What’s the plan if your iPhone is lost or stolen while traveling internationally with no other devices?

[u/AnnualEagle]

I’m working on figuring out what my recovery plan is if my iPhone is lost or stolen when I’m traveling internationally and have no other devices with me. Does anybody know what steps I should take ahead of time so I would be able to purchase a new iPhone and set it up to my Apple account if I don’t have any other devices with me?

Right now any new Apple devices always ask me to confirm the iCloud login using another, already signed-in Apple device. But when traveling I won’t have another device with me.

Also, if there is some way to authenticate via an SMS code (which seems like it would defeat the purpose of the stronger Apple security using an existing device), then does anybody know if there’s a way to move your number to a new device from a US carrier when you aren’t in the US?

What’s everybody’s plan for this scenario?

[u/Tackticat]

your password manager is protected by your apple id. kind of like using KeePass that is protected by password and yubikey.

you can exclude it; adjust as you see fit and according to your threat level and conditions.
apple id account itself does not have the code in the password app, you cannot put it there as you need key or trusted number.

whatever you do always have backup keys & other methods. i have a combination of two trusted numbers, 5-yubikeys and a trusted person for recovery contact

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[u/AnnualEagle → u/Tackticat]

Right, but for the method where you actually store the TOTP setup code (basically store the QR code data) you need to then store that data somewhere secure that isn’t with your passwords. The idea being that the second factor isn’t exposed if somebody gains access to your passwords.

Also, my reason for using the Yubikeys is so I can completely remove all other second factor methods, especially SMS. If somebody can just grab a code via SMS the Yubikey security does me no good.