iPhone and Mac users have to enter Apple tree ID details so frequently - when buying an app or iTunes music, accessing iCloud email or other services, updating an OS - that yous wouldn't recall we'd forget our passwords. But we do.

Maybe you got confused when Apple tree made you lot change to a new password; perchance you picked ane that was merely too complicated to remember. (Here's how to cull a adept strong password.) Whatever the reason, forgetting the countersign to your Apple tree ID account can be a serious pain, and then nosotros're going to explain how to reset it.

Another reason you lot might not have the password is if you have bought an iPhone, iPad, or other Apple tree device second hand and and then found that the password and Apple tree ID haven't been disassociated from the device. This can crusade all sorts of problems when yous are setting the device up. In this instance you demand to ask the previous owner to remove the device from their Apple iCloud account which they tin can do by using the Find My app, or going to icloud.com/find logging in and removing the old device (Find the iPhone, select Erase iPhone, and then select Remove from Account.)

A couple of things before nosotros get started. Your password might non be working because it'south been locked by Apple tree for security reasons - perhaps because an attempt has been made to hack it. Should this happen to yous, try this tutorial: How to unlock a disabled Apple ID.

Simply the good news is that over the years Apple has simplified this process and, as long as you have prepare two cistron authentication, irresolute your Apple ID countersign should be very simple.

How to reset an Apple ID password

Assuming you tin't simply think really hard until you remember what the password is, your best bet is to reset it. Here's how to practice that.

The steps below will depend on the blazon of security yous gear up for your Apple account. Assuming you have two-factor authentication set (rather than two-step verification) the process outlined in the steps below should work. Otherwise, you may have to answer some security questions and provide a 14-character Recovery Central (which we discuss beneath).

  1. Go to appleid.apple.com and click 'Forgotten your Apple tree ID or password?' Apple ID forgotten password
  2. Enter the electronic mail accost yous use with your Apple ID and click keep (if you tin't retrieve which email address y'all utilise, we tackle that beneath).
  3. You volition have to confirm enter the trusted phone number that is associated with your account, then press continue. (In older versions you might demand to enter some text to testify you're non a robot - if you can't read the text, but keep clicking until you can.)
  4. Yous'll receive a notification on your Apple devices. On a Mac y'all volition meet a message that 'A countersign reset request was sent from a device at the location shown below.' On an iPhone you will come across a message that yous can 'Use this iPhone to reset your Password.' Reset password
  5. If y'all click on the notification on a Mac you will exist taken to System Preferences (we didn't actually see a map at all, incidentally, despite the message above). Click on Reset.
  6. On the iPhone you'll see "Use this telephone to reset password". Click on Allow.
  7. Follow the onscreen instructions and you lot volition be able to enter a new password for the account. New password for apple id

We look at the different ways you can reset your password and access the account in more detail below.

Utilize a Recovery Contact

If you inherited the device from an elderly relative, for example, you lot may be wondering how to disassociate their Apple tree ID from the device. Apple is aware of this scenario and has fix a new method by which trusted people can recover Apple ID passwords - simply it does need to have been prepare upward in advance.

Apple tree cannot recover or reset the countersign in these circumstances - it can't recover or reset passwords in any circumstances - but y'all tin recover someone else's Apple ID if you are their Recovery Contact.

A Recovery Contact can become a old recovery lawmaking that can be used to unlock the business relationship. It's a good idea to take more than i trusted Recovery Contact.

To set up up Recovery Contacts you need to exercise the following - unfortunately this needs to happen before the password is forgotten!

All the devices volition need to exist running iOS 15, iPad OS fifteen, or macOS Monterey. If you take older devices running older versions of the operating systems you need to remove them from Settings > Apple tree ID. Click on whatever device in the listing and you'll be able to run across what version of iOS it is running. If the device is old Choose Remove from Business relationship. You can remove former devices that y'all no longer utilize hither!

