iOS 15: How to restore access to iPhone if you forgot your Apple ID password

If you’ve forgotten your Apple ID password, iOS 15 has a great account recovery feature. Here’s how to use it.

If you’ve forgotten your Apple ID password, don’t panic. It happens that the password is forgotten from time to time. Losing your Apple ID account for iPhone, iPad, or Mac is just as frustrating as losing your car keys. Your password, like your keys, gives you access to something very important: your iCloud account and all your Apple devices. Like Face ID and Touch ID, a passcode is designed to keep your information safe, but if you get it wrong a few times, you’ll have no choice but to ask Apple for help.

Apple released iOS 15 last September, and one of the new features lets you regain access to your account with a simple phone call to your loved one. This feature, called “Account Recovery”, allows you to identify one or more trusted individuals who can provide you with a special code to unlock your account. This is pretty cool and makes recovering your Apple account a lot easier.

If your iPhone is running iOS 15, you can add trusted contacts for account recovery.

Select contacts to recover account

Before you can set up account recovery, all of your Apple devices, whether Mac, iPad, or iPhone, must be running the latest Apple OS. In other words, macOS Monterey, iPadOS 15 and iOS 15, respectively.

Once these builds are installed, select contacts for account recovery by following these steps.

1. Open the Settings app and tap your name at the top of the screen.
2. Select “Password and security”, then “Account recovery”and “Add contact”. A page will appear explaining what the contact can see or do with your account (they don’t have access to your iCloud account) and a brief description of what to do if you’re blocked.
3. Click Add Contact at the bottom of the screen to continue.
4. When prompted, enter your Apple ID password and follow the instructions to select your contacts.

What to do if you can’t access your Apple ID or iCloud account

If you no longer have access to your account, you need to call one of your contacts to recover your account from your iPhone. This contact will then give you a short code that they can access directly on their iPhone. After entering this code, you will be able to unlock your account.

Once your account is unlocked, you will be prompted to create a new password. Instead of storing it in memory or choosing a simple password, it’s better to use a password manager. This will generate a complex password for you, store it, and even be able to enter it for you when prompted.