My iPhone's stolen device protection randomly activated

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17 points

My iPhone's stolen device protection randomly activated

I work from home, so my phone is at this location (my home) 80-90% of the time. Sitting at my desk, I get a notification "use this iPhone to change your Apple ID." I click on the notification and it tells me that device protection has been activated and I need to start a one-hour timer before I can change any passcodes, but I can still use the phone. It said the phone is in a location that is not recognized. WTF?? Now I have to wait for the security timer to complete before I can access the Settings to turn off device protection. I am turning it off, I don't want this to happen again. My home is a known location (had the phone since Sept 2022 - 14 Pro).

Any thoughts as to 1. why this happened and 2. Is this a known issue and getting fixed?

-Mike

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on Jan 25, 2024 12:26 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

KiltedTim

Level 10

220,404 points

Jan 25, 2024 12:56 PM in response to stogieboy

Are you using a VPN?

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Answer 2

Jun 10, 2024 06:51 AM in response to JDimery

JDimery wrote:

This has been happening to me for weeks I just haven’t had time to deal with it but today is the day. It has to stop. I am currently at home trying to figure out how to make it stop.

Assuming you have the same problem as the original poster of this six-month-old thread, turn off your VPN.

If that is not your issue, I suggest starting your own, new thread. You'll get more and better help that way.

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Answer 3

stogieboy Author

Level 1

17 points

Jan 25, 2024 12:59 PM in response to KiltedTim

I am using a VPN. I hadn't thought of that. What a dumb thing to have activate the device protection. I did spend about 20 minutes on the phone with Tatiana from Apple Support, she was very helpful, but the solution was to wait out the one hour delay and then decide if I want to risk this happening again, or just turn off the device protection. I opted to turn it off.

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Answer 4

KiltedTim

Level 10

220,404 points

Jan 25, 2024 05:30 PM in response to stogieboy

A VPN will make your device appear to be in a different location.

Unless you're using the VPN to connect to a private network such as your employer or school, it serves little or no real purpose. It does virtually nothing to protect your privacy or secure your data. Actually, it does the exact opposite by feeding all of your data traffic through a single point.

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Answer 5

stogieboy Author

Level 1

17 points

Jan 25, 2024 05:55 PM in response to KiltedTim

Thanks Tim, I appreciate your note. I tend to make sure I turn on the VPN when using a network other than my own (we were out of town last weekend and using a hotel's wifi). If I forget to turn it off, it remains on. I still feel like the phone should maybe know the difference between being connected through a VPN at a known location vs activating the device protection because I'm using a VPN.

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Answer 6

JDimery

Level 1

8 points

Jun 10, 2024 04:46 AM in response to stogieboy

This has been happening to me for weeks I just haven’t had time to deal with it but today is the day. It has to stop. I am currently at home trying to figure out how to make it stop.

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My iPhone's stolen device protection randomly activated

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