Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone 4 wiped itself and mysterious Apple ID appeared!

E

EightDJ

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 3, 2011
9
2
Hi everyone,

I thought I'd make a post here to see if anyone had a problem recently with their iPhone as I've been running around in circles with Apple's support website.

I have an iPhone 4 running latest iOS 5 and am using Wi-Fi Sync for iTunes.

Today I turned on my iPhone to find all the purchased apps had just disappeared without any kind of warning. It was as if I had restored the phone to factory default via iTunes (which I had not).

I plugged my phone in to the power and it started wireless synching and put all the apps back on, however, their settings had all reverted to defaults and I'd lost a lot of data!

I then plugged my phone into my macbook and actually restored it to factory settings and then restored from yesterday's iCloud backup which seems to have restored all my settings in all my apps back as they were, however something very very very strange happened. While it was copying it popped up the log in prompt for my Apple ID which was shown and I put the password in. Then a minute later the prompt popped up again, however this time it didn't have my Apple ID - It had someone else's!!!! - justin_jaydee@lavabit.com!. I didn't touch it and went to Apple's website for help but in vein. I then went back to my phone and the mysterious prompt had disappeared.

I have absolutely no idea who this Apple ID belongs to and how it got onto my phone! But do you think it's a problem with Apple's server? Or has someone managed to hack my account? I have a very strong password which I only use for accounts with financial information so if someone has hacked this I am quite worried!

Has anyone had an experience similar to this with their phone seemingly wiping itself and then a mysterious Apple ID appearing?
 
Last edited:
Well, I've had a similar problem with apps and the App Store on OS X. Not that those apps were, you know, legit...

Anyway, when I tried to update said apps in the App Store, it prompted me for someone else's Apple ID.
 
I wonder if it's some kind of glitch with Apple's authentication server. Now the apps won't copy back onto my phone - they just say loading and the bar progresses but they don't install.
 
dukebound85 said:
not sure why the apple id is listed or relevant here:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I listed it in case it's an address commonly used in hacks...

And no I'm not making it up and yes I am still having trouble getting all my apps to reinstall - half of them just sit there saying 'loading' and doing nothing.
 
I think I figured out why my iPhone wiped everything - it has 4.5 gigs of "Other" on it!

What could this "Other" be??! That's taken it over capacity! :S
 
Just curious, did you buy the phone new through the carrier, or did you buy it elsewhere such as craigslist, etc? Perhaps someone using find iphone app through icloud remotely wiped it.
 
EightDJ said:
I think I figured out why my iPhone wiped everything - it has 4.5 gigs of "Other" on it!

What could this "Other" be??! That's taken it over capacity! :S
Click to expand...

I believe some of the apps that you could not re-install or whatever else that was one your phone that has not been synced yet will show up as "other".
 
EightDJ said:
I think I figured out why my iPhone wiped everything - it has 4.5 gigs of "Other" on it!

What could this "Other" be??! That's taken it over capacity! :S
Click to expand...

Did you try doing a full restore?

EDIT: Never mind, I saw that you did. If you did a full restore and it is behaving this way, either your Apple ID is compromised or the phone is possessed. Try creating a new Apple ID just to test and don't restore from iCloud.
 
Everything seems to be fixed now.

I did a second full restore from an iCloud backup (same one I used in the first restore), only this time all the apps seem to have installed correctly and there is no giant chunk of "Other" data sitting there. Perhaps the sync process got interrupted and corrupted something...

Still not sure why the other guys Apple ID appeared on my phone but I'll be keeping a very close eye on my app purchases and credit card!

Thanks for the advice from everyone.
 
Do you have any purchases from someone else? Like music? My friend had downloaded tons of music from somewhere online, but it was the iTunes versions, so she had about 20 different Apple IDs pop up for her to give the password.

I told her to install that iExplore program and delete all the purchase history and that did the trick.
 
thekjs88 said:
Do you have any purchases from someone else? Like music? My friend had downloaded tons of music from somewhere online, but it was the iTunes versions, so she had about 20 different Apple IDs pop up for her to give the password.

I told her to install that iExplore program and delete all the purchase history and that did the trick.
Click to expand...

No not really, the only thing is I have two Apple IDs because I lived in Australia and then moved to France - so I have one for both places but nothing random like what came up.
 
This happened to me - TWICE no

:mad:

I had this happen to me twice.

First time was Jan 15th, 2012.

Second time, this morning, March 15th, 2012.

Both my iPhone AND iPad has been wiped while I slept!

First time it happened, it was early morning, while I was making a video, it suddenly wiped.

This time, it was already wiped when I woke up - it comes up with the screenshot "select network".

THIS time I have NOT yet entered the code in either iPhone not iPad. I am taking a backup with a third party app, just of my photos and videos.

I am using backup to iCloud, and the find my iPhone/iPad is enabled on both devices. Last time I changed my password. That iCloud account is on I exclusively use for locating iPhone (for now).

I am tired of this now, I will either entirely stop using find my iPhone, or, I will change to a new iCloud account and make a 40 character long password or so ...

----------

I checked iCloud on my Mac, and I don't see any messages about wiping either.

I tried to send a message to both iPhone and iPad, using find my iPhone. It does NOT show on the devices, however it DOES reply in email, that the messages have been shown (although neither message nor sound have been displayed/played).

Can someone in Apple trace my iCloud account and see from where and how it was accessed?

Can my Mac be infected with some kind of keylogger or screen grabber, to catch my passwords?

One thing is wiping devices, another thing is if I am facing a total identity theft ...
 
justin_jaydee@lavabit.com just popped up on my phone...

I've just got a replacement iPhone 4S (my last was stolen) and I've just restored from iCloud.

Every 5 minutes a pop-up is appearing asking justin_jaydee@lavabit.com to type in his password. This is happening even though I am signed in with my own Apple account.

Any ideas on how to stop this...?
 
Sarrieschaz said:
I've just got a replacement iPhone 4S (my last was stolen) and I've just restored from iCloud.

Every 5 minutes a pop-up is appearing asking justin_jaydee@lavabit.com to type in his password. This is happening even though I am signed in with my own Apple account.

Any ideas on how to stop this...?
Click to expand...

Creepy!! It looks like there is some sort of virus or hack or something since the OP had the same name pop up. Unless you are trolling....
 
Stealthipad said:
DId you buy the phone new?

If so I would take it to the Apple store and have them replace it.

If you did not buy it new, I would say that the owner is wiping your phone:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


I got the phone from my insurance company as a replacement (my original was stolen). I have no idea where the insurance company got the phone.

Does anyone know what risk there is of personal data being stolen if this second account is accessing my phone?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back