There’s been a lot of discussion over the past few days about Apple ID two-step verification and the fact that Apple can’t restore your account if you lose your recovery key.
Here’s a link to Glenn Fleishman’s Macworld article, which lays out the issues involved and talks you through the process of replacing your recovery key.
In a nutshell, if you don’t have your recovery key written down and stored in a safe, well known place, make your way over to Apple’s Apple ID management page and log in. Tap on Password and Security (on the left side), then tap the Replace Lost Key link (on the right).
Apple will generate a new recovery key. Print it, then reenter it to prove to Apple that you printed it. Go put that piece of paper somewhere safe. Now go back up your hard drive.
Note that you can create a secure note in 1Password for recovery keys and print that note. 🙂
Mine’s printed and stored with my passport and car titles.
You know, important, difficult-to-replace stuff.
I’m not a fan of storing keys digitally. Obviously this is more like paranoia if you take the right precautions, but I’m much more comfortable keeping recovery keys offline and in safe places. I write them out by hand, with no identifying labels, and keep a copy of every key in my wallet and in my important documents box at home.
It is paranoia, but it’s a place where it’s mostly reasonable to be so. 🙂
I keep everything where the contents not the actual document are important in 1Password.