  1. Open up Settings.
  2. Tap on your Apple ID at the top of the screen.
  3. Tap on Password & Security.
  4. Enter your Apple tree ID password.
  5. Tap on Account Recovery.
  6. Tap Add Recovery Contact and follow the prompts.

Yous tin can also run through these steps on a Mac:

  1. Open up System Preferences.
  2. Click Apple ID.
  3. Select Password & Security.
  4. Abreast Business relationship Recovery click on Manage.
  5. Click on + and follow the prompts.

Add a Legacy Contact

While y'all are setting this up, y'all should besides add a Legacy Contact, which will be someone who tin recover your account and access your data if you die. Your Legacy Contact will just need a copy of your death document to get access to your business relationship.

  1. On a Mac Open System Preferences.
  2. Click Apple tree ID.
  3. Select Password & Security.
  4. Abreast Legacy Contact click on Manage.
  5. Click on Add.

Answer security questions

When setting upwards a new iPad, iPhone or Mac, or when creating an Apple ID, you may take been asked to enter answers to some security questions: the proper noun of the route where you grew upwardly, perhaps, or the name of a favourite teacher.

If yous choose to answer your security questions these are the steps y'all will need to get through:

  1. Start past entering your date of nascency.
  2. Apple will and so inquire yous two questions. Enter the correct answers and you'll go far on a Reset Countersign page.
  3. Now enter your new password twice (and so that Apple can confirm you lot've spelled information technology the same way each time). Your countersign needs to have eight or more characters, upper- and lower-case letters, and at least one number. It also cannot contain the aforementioned grapheme 3 times in a row (or whatsoever spaces), and yous're not immune to reuse a password you lot've used in the past year.

How to reset forgotten Apple ID password: Reset password

What if you forget the answers to your security questions?

Retrieve that it's not merely the answers, merely also the way you wrote them: watch out for misspellings or shortenings (Avenue becoming Ave, for instance). It has to exist exactly the same equally the manner you answered during setup.

It's possible to change the questions and/or answers by going to appleid.apple.com, but y'all'll demand to log in with your Apple ID and password. So that may not be useful for those of you reading this article.

Still, fifty-fifty if yous've forgotten the answers to your security questions you should however be able to asking that the link to alter the password for your Apple tree ID is sent to the alternative email you registered to the account.

Send a password reset e-mail

Rather than answering the security questions you lot can choose instead to take a countersign reset e-mail sent to you. This will be sent to a second e-mail address yous have associated with your Apple ID - perhaps a work email.

Earlier you select this choice, make certain you take access to that email business relationship. Luckily you lot'll get a hint as to which i Apple is using, considering y'all'll exist shown office of the address.

  1. From the Reset Password screen at iforgot.apple.com/password/verify/appleid choose Get an email and press Continue.
  2. The email will go far at the second email accost associated with your account with the championship 'How to reset your Apple tree ID countersign'.
  3. Click the 'Reset at present' link in the email.
  4. The email will come from [email protected] and include a alarm in instance it wasn't yous who requested the change of password.

How to reset forgotten Apple ID password: Password reset email

Two-factor hallmark

Two-factor authentication is an grade of security that Apple has been pushing since the rollout of iOS 10 and macOS Sierra back in 2016. (Hither's how to prepare two-factor authentication.)

Essentially, if you've set up up two-gene authentication, equally well as entering your password you will exist required to enter a code Apple tree sends to your iPhone or Mac.

If you've ready two-factor authentication and you want to alter your password, y'all'll even so need to go to appleid.apple.com and click 'Forgot Apple ID or password?'

