Question iPhone completely unable to log into websites, had a talk with the Apple experts but they couldn't fix it, phone is still under warranty ?

[atifpolitici]

Hello All, so I purchased an iPhone 15 in December 2023, and it's been working all good, until the latest IOS update. I completely cannot log in to any website, I use my phone everyday and every two weeks, I have meetings. Today, I spent over an hour with the Apple technician, over the phone, they couldn't fix it. I have tried everything including factory reset, the phone is still under warranty, I am concerned, it will still pass Apple's test and they won't do much to fix it. Does anyone know what's broken or damaged with the phone?
A new phone shouldn't be doing this!!

 

[atifpolitici]

Quite frankly I agree with you about relying on keychain, but I would tend to agree with them that it's a software issue. A bizarre one, sure, but there's an explanation out there. The fact that it persisted across phones makes me think that there might be an issue with your Apple account saving some setting (unless of course you can break phones just by holding one or your account is cursed) or maybe you restored from an iCloud backup that had a broken setting.

In good news, I am not satisfied that the phone is relying on Key Chain to work, so Apple will call me tomorrow now to discuss this further. My phone should work without Key Chain, like it did before, I am going to continue to fight it.

 

[Ralston18]

Try this:

Find some sort of neutral/free website where you can create a new account. Some website that you have never visited or otherwise used before.

E.g., nothing financial, personal, etc. or where joining could eventually cost you money.

Use a basic simple Username and a Password that meets the site's minimal requirements. Nothing complicated.

Log out.

Then log into that website using two or three other devices. If the logins succeed (thus verifying or proving that you have an accessible account) then log in via your iPhone.

Does that work?

If not, what error messages, pop-up windows, or other screens/windows appear?

 

[atifpolitici]

Try this:

Find some sort of neutral/free website where you can create a new account. Some website that you have never visited or otherwise used before.

E.g., nothing financial, personal, etc. or where joining could eventually cost you money.

Use a basic simple Username and a Password that meets the site's minimal requirements. Nothing complicated.

Log out.

Then log into that website using two or three other devices. If the logins succeed (thus verifying or proving that you have an accessible account) then log in via your iPhone.

Does that work?

If not, what error messages, pop-up windows, or other screens/windows appear?

I actually did try this with the advisor, I changed my strong Total Jobs password to one that met the minimal requirements, and it logged in no problem, he saw it on the screen, as soon as I changed the password back to complicated again, the problem arose again. This is when he said "Websites don't like complicated passwords and use Key Chain". This is baffling me! With complicated passwords, it keeps stating "Incorrect username and password"

 

[Ralston18]

The objective is to create some new/neutral account somewhere.

Do not create the new account using your iPhone.

Create the account using some other device. Test the access using that device and two or three other devices not including your iPhone.

Do not use what you consider a complicated password. Minimal password per the website's requirements.

Even if the website feedback reports the password as "weak".

Then, again, knowing that there is an existing, proven accessible account try logging into that account via your iPhone.

No keychain, etc., no saving of password on iPhone etc..

Are you able to login to that new account using the iPhone?

 

[NedSmelly]

Try BitWarden as a password manager. Enter your passwords into its database via a different computer.

My gut feeling is that the OP has something weird going on with their iPhone’s regional keyboard setting, and there’s an ascii code mismatch in their manual password entries. Like a Pound code going through instead of a hash. Or directional double quotations.

But besides that I got nothing else. Same thing is going on with a new iPhone issued to them (as stated by OP) so I can only think it’s related to their personal setup and choice of special characters. Perhaps try English(US) keyboard instead on English(UK) in Settings -> Keyboards. And turn off all those All Keyboard options like Smart Punctuation etc while you’re there.

🤷‍♂️

EDIT: iOS 17.5 just released. Give that a go.

 

[atifpolitici]

Try BitWarden as a password manager. Enter your passwords into its database via a different computer.

My gut feeling is that the OP has something weird going on with their iPhone’s regional keyboard setting, and there’s an ascii code mismatch in their manual password entries. Like a Pound code going through instead of a hash. Or directional double quotations.

But besides that I got nothing else. Same thing is going on with a new iPhone issued to them (as stated by OP) so I can only think it’s related to their personal setup and choice of special characters. Perhaps try English(US) keyboard instead on English(UK) in Settings -> Keyboards. And turn off all those All Keyboard options like Smart Punctuation etc while you’re there.

🤷‍♂️

EDIT: iOS 17.5 just released. Give that a go.

Hello All.

I've got an update to share, thanks to my consistent complaining my issue has been noticed, so a gentlemen has taken over my case, and escalated the case to Senior IOS Engineers, it's believed that the issue is definitely related to Software and not Hardware, so I was made to screen record for evidence, and logs were collected and gathered on the phone, and sent to the IOS engineers, I am due to get a callback either tomorrow, or the day after. Interesting update. Last engineer who mentioned Key Chain, was wrong, the phone should work without Key Chain logging me in, the senior advisor agrees with me! UPDATE (I've updated my phone to IOS 17.5. Problem is not solved.)

 

[PEnns]

Hello All.

I've got an update to share, thanks to my consistent complaining my issue has been noticed, so a gentlemen has taken over my case, and escalated the case to Senior IOS Engineers, it's believed that the issue is definitely related to Software and not Hardware, so I was made to screen record for evidence, and logs were collected and gathered on the phone, and sent to the IOS engineers, I am due to get a callback either tomorrow, or the day after. Interesting update. Last engineer who mentioned Key Chain, was wrong, the phone should work without Key Chain logging me in, the senior advisor agrees with me! UPDATE (I've updated my phone to IOS 17.5. Problem is not solved.)

That's definitely good news.

But just for the heck of it, do try the Bitwarden experiment from 2 posts up and see what happens.

PS: I use Bitwarden and it's really good (and best of all, it's free). I let it manage passwords up to 30 characters long! Works perfectly.

 

[atifpolitici]

(Update) So the engineers came back and told my case handler, that I should factory restore my iPhone, not sign in with Apple ID, and then try to log into websites, they had a similar case and that worked for them. Well guess what, that still hasn't worked for me, so now I am definitely sure it's a hardware issue, because Software is fine, nothing is broken. In my frustration, I told them that I purchased the phone from O2, on contract and that I request a report from the engineers be sent to me be detailing the diagnostics, and all the options I've gone through (It's been stated that I've exhausted all options). I will give this report to O2, so that they can honor my phone warranty, and provide me with a new phone. What do you guys think? Have I done something wrong, or is my approach correct?

 

[Ralston18]

Give the report to O2.

Go from there.....