XPost: misc.phone.mobile.iphone
From: mariasophia@comprehension.com
Tyrone wrote:
> I have everything enabled on about 16 active devices. I have NEVER been
> randomly prompted to enter my password. Not hourly. Not daily. Not monthly.
> NOT "Every day, all day long".
Hi Tyrone,
This thread is a technical thread discussion how iOS really works, given no
other common consumer operating system works how iOS does in this regard.
So we all need to think and read the documentation and deal with the facts.
Otherwise, we'll never be able to progress to a deeper iOS understanding.
To that end, thank you for describing your personally memory of your user
experience, where, in this very thread, we've seen the range of remembered
personal experiences from those who claim they have absolutely no memory of
encountering how iOS works with respect to authentication tokens expiry
schedules, to those who have a memory of them, to those who tested it.
Which user experience do you think is the more or less reliable?
a. People who don't remember encountering what Apple documents is the case
b. People who remember encountering what Apple documents is the case
c. People who tested exactly what Apple documents is the case
Since we wish to keep this discussion as the adult technical level...
1. Please realize I'm aware that your memory of your user experience
is data which we are taking into account to understand how iOS works.
a. Your experience is data, however it is not a proof of how the
system works for all users or all configurations.
b. Apple documents that its services use independent credentials
and that those credentials need to be refreshed, even when
you never explicitly "log out".
c. A user who always re enters the password or uses Face ID or
Touch ID when prompted will see very different behavior from
a user who refuses those prompts for months or years.
2. Apple documents independent services and credentials.
a. Apple ID and iCloud are separate subsystems with their own
authentication and state.
Apple ID overview:
iCloud overview:
b. iMessage and FaceTime have their own activation and
credential state. They are not simply "on" forever.
iMessage and FaceTime activation:
c. App Store and purchase functions have their own sign in
behavior. Apple documents that you can be asked to enter your
Apple ID password again for purchases, downloads, and updates.
App Store and Apple ID sign in:
d. Find My and Activation Lock are tied to Apple ID ownership
and device binding. Those are long lived, but not infinite.
Find My and Activation Lock:
3. So why do password prompt frequencies differ between users.
a. Number of services in use
Two users can both say "I have everything enabled" yet still
differ in detail. Examples, mail accounts in Mail, iCloud
Mail on or off, iCloud Keychain, Family Sharing, region, and
which app store content they use.
b. How quickly prompts are satisfied
If you enter your password, or use Face ID or Touch ID, when
the system requests it, the underlying tokens get refreshed.
In that case, short lived and medium lived token expiration
events may be invisible to you.
Remember I'm teswting how iOS works. You're not.
So I see exactly how iOS works, but for you, it's masked.
I am explicitly refusing to re enter the password when asked,
which forces repeated retries and escalations that you will
not see if you glibly and repeatedly cooperate with the prompts.
c. Silent retries and background failures
Many token refresh failures are handled in the background.
Short-lived credentials can be retried without showing the
user anything unless the failures persist.
So "I do not remember seeing many prompts" is not the same
as "no token ever expired" or "no retries occurred".
d. Device history and age
A device that has been continuously upgraded and kept signed
in for years, with regular successful re authentication,
presents a very different history to Apple servers compared
to a device that repeatedly refuses sign in prompts.
4. What "every day, all day" actually means
a. It is shorthand for "frequent and persistent prompts over
time", not a literal claim that the system prompts exactly
once per hour on a fixed schedule.
b. When you have a cluster of services all trying to refresh
credentials and the user continually cancels or refuses, it
is normal to experience the constant nagging every single day.
Oct 27, 2023
Dec 11, 2023
May 20, 2024
Aug 3, 2024
Dec 8, 2024
Dec 10, 2024
Dec 16, 2024
Dec 19, 2024
Apr 8, 2025
Apr 17, 2025
Sept 2, 2025
Oct 31, 2025
Jan 7, 2026
(this is just a small sample)
That is especially true when core account state or security
settings are out of date.
5. What is and is not being claimed
a. I am not claiming that every iOS user sees these prompts at
the same frequency.
b. I am not claiming that your 16 devices are malfunctioning.
c. I am claiming that Apple documents independent authentication
for multiple services, that those credentials expire, and
that refusal to re authenticate for extended periods leads
to more frequent and more severe prompts, up to and including
Activation Lock escalation.
d. Those behaviors follow from the security model Apple has
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