  1. At the Apple ID page you'll be asked to enter the email accost (and characters to testify you lot aren't a robot). And then you will exist asked for the mobile number associated with your two-factor authentication.
  2. Once y'all've entered the correct number you'll see a screen offering to allow you lot reset your countersign from some other device or from a trusted phone number. Patently you demand to make sure you accept access to these.
  3. If you choose to reset from another device you'll receive an alert - in our case the alarm arrived on the MacBook Pro we were using, and we were given a link to System Preferences > iCloud and the option to Reset Password.
  4. If you choose to reset it from a trusted telephone number you'll see a alert that account recovery is required to reset your password from the internet. If y'all take access to a device running iOS ten or later, or macOS Sierra or afterward, you will be able to apply that to reset the countersign. If that's the case you lot should cancel and cull the 'reset it from some other device' selection as per footstep 3. Otherwise, choose First Business relationship Recovery.
  5. Warning: It can take a few days or even longer to regain access to your account so nosotros don't recommend you employ this stride unless information technology'due south a final resort! Apple volition send a text message to you once your business relationship is set for recovery. Yous volition then need to enter a verification code sent by Apple to regain access to your business relationship.

How to reset forgotten Apple ID password: Two-factor authentication

Two-step verification

Two-step verification is an older security organisation that Apple tree introduced a few years agone after there was a lot of negative publicity near iCloud security. (Celebrities were having their accounts hacked and intimate personal photos were leaking online.)

Apple users who were concerned well-nigh security at the fourth dimension may have two-step verification set up for their Apple ID. If this applies to you, yous would take been sent a fourteen-grapheme Recovery Key that Apple advised you to print and keep in a safe place.

If you're using two-step verification (and this may be the all-time you can exercise, because older devices don't back up two-factor authentication), every fourth dimension you want to sign into iCloud you need to enter your Apple tree ID and password besides as a verification code that will exist sent to one of your devices.

If you don't have both a verification code and password you will exist locked out of your account, and should this happen you lot have to use your 14-grapheme Recovery Key to gain access once again.

With ii-step verification, password recovery depends on whether you know the Recovery Key. If you don't, yous won't be able to recover your account. Even Apple is unable to reset your password if you don't have this Recovery Key... so don't lose it!

If y'all accept this form of security and don't know where your Recovery Key is, yous can get a new one by going to your Apple ID business relationship, signing in with your password and email address and choosing Replace Lost Key.

What if you lot forget your email address?

Along with your password you lot will need to enter your Apple tree ID, which is usually an email address yous associate with the account.

Peradventure it'south less likely to happen, only if you don't frequently sign in for Apple services and products, you might forget which e-mail address is tied to your Apple tree ID. Luckily, there'southward a quick way to find out which address you need. You simply need to find a device that is already signed into your Apple ID.

On an iPad or iPhone

  1. Go to Settings > iTunes & App Store. You should see your Apple ID at the top if you're logged in.
  2. Alternatively, go to Settings and tap your name at the top of the page. If you're logged in here you will encounter the electronic mail associated with your Apple ID under your name.
  3. Y'all may also see the email accost in Settings > Messages > Send & Receive; Settings > FaceTime, or Settings > Mail.

On a Mac or PC

  1. Go to Organisation Preferences > iCloud. Again you should see your Apple ID if you're logged in.
  2. If you aren't logged in here yous may find the email in Postal service > Preferences > Accounts.
  3. Alternatively, if you lot've used them on the Mac, you lot may find the details in FaceTime (select FaceTime > Preferences > Settings) or Messages (Messages > Preferences, then click Accounts).
  4. Another way to find your Apple tree ID is to open iTunes and check for previous purchases. In iTunes find a buy, right-click and cull Become Info then File. You lot may see the email address beside your proper name.

Online

If you lot neglect to find your Apple ID after trying those methods, you lot volition need to visit the Apple ID page online at appleid.apple.com. Below the boxes for Apple ID and Countersign, click 'Forgot Apple ID or countersign?'

Enter your first name, terminal name and e-mail address. If you enter the wrong e-mail address, you tin try once more with a unlike i until the email address is recognised. Information technology doesn't seem to be completely foolproof, however: we entered the email address nosotros know is associated with our Apple ID and nosotros were greeted with the No Apple ID Found message. Hopefully you'll have more luck than we did.

One time you lot've changed your Apple ID password you will need to update it in the iCloud settings in whatsoever Apple devices you have.

Here's what to practise if you need to alter the admin password on a Mac.