TL;DR
Since it seems obvious that at present Apple can do nothing to help me: I need some way of getting as much of my content (music/apps/contacts/etc) out of this account… what can I do? All of my music/apps/contacts since like 2004 are in this account!
The answer which gives me the most ways of extracting my purchases will get the answer vote and bounty.
If my password is ever stolen I will not be able to change it, I would have to have the account locked and I would lose thousands of dollars worth of purchases!
Ok so I had enabled Apple's two-step authentication in order to have more security. It told me to "save the recovery key in a safe place like your wallet" so I just took that suggestion.
Now, I was robbed. My wallet AND iPhone (my authorized device) were both stolen. Now I have no way of managing my iCloud account so I cannot:
- change my password
- purchase anything from an iPhone
If I want to purchase new apps I have created a new account, but if there is an app already purchased on my old account I have to switch back and download it… however they changed it so now I cannot switch accounts on my iPhone for 90 days!
The only thing I can think to do, is to try and extract as much as I can from that account (contacts, music, apps) and then store them somewhere…
I am kind of sad that I have lost functionality and Apple has made there literally be NO WAY to recover without at least 2 of the recovery options (my 2 were stolen).
So this is also now LESS secure, because if my password becomes compromised I have no way of changing it (can't manage account with only password now).
Any idea what steps I should take? One I can think of is to go to all my accounts that I had used my iCloud e-mail for and change that. But as for my app purchases and music purchases, I am pretty much hosed.
Will I be able to stop using the old account entirely (I guess have them lock it) but before I do that extract out my content for use? Music I can burn to MP3, but apps… I don't think I will be able to get updates for apps purchased under that account if I lock the account.
EDIT just realized my apple developer account is bound to this login as well, FML
Best Answer
The way this is supposed to work is to log in to https://appleid.apple.com and have several devices for authentication.
Have you double checked that you don't have SMS as one of your options? If so, you can just get another SMS capable cell phone from the carrier using your number and be able to log in to reissue a new recovery key.
To paraphrase the KB article - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5577
Hopefully you can either recover your phone or the wallet (police report and/or reward work in different situations) after a few days and add in some more items, regenerate your recovery key or disable the two-factor security on your account.
Also, you will want to make a phone call to developer support and ask if they have any way to assist you in enrolling another trusted device so that you can continue to do business with them. The developer program has far more ability to tell you from a random impersonator due to the legal forms and verification you may have filled out to enter the program and sell an app.
Also realize that Apple intentionally set this up knowing that some people would be in your situation and make sure you acknowledge that they don't have to help you out, but if they can find a way to, you would really appreciate it. However, since you have thousands of dollars at stake, I can't imagine you wouldn't be able to call into developer support and work with them to regain access as a one-time exception to the policy. Heck, Apple might be able to assist with a letter that corroborates a police report of the theft and open up options to claim this against insurance.
Lastly, check with your insurance since the cost to re-establish your accounts and purchases might just be covered. Your sure move is to get a new AppleID move on, securing it with more layers (and spread over more than one location) of verification devices. Hopefully, you can recover one of the items that was stolen and avoid the lengthy process of convincing either Apple or an insurance agent to help you out of this understandable but painful predicament.