How to manage your iCloud security and Apple Pay settings from the Web
Ever since Apple transitioned from its legacy MobileMe service to iCloud, it has sought to add more cloud features to match those of Google and Dropbox. With iOS 8 and Yosemite Apple has also opened iCloud Drive for file storage and Family Sharing of purchases, but managing your iCloud account can be challenging and confusing, especially when it comes to security.
iCloud doesn't feel native to iOS devices or the web. Certain options are only adjustable on your device, like iCloud Storage and Family Sharing settings. While changes to your Apple ID are not on iCloud.com or your device, but rather appleid.apple.com. This guide will help demystify and inform you about the most important settings for your iCloud account: security.
Navigate to www.icloud.com in your web browser. Users will be prompted to login with your iCloud credentials, and if two-step verification is enabled a four digit security code will be sent via text or iOS notification. More on two-step verification later in this article.
After logging in users have the option to manage Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Notes, Reminders and more. For security options, choose the Settings app.
Once inside the Settings app users will see three distinct sections: the first is to manage your Apple ID, the second displays what members of your family have been invited to share purchases, and the last displays the devices associated with your iCloud account.
Click on Data & Security in the first section. This will bring up a window that allows you to sign out of all instances of iCloud in any browser. If you feel your account has been compromised, this would be a good first step to securing your account.
After Signing Out Everywhere, users should update their password and enable two-step verification. Under the Apple ID option in iCloud Settings, click Manage. This will load a new tab with appleid.apple.com
Sign in with your iCloud credentials to manage the account. Once logged in, you'll see several sections with the options to manage personal data like email and physical addresses, change your password, add phone numbers and more. Click on the Password and Security section in the left hand column.
In order to turn on two-step verification, users will need to register a trusted device. Any iOS device with Find my iPhone enabled will automatically appear here. Click on the Add or Remove trusted devices to add more or remove old devices.
Return to the Password and Security section to enable Two-step verification on your iCloud account. Once enabled, users will be asked to authenticate using a trusted device.
Once a device is chosen, a random four digit code is sent and users will be required to enter it to access their account for future logins.
Users should also generate a Recovery Key from the Password and Security section in case all trusted devices are lost or stolen. The Recovery Key will allow users to enter the account without a four digit code or trusted device.
Back to the iCloud.com Settings app, the second section displaying Family Sharing is view-only. In order to manage the shared users on your account, you must do this from an iOS 8 device or Mac running OS X Yosemite.
The third section in iCloud Settings displays what devices are associated with your iCloud account. For any device beside an iPhone 6 or 6 Pus, clicking on it only displays the Serial Number.
If an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus is associated here with Apply Pay enabled, there is a very useful feature available. Clicking on the iPhone displays what credit cards are stored on the device for use with Apple Pay. There is an option here to Remove All Cards from the phone remotely. An important step if your device is ever stolen.
Once you have finished managing your iCloud Settings, click your name in the upper right hand corner to Log Out. Upon logging out, users have the option to save the current browser and skip the verification step in future logins.
Be sure this box is unchecked if you are using a public computer. Only allow iCloud to "Remember this browser" on your personal devices.
iCloud doesn't feel native to iOS devices or the web. Certain options are only adjustable on your device, like iCloud Storage and Family Sharing settings. While changes to your Apple ID are not on iCloud.com or your device, but rather appleid.apple.com. This guide will help demystify and inform you about the most important settings for your iCloud account: security.
Navigate to www.icloud.com in your web browser. Users will be prompted to login with your iCloud credentials, and if two-step verification is enabled a four digit security code will be sent via text or iOS notification. More on two-step verification later in this article.
After logging in users have the option to manage Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Notes, Reminders and more. For security options, choose the Settings app.
Once inside the Settings app users will see three distinct sections: the first is to manage your Apple ID, the second displays what members of your family have been invited to share purchases, and the last displays the devices associated with your iCloud account.
Click on Data & Security in the first section. This will bring up a window that allows you to sign out of all instances of iCloud in any browser. If you feel your account has been compromised, this would be a good first step to securing your account.
After Signing Out Everywhere, users should update their password and enable two-step verification. Under the Apple ID option in iCloud Settings, click Manage. This will load a new tab with appleid.apple.com
Sign in with your iCloud credentials to manage the account. Once logged in, you'll see several sections with the options to manage personal data like email and physical addresses, change your password, add phone numbers and more. Click on the Password and Security section in the left hand column.
In order to turn on two-step verification, users will need to register a trusted device. Any iOS device with Find my iPhone enabled will automatically appear here. Click on the Add or Remove trusted devices to add more or remove old devices.
Return to the Password and Security section to enable Two-step verification on your iCloud account. Once enabled, users will be asked to authenticate using a trusted device.
Once a device is chosen, a random four digit code is sent and users will be required to enter it to access their account for future logins.
Users should also generate a Recovery Key from the Password and Security section in case all trusted devices are lost or stolen. The Recovery Key will allow users to enter the account without a four digit code or trusted device.
Back to the iCloud.com Settings app, the second section displaying Family Sharing is view-only. In order to manage the shared users on your account, you must do this from an iOS 8 device or Mac running OS X Yosemite.
