Apple Quietly Made The Account Settings Page On Your iPhone A Tiny Bit More Useful

Apple Quietly Made The Account Settings Page On Your iPhone A Tiny Bit More Useful

iOS: Every once in a while, Apple will push out a minor update that fixes some random little problem with its operating systems. This time around, it’s the Apple ID page in 10.3, which finally has a more cohesive settings page with access to everything from two-factor authentication to serial numbers on your other devices.

Open up the Settings app and you’ll immediately see your Apple ID information at the top of the screen. Tap that and you get access to a number of things related to iCloud, your ID and iTunes. Most of this stuff was included in previous versions of iOS, but it’s all now accessible on one page.

The first thing you can tap on is your name, phone numbers and email. You can also change your DOB and change your settings for different email newsletters if you’re getting those.

Next up is Password & Security, which used to be buried under a bunch of different pages. Here, you can turn on two-factor authentication, change your trusted phone numbers, and request verification codes to sign into your iCloud account on other devices. Previously, you’d have to tap Settings > iCloud > Apple ID > Password & Security to get to this page, which was cumbersome and awkwardly located. Now, it’s super easy to get to. If you haven’t turned on two-factor authentication, now is a really good time to do so.

[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2014/07/apple-adds-two-factor-authentication-to-icloud/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/792380678099056272.jpg” title=”Apple Is Adding Two-Factor Authentication To iCloud.com” excerpt=”Apple is bringing two-factor authentication to its iCloud.com website and apps, which should make use the web-based versions of its services more secure.”]

The Payment & Shipping section is exactly as you’d expect, as is the iTunes & App Store sections, but the iCloud menu is worth diving into. You’ll now get a nice visual breakdown of what’s taking up storage space in iCloud, and you can easily toggle what apps and services have access to iCloud syncing. This used to be hidden away under a separate iCloud Drive page, so it’s nice to have everything all in one place.

Finally, at the bottom of the page you’ll find every other device signed in to your Apple ID, like Macs, Apple Watches or iPads. You can quickly get access to serial numbers, check if Find My Device is enabled, or even remove any old devices you no longer own. Of course, if there’s some device listed here that shouldn’t be, you can remove it, sign out of your account, and then pop back to the Password & Security page to change your password.

None of this stuff is revolutionary, but it’s nice to finally have a single place to manage everything related to your Apple ID. Over the years, all of this stuff has bounced around to different oddball pages, or was tucked away in non-obvious places.


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

Here are the cheapest plans available for Australia’s most popular NBN speed tier.

At Lifehacker, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments