Account Recovery Method Needed

[solardudesf]

Hi All,
I successfully set up Advanced Data Protection last week. In order to do that I had to set up Account Recovery. I set up Account Recovery with a Recovery Key *not* a Recovery Contact. All was right in the world. However, now I have an alert from AppleId suggestions that an “Account Recovery Method Needed” (even though it is already on. What gives? I tried creating a new account recovery key and it still complains.

 

[Apple_Robert]

It looks like you are being prompted to set a recovery contact. It’s not mandatory.

 

[fatTribble]

I set up 4 different recovery contacts. Now I have 4 friends who all think they’re special. 🤭

 

[solardudesf]

It looks like you are being prompted to set a recovery contact. It’s not mandatory.

Based on the message they have in the prompt I don’t think that is correct.

“Add a recovery contact or recovery key in case you need to regain access to your account and data.”

Note the use of the “or” in the statement. That means one or the other is required (both are allowed but not required).

I will attempt to set up a recovery contact, but if that is the issue, then apple should fix their message to say “and” not “or.”

Even if not mandatory, it is very annoying since there is a red dot in the settings app prompting me to add recovery contact or recovery key.

 

[zonai]

I had the same issue, and I mentioned it in another thread as well. For whatever reason, Apple would not let me enable Advanced Data Protection without adding a recovery contact and generating a recovery key. Other people are saying they only needed one, but that was never an option for me. I updated all my devices and even added an extra recovery contact, but that didn't help.

 

[solardudesf]

I had the same issue, and I mentioned it in another thread as well. For whatever reason, Apple would not let me enable Advanced Data Protection without adding a recovery contact and generating a recovery key. Other people are saying they only needed one, but that was never an option for me. I updated all my devices and even added an extra recovery contact, but that didn't help.

I don’t have quite the same issue as you did. As you can see from my images Advanced Data Protection is enabled for me. I am just getting this annoying “suggestion.” This suggestion only started happening a few days after I created the recovery key and enabled Advanced Data Protection.

 

[papbot]

Note the use of the “or” in the statement. That means one or the other is required (both are allowed but not required).

That’s one of the reasons I haven’t bothered with this. I don’t think it’s necessary in the first place but I have my computer that would be cut off from iCloud if I wanted to enable this. I am in the process of replacing that computer but until this is all sorted, I would only generate a recovery key, although I also read that a device passcode would be sufficient, perhaps passcode plus recovery key. Until all that has been cleared up I’m not interested, and even then I’ll probably pass, a complication that’s not needed.

 

[Ntombi]

I had the same issue, and I mentioned it in another thread as well. For whatever reason, Apple would not let me enable Advanced Data Protection without adding a recovery contact and generating a recovery key. Other people are saying they only needed one, but that was never an option for me. I updated all my devices and even added an extra recovery contact, but that didn't help.

I only did recovery contacts (two), no key, and mine was accepted and I’ve had no prompts about it.

I wonder if the people with issues tried to do key only, and maybe The way it’s written won’t allow for that?

 

[zonai]

No, take a look at these screenshots, one was when I had Recovery Contacts set up, and the other was when I added both the key and recovery contacts.

 

[Yaemon]

I am having the same issue and it is really annoying.
I have a Recovery Key already. I even removed it and replaced it with a new one.
The warning will not go away no matter what.

 

[Pkap6]

Same issue with MacBook, iPad and iPhone on same Apple ID, also the on/off status of recovery key is different in some menus.
Edit: Signed out, then back in to Apple ID on iPad solved issues.

 

[solardudesf]

Same issue with MacBook, iPad and iPhone on same Apple ID, also the on/off status of recovery key is different in some menus.
Edit: Signed out, then back in to Apple ID on iPad solved issues.

Thanks! This solved the issue for me. A real pain to sign out of my Apple ID, but that worked!

 

[Stevebythebay110350]

I ran into this but fixed it by removing the key and disabling this feature and starting over. The cause of the problem is still a mystery but may have been due, in my case, to having used the key I’d already created a few years ago, rather than letting the process create a new one. Timestamp issue? Anyway, so far so good...

 

[papbot]

I ran into this but fixed it by removing the key and disabling this feature and starting over. The cause of the problem is still a mystery but may have been due, in my case, to having used the key I’d already created a few years ago, rather than letting the process create a new one. Timestamp issue? Anyway, so far so good...

Good to know. I’ve hesitated even messing with this, not convinced of the need yet, because of some of the issues mentioned. Since I’ve never created a recovery key, and won’t until I decide I want to enable this feature, hopefully the issue will be avoided if and when.

 

[Stevebythebay110350]

I spent hours on the phone with senior Apple support on this one. They had no actual answer to the problem at hand. So, if it arises after all the twists and turns I went through with them, I'll undoubtedly reopen my ticket and it likely will result in the creation of another ticket. But the new one will disappear into Apple's Black Hole (engineering) to be investigated and hopefully fixed. But as we all know...nothing ever comes back for those of us outside the Black Hole.

 

[Caviar_X]

I had the exact same problem even when I disabled it the notifications still were there. I had to log out of iCloud to clear it

 

[Stevebythebay110350]

And it's a bit like Whack-A-Mole. It will pop up on various devices with no apparent pattern or frequency. I have had it happen numerous times on my MacMini, iPad Pro, and MacBook Pro. Very frustrating and support only offers Band-Aid solutions, like logging out and then back into iCloud.

 

[thejohnman]

Had this problem for weeks, and also was unable to resolve via Apple. The below was either the problem for me, or one rather large coincidence. Hope it's helpful to someone:

- Pi-hole dns resolver was blocking securemetrics.apple.com, and
- iCloud Private Relay was disabled for the SSID I was connected to

Happened to install a new AP today and used a new SSID, and the persistent notification went away almost immediately. Pi-hole still would have blocked the url, so I imagine it used Private Relay (seemingly enabled by default on new SSIDs) to hit that url. In any case, I never experienced any actual problem other than that notification, but it sure was bothering me...

 

[Stevebythebay110350]

Interesting. I think I may have enabled the iCloud Private Relay prior to enabling Advanced Data Recovery. Will keep this in mind when I try and enable this new iCloud security feature again.

 

[papbot]

I had hesitated but finally enabled private relay on all my devices a few months ago. Then I had placed an order for a new M2 MacBook Air about a month ago. The laptop had a screen defect and I had to get it replaced. I first tried to go to my Apple Store account to see my purchases and see what return options were available for the laptop. Every time I either clicked on my order number in an email from Apple or tried to access my account directly on the Apple Store website an error page came up - "the page you are looking for does not exist" or some such words to that effect. I made several attempts over 2 or 3 days all with the same results. Then I remembered some posts on the AppleSeed discussion forums last summer about issues some sites had with PR. So I turned PR off and tried again. This time no issues whatsoever either clicking the order link from the email or going to order status on the Apple Store website.

I turned PR back on and tried this again with the same result, no such page found. I turned wifi off and used the cell network and tried this in case my isp and dns were the problem. Even on the cell network the same thing occurred. I contacted Apple Support on Twitter and they got back to me fairly quick but most of their boilerplate suggestions were not helpful. They did mention that I could bypass PR on a specific site rather than turn it off altogether, by using that reveal your IP address setting. That works but it is only a one time thing, you would have to do it each time you’re trying to access a site or page that has an issue, if it occurs to you that PR might be the problem. I figured if even Apple sites had a problem with this feature who knows what other sites that I need to access frequently would have. So I have it turned off permanently.