Apple peril of a Windows user

November 18, 2019 Off By Naveen Victor

Apple takes security very seriously. This is evident across its entire product range which include Macs and iPhones. In addition to this, Cupertino is also less willing to share user data compared to other companies like Google. This is one of several reasons why many flock to the Apple ecosystem.

However, this is only true for an Apple user. If you are unfortunate enough to be a Windows user who happens to use Apple’s apps, things get a bit complicated. I found this out the hard way a few days ago. For some reason, I chose to dust off my 9 year old Macbook Pro, loaded in an SSD to install a fresh copy of OSX, or MacOS as its now called.

Unlike the old days, Apple now makes you sign into your account before allowing you to reinstall the OS. unfortunately for me, it’s 2019, and for the past several years I have only relied on the Google ecosystem. This meant I chose Google Photos, Gmail, Google Music, Calendar and Google Drive over Apple’s equivalent. And in doing so, I successfully freed myself of Apple’s ‘shackles’.

Over the course of several years, I somehow misplaced my Apple account credentials. This isn’t a major problem if you own several Apple devices, or have friends who do. I had neither, and for that, the repercussions were – a painfully long waiting period. Two weeks to be exact!

Apple acknowledges that this inconvenient for users, but stresses that this is necessary to carefully authenticate my request for a password reset. I’m fine with that statement, but Apple knows my email address and personal mobile phone number. Shouldn’t that be enough to authenticate my request? according to Apple, No. You need a ‘trusted’ device to speed up the process.

There are several different ways one could recover a lost or forgotten password, which includes the use of the Find My iPhone App. I on the other hand, have to wait 13 days before Apple will be willing to entertain my request for a password reset. Strangely enough, I don’t remember it ever being this difficult before.

It maybe the conspiracy theorist in me saying this, and my view should be taken with a pinch of salt, but, maybe this was done on purpose. Apple’s lengthy wait time for password resets, is done to give one time to reassess his/her life’s goals – a form of detention for the uninitiated.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

During this time it hopes that users will come to the realisation that, had he/she been using an Apple device, this would not have been a problem. It’s pure genius because for a second or two, I did entertain the idae of moving to the iPhone in the near future. But, only for a breif few moments.

I hope Apple improves this policy in the near future to facilitate user convenience. But having said that, it’s comforting to know that Cupertino has extremely stringent measures in place to prevent unauthorized access to user accounts. As a Google user, I’m a little envious of this, but will get over it.