Some iPhone users are discovering that their Apple ID has been locked on their Apple devices. This prevents them from accessing their data and any related Apple services. It is unknown at this time as to why the lockouts are occurring.
Users on Reddit and other social media report their iOS devices asking for their Apple ID password to be entered. In some cases, after entering what they believe to be the correct password, users see a pop-up message advising them that their Apple ID has been locked for “security reasons.”
Users say they are able to restore access to their Apple ID account by tapping “Unlock Account” on the pop-up and answer security questions, or by visiting the Apple account support page and following the instructions found there. Once the user’s identity has been validated, they are required to set a new password. After all that, access to their Apple ID-connected servers are once again available.
Although no one knows at this time why the accounts are being locked out, it appears the first batch of lockouts occurred at around midnight Eastern Time. It isn’t known if the lockouts are being cause by something on Apple’s end, or if these accounts are being brute force probed by a bad guy somewhere.
A source inside Apple unofficially told AppleInsider, “At present, this doesn’t appear to be an Apple bug. Whatever it is, it is only impacting a minute percentage of our users.”
We’ll keep you posted.