But is that a good thing?

iOS 15 brings two new ways to recover your Apple account if you’re locked out.

Or one unique way and one improved way.

Two people sitting at a cafe table, with their iPhones and an iPad, one writing in a notebook.

Alejandro Escamilla / Unsplash

This is great if you get locked out, but it adds another vector for attack.

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Getting locked out of your Apple account could be a major hassle.

At the same time, you want to keep it as secure as possible.

Account Recovery Settings on an iPhone.

Apple

Yes, its buried deep, but you shouldnt need to visit very often.

Write it on paper, and keep it somewhere safe.

But the new option is more interesting.

Screenshot of messaging people to be Account Recovery contacts.

Apple

It allows you to name another Apple user as yourRecovery Contact.

They must also be using iOS 15 or iPadOS 15 to participate.

Family members are added immediately.

Other contacts will have to accept an invitation.

It’s not that they will use their newly bestowed powers to access your account and rip you off.

It’s that they are now a vector for attack.

Any hacking attempt previously aimed at you alone also will be effective against your recovery contact.

Apple does make some efforts to mitigate this vulnerability.

You will have to remember who you added because Applefor security reasonswill not.

There’s no list to be stolen or otherwise accessed.

And they’d need access to one of your devices to input the recovery code.

So perhaps there’s very little to worry about.

As with all security measures, it’s a compromise between being secure and being convenient.

There are some general security hygiene practices you could follow, too.

From there, reach the list of devices assigned to your account.

In conclusion, Apple’s new Recovery Contact option seems to have few downsides.