The third section in iCloud Settings displays what devices are associated with your iCloud account. For any device beside an iPhone 6 or 6 Pus, clicking on it only displays the Serial Number.
If an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus is associated here with Apply Pay enabled, there is a very useful feature available. Clicking on the iPhone displays what credit cards are stored on the device for use with Apple Pay. There is an option here to Remove All Cards from the phone remotely. An important step if your device is ever stolen.
Once you have finished managing your iCloud Settings, click your name in the upper right hand corner to Log Out. Upon logging out, users have the option to save the current browser and skip the verification step in future logins.
Be sure this box is unchecked if you are using a public computer. Only allow iCloud to "Remember this browser" on your personal devices.
Comments
It would be great if Apple Insider produced an online manual to get the most out of Apple's iOS and desktop OS, as well as all of the services that Apple has to offer.
Apple Insider is an incredible resource and should be the go to source for all technical things Apple like Anandtech is for in-depth technical reviews.
So presumably after the ?Watch is released, iPhone 5, 5c, & 5s users will be able to also manage their credit cards here as well. That's a very convenient feature to have. I wonder if this will also allow the ?Watch to be authorized by a Mac, when someone has left their iPhone at home? That would be a handy feature to have. I wonder if an ?Watch can be an "trusted" device for retrieving the verification codes as well? Hmmm. Will find my iPhone work with the ?Watch? That might really be useful ... oh right, no GPS.
macs show up in the Find My devices list, despite no gps chips.
Location services on macs is all based on using your network connections wifi name / router / IP address to calculate the location - http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202080.
From what I can infer the apple watch doesn't have wifi or gps of its own - http://www.apple.com/watch/technology/ states that "Apple Watch uses the GPS and Wi?Fi in your iPhone" - so unless it is connected to your iPhone by Bluetooth I don't see how Find My Devices is going to be able to locate it, and if it is connected to your phone then just locating your phone will put you within 10 metres of the watch...
macs show up in the Find My devices list, despite no gps chips.
WiFi triangulation.
Apple's Location Services uses GPS, cellular tower triangulation, and WiFi hotspot triangulation. The latter is the fastest. If you look at Apple Maps (or any other mapping/GPS app), it'll generally locate you. As the app runs, it'll register data from cellular tower triangulation and eventually GPS (if the signal is available) to adjust your location.
GPS does have the advantage of providing elevation data, something WiFi triangulation doesn't do effectively.
Note that iPod touches and WiFi-only iPads also use WiFi for Location Services.
Nothing new.
Excellent article there Kasper, and great replies too.
I wonder if the barometer, found on newer iOS devices, could be somehow used to give an altitude reading.
It does use the barometer, and many apps, like Nike Running, are using that info. Ascent and descent is cool info if you're running through the mountains. Before it would simply calculate the elevation from the GPS coordinates, hence the info popping up in a photos exif. Here's one I took in 2010 right next-door to Bill Gates' house in the south of France:
Because you can't manage Apple Pay from iCloud. You can only de-activate cards in case the device is stolen.
One issue that I've been thinking about on the ApplePay front. What happens to a phone that is lost or stolen, on which Find My iPhone is not turned on (thus not making it possible to do a remote erase)? How would one erase the credit card data?
I wonder, could there be an iCloud workaround to that issue?
Ah, you may have partially answered my question. Please elaborate....?
I don't have any proof, this is just what I think is the logical way to design it (and the smart people at Apple probably thought of this too).
Each card in Apple Pay is given a unique, device specific account number. If you de-authorize a card through iCloud, Apple can simply contact the CC company and tell them not to accept charges from that number.
Thanks for the write-up on this...I didn't know you could see so much info about users and family sharing at iCloud.com. I'm surprised, however, that you can't see how much iCloud storage you are using and how much you have left. Or am I missing something? We haven't yet paid for any extra iCloud storage, so it would be nice to see online what we are using rather than having to go to iOS settings to figure it out.
On a side note, I'm still trying to figure out how to manage our devices...right now, 3 of our 4 devices (we have 3 iOS devices and 1 MacBook) are on different Apple IDs so that we don't have to share just 5GB. It keeps us from being able to use the new "hand off" feature. I figure eventually, I'll just have to stop being so cheap and pay the $0.99/mo for 20GB, but I keep thinking Apple will eventually up the free iCloud storage plan...
Hmm...my Apple TV does not show in the list of connected devices like in this article. I'm sure I've set it up since my Apple TV screensaver uses my Photostream photos. Any ideas why? Does it make a difference?
Steve
Nice catch. I just checked Settings and iCloud Drive on icloud.com. Nothing, save for individual files in iCloud Drive that have an Info button to see it's size. That seems like a weird omission for such a simple addition, that they didn't fail to include in Mac OS X, iOS, and, as I remember, in iCloud for Windows.
I'd have assumed that if you have a Mac with multiple user accounts for Mac OS X that each would have their own Apple ID for their accounts and Hand Off/Continuity would work off of that? Is that the case or are you using a single, communal user account for Mac OS X setup?