had changed, yet it was actually that the system was down...

Given all of the issues with accessing the iTunes store, and issues getting access to iCloud email, and the MANY MANY MANY issues with that, I am beginning to think that ditching iCloud is not a bad idea.

(rant) It seems that the fine points of using Apple's services (iCloud, iTunes) are wearing off. There is haphazard connectivity, the 'System Status' page is horribly Pollyannaish , with extra rose coloured glasses, and having to do a 'restore' on an iDevice after your mother-in-law follows the WRONG advice from the app and changes her password is ridiculous. Why the heck can't you sign out of the 'old' iCloud on the iDevice without having to fight the idiotic 'Enter your password' crap, when it won't update the old password, or recognize that you are entering the 'new' password either!

I mean, either I am doing this wrong, and I can admit that is a possibility, or iCloud, and the Apple environment, is just made to piss off people...

It's driven her to tears... She knows she needs the iPhone, and the iPad, but the freaking BS is getting to her...
(/rant)

But anyway...