iPhone 4 can no longer log into iCloud

The_Knowledge_Seeker wrote:

A message appears on his iPhone saying something along the lines of "Two factor authentication is required in order to log in to your Apple ID. Type your password followed by the six digit code."

The iPhone 4, introduced by Apple in 2010, cannot run an iOS version greater than 7.1.2. (The current iOS version is 18.0.1.)

Two-factor authentication was introduced by Apple with iOS 9 which was released in 2015. The prior security method was two-step verification.

Two-step verification for Apple Account - Apple Support

Perhaps there’s a way to invoke two-step verification. I haven’t taken the time to investigate further. But please realize we’re talking about nine+ year old technology.

Good luck.

The_Knowledge_Seeker wrote:

Thanks for that. I just find it so odd how it was working a few weeks ago. I can't think what could have changed.

It might simply have been triggered by Apple, because some grace period for devices not being logged in with 2FA has expired. Maybe that period depends on the last valid login on the device.

After re-reading your original post, Apple already told you what needs to be done:

"Two factor authentication is required in order to log in to your Apple ID. Type your password followed by the six digit code."

It's just not so obvious what that means, but as I explained above, you need to type both the password and the six digit code into the password field. There is no separate field for the six digit code.

This video shows how that is done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4M-DxWSnG4

When the code is rejected initially, you can obtain another a verification code easily on a trusted device (e.g. the iPhone 6S you were talking about): This video above shows that too, but because it is a couple of years old, the place in the settings app has changed slightly.

On my 6S you get it like this: Settings App --> Click on your Name or picture --> Passwords and Security --> Get Verification Code.

By obtaining a code that way, you can fill in the id and password already, and just add the 6 digits. That gives you much more time to type it.

If I remember correctly from my 4th gen iPod Touch, on older devices you can simply type in the 6 digit code directly into the password field, right after your password.

Here's a link to a previous discussion where that is the recommendation by a community specialist: sign in to iCloud with an old iPod touch - Apple Community

To help your father type in that code, maybe he has one of those cheap passive touch pens he can use? However, I think that once he successfully logged back in, he would not need that again.

Hope that helps.

The_Knowledge_Seeker wrote:

I can't think what could have changed.

He may well have tried and failed several times to do something involving security that set off an alarm.