User level: Level 1 (11 points)Can someone recovery their Lost a 28-character recovery key ? I have a senior neighbor who never set it up and their iPhone says they need to enter it.
If they don't have it, could they set up a whole new appleID? They are fine with that since they only use their iPhone for calls, and contacts, not texting, not photos, etc.
Posted on Sep 23, 2026 3:36 PM
User level: Level 8 (43,489 points)Sep 23, 2026 4:00 PM in response to dp415
First … ensure that this isn’t in response to some sort of phishing attack.
A recovery key is rarely needed on an iPhone where the user only RARELY needs to even enter their Apple Account password … much less forget it and need to use Account Recovery.
Seniors can be specifically targeted for phishing.
= = = = =
There is no way to “recover” the key w/o a logged-in Trusted Device.
However, if they are logged-in with a trusted device, they CAN generate — and hopefully record — a new key.
Set up a recovery key for your Apple Account - Apple Support
User level: Level 10 (169,253 points)Sep 23, 2026 6:15 PM in response to dp415
dp415 wrote:
The iPhone goes to a screen that reads: ENTER RECOVERY KEY enter your 28-character recovery key to continue xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx
Yes, and what I’m not sure about is whether any of this is relevant here, or if somebody tried something in the password-recovery path and whether that path may or may not even be relevant here.
Try a mundane account recovery.
User level: Level 1 (11 points)Sep 23, 2026 4:14 PM in response to Chattanoogan
Thank you. This is not phishing. It was an error message that popped up on my senior neighbor wants to set up Find My and then it asked for the recovery key.
My senior neighbor was trying to set up Find My so their adult child who lives across the country can monitor it for them and neither my senior neighbor or their adult kid remember setting up that key. so my 2nd question is it best just to set up a whole new Apple ID for their iphone and they start over should they write down their new 28 character recovery key or can they use Find My without it in the future, just trying to help out a sweet old neighbor with technology :-) thank you all in advance
User level: Level 1 (11 points)Sep 23, 2026 4:16 PM in response to dp415
And by the way, the trusted device is an old device that I helped them clean out gf all info & did a factory reset
cause it was a super old iPad and they donated that iPad to another friend. when we visited the other friend’s house there are no messages that come up or appear on that old iPad. I just think originally when that iPad or Apple ID was set up it probably ask them about the recovery key and they probably just didn’t realize they needed to keep that information.
User level: Level 10 (169,253 points)Sep 23, 2026 4:24 PM in response to dp415
I’m unclear why a Recovery Key would be useful here, or created here.
The Recovery Key blocks Apple from honoring a password reset request, so it would be useful for somebody that might be a target for some higher-end scams.
For most folks, it is unnecessary, and having Apple available to perform a password reset is a useful option.
And it wouldn’t surprise me that there’s no recovery key here, a d somebody is confused about the password and password reset process.
User level: Level 8 (43,489 points)Sep 23, 2026 4:28 PM in response to dp415
Are they able to sign-in to their Apple Account with the device ???
A “super-old” iPad might have been unable to use a recovery key as iPadOS 14 — released in Sep 2020 — would have been required.
User level: Level 1 (11 points)Sep 23, 2026 6:08 PM in response to MrHoffman
The iPhone goes to a screen that reads: ENTER RECOVERY KEY enter your 28-character recovery key to continue xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx
User level: Level 1 (11 points)Sep 23, 2026 6:09 PM in response to dp415
The passcode that uncle "iPAD' you can access your data by using your recovery key. This is the message on their iPhone
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256363620