Pay for icloud acct without it syncing into your phone for itunes/appstore?

[rbkfrye]

My friend just had his apple ID hacked with disastrous consequences, and someone kept trying to log into mine from China, so I changed pw and removed my card from my phone.

Few days later I get notice that if I don't update my icloud card info, my icloud acct will downsize. So I go to icloud and reenter card, and now it's back in my phone again for use "with iTunes, iCloud, the App store, and more"(!)

Is there really no way to give a card for one without the other two? Is this a required vulnerability? I feel like cc info on my phone at all is a security threat. Is this just required?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Make sure your new password is long, complex, and contains no likes or dislikes you have or anything else you have shared online. Also make sure you have 2FA turned on on your account. I also suggest having more than one trusted phone number listed on your account, in case you don’t have access to your iPhone etc.

 

[rbkfrye]

Oh way ahead of you on all that. 2FA may have saved me.

More concerned that if I ever DO get hacked, I now have a credit card they can use, and that appears to be mandatory if I want to pay for my icloud account. Is that right?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Oh way ahead of you on all that. 2FA may have saved me.

More concerned that if I ever DO get hacked, I now have a credit card they can use, and that appears to be mandatory if I want to pay for my icloud account. Is that right?

If you follow the advice and stick to it, you should be fine.

If you want to be able to pay for stuff in the store without a credit card, buy gift cards and add them to your account. Subscriptions can also be deducted from the same store balance.

 

[rbkfrye]

There's an idea, I might do that. Thanks.

Ridiculous that I have to go out of my way for a form of safety that should be an on-off switch...