Going NUTS with "Update Apple ID Settings" Issue (Mac and iPhone)

[AJP24]

I've had the "Update Apple ID Settings" notification on both my iPhone and Mac desktop for weeks now and I've just about lost my mind. If I follow the prompt on the my phone, it just spins and spins on the update page. On the Mac, the notification is "Some Account Services Will Not Be Available Until You Sign In Again" but it loops asking for my password.

I've tried signing out of iCloud on both devices, doing a soft and a hard restart on my phone (will signed out of iCloud), and my OSX are up to date on both devices. I'm suspicious this has something to do with two-factor authentication (which I am NOT given the option to turn off on my Mac, but that's another issue).

Can anyone help? So sick of the red dot on my phone and the notification center popping up on my computer while I'm working!

 

[Lifeisabeach]

*edit* I completely overlooked that you said you tried signing out of iCloud and back in. Let me read around a bit more before doing anything.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Ok, here's one article with several possible solutions. One is a suggestion that it may be rooted in the use of a weak password for your iCloud account. So try changing your iCloud password to a stronger one. Use a mix of upper case, lower case, and special characters. It doesn't HAVE to be crazy long and you can use something memorable.

They also say to make sure you are syncing Keychain over iCloud also.

Update Apple ID Settings (macOS Catalina), Fix • macReports

Several users have reported that an alert message saying "Update AppleID Settings" keeps appearing in Settings after upgrading to macOS Catalina.

macreports.com

 

[chscag]

Can anyone help? So sick of the red dot on my phone and the notification center popping up on my computer while I'm working!

This can happen if you have more than one Apple ID. Your Apple ID shows which devices are assigned to it, but if you have a different Apple ID that you used to setup your Mac from when you setup your iPhone, you'll receive those notifications.

Two factor authentication has nothing to do with the problem you're experiencing.

If none of the above applies to you, we then suggest calling Apple and have them look into the problem.

 

[Rod]

I wonder what happened? It would be really nice to hear back from AJP24 for future reference, not to mention if the problem has been solved.

 

[AJP24]

Hang in there Rod! I have family in town but I'll get to it!

 

[Rod]

Sure thing, lucky you.

 

[AJP24]

Nothing worked -- will call Apple tomorrow.

 

[AJP24]

Just got off the phone with a specialist at Apple. He said this glitch happens randomly with users, and that it is most likely a keychain issue. However, we tried doing some playing around with signing in/out of iCloud on numerous devices and in the end, it's something that will probably be fixed with the next OSX. At least I know it's not something I'm not doing correctly on my end.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Just got off the phone with a specialist at Apple. He said this glitch happens randomly with users, and that it is most likely a keychain issue. However, we tried doing some playing around with signing in/out of iCloud on numerous devices and in the end, it's something that will probably be fixed with the next OSX. At least I know it's not something I'm not doing correctly on my end.

Rather than hoping the next version of macOS fixes it, I highly recommend reinstalling Catalina clean from scratch, then migrating your data back over. You can always ride it out until Big Sur is released, then save this effort for when you migrate to that version. But color me skeptical that simply upgrading to a new version will fix this. There are too many unknowns and under-the-hood changes in Catalina, and even more so coming with Big Sur. Catalina had been rather glitchy for me on all 3 of the Macs in my household, and clean re-installing Catalina was what it took to start getting a normal experience. I was having the same problem you are but no more.

I should mention that on the Mac in particular, pay attention to the prompts because you will alternately get prompted for your Apple ID password and then Mac's user id password. That gets confusing.

 

[ferrarr]

Another recommendation would be to turn all Apple devices off. Then turn one device on and use that device to make the changes or edit the settings. Then confirm it is working properly by restarting the device. Then turn your other Apple devices back on.

 

[Rod]

If you want to follow Lifeisabeach's advice and I'd certainly try ferrarr's method first a "clean instal" is a good idea every once in a while.
If you wish to try the clean instal here is how I do it.
Download the current Catalina installer from the App Store, quit it once it's loaded because it will mount and attempt to run.
Download the free app Install Disk Creator from https://macdaddy.io/
Use it to create a bootable installer on a USB thumb drive. About 10Gb will be plenty. It will erase the drive so you'll need an empty one.
Download a trial copy of Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) from here, https://bombich.com/
Use CCC to clone your hard drive to an external USB HDD drive or SSD if you have one. Check after completion that it is intact and bootable.
Eject the CCC clone (there will be two drives; Macintosh HD - Data and Macintosh HD volumes) make sure you eject ALL.
Now you can boot your device from the thumb drive. Simple hold Option key on boot and select the thumb drive.
In the installer go to Disk Utility and erase your Macintosh HD - Data and Macintosh HD volumes.
Proceed to instal Catalina from the thumb drive. Follow the prompts. Bear in mind it takes a while, estimated completion time is only for each stage and the device will shut down intermittently throughout.
You should have a mint device at the end of this process, just like a brand new Mac. You can now boot from the internal drive and remove the thumb drive.
Connect you external HD and import the data, files, apps by drag and drop. The CCC clone will look just like your old HD.
Personally I keep this process to a minimum.
The first thing I do is drag the contents of my Documents folder across.
Set up my email accounts. I use Spark so I download a fresh copy from the App Store. You accounts data will download from iCloud. Apple Mail will need to download all of your email again.
Your Safari browser will retain all of the data it had before if it was synced via iCloud, which is the default. Other browsers assuming you had an account, eg Google Chrome will also retain your bookmarks, passwords etc so you can download fresh copies and login. Where possible I download fresh copies of all my apps except simple free standing ones. This reduces the chances of corruption or missing files.
Initially you wont need much. You will have all your contacts, documents, browsers, bookmarks and email services so you can take your time downloading or transferring the rest.
DO NOT sync CCC just keep the drive on hand so you can find old stuff if or when you need it. For me that takes about a month to be sure I've got everything.
The above process takes 4-6 hrs much of which can be completed unattended.
I would set aside a day to do this, maybe on a weekend. Ensure you have all of your app passwords usernames etc on hand and remember if the whole thing goes sideways you can always simply reverse clone your original contents back from the CCC clone onto your device and it will be just the same as it was before you started.
Note; you will have a copy of the Catalina installer in the App Folder of your clone. This may or not be handy at some stage, just FYI.