You need something that can receive a text or voice message, but only once when you set it up, or in the future should you lose a trusted device and need to recover your account.

That "something" could be a service such as this one: TextNow. Allegedly it offers a "free phone number" that could be used do to that, but it will expire if you don't use it for a while. I have not used it but it might suffice for your needs. There are probably other, similar services. (Edit: Skype might already be able to do that: Online phone number | Skype number | Skype)

Refer to Two-factor authentication for Apple ID - Apple Support.

You need something that can receive a text or voice message, but only once when you set it up, or in the future should you lose a trusted device and need to recover your account.

That "something" could be a service such as this one: TextNow. Allegedly it offers a "free phone number" that could be used do to that, but it will expire if you don't use it for a while. I have not used it but it might suffice for your needs. There are probably other, similar services. (Edit: Skype might already be able to do that: Online phone number | Skype number | Skype)

Refer to Two-factor authentication for Apple ID - Apple Support.

You need something that can receive a text or voice message, but only once when you set it up, or in the future should you lose a trusted device and need to recover your account.

That "something" could be a service such as this one: TextNow. Allegedly it offers a "free phone number" that could be used do to that, but it will expire if you don't use it for a while. I have not used it but it might suffice for your needs. There are probably other, similar services. (Edit: Skype might already be able to do that: Online phone number | Skype number | Skype)

Refer to Two-factor authentication for Apple ID - Apple Support.

If you received an email from Apple about this change and you can log in from elsewhere, and receive your verification codes, then you're in a good spot and needn't worry.

Please define "locked".

Thanks a lot!

Seems like two-factor and two-step got mixed up and i finally found a "secret link" that sent me to two-step verification setup. It seems to work! Thanks for the help!

There isn't a way to prioritize the devices. This may not help, but the way it should work (and does for me) is that the verification code should be automatically sent to all of your trusted devices at the same time (although I've noticed a small lag on some devices and on some occasions not all devices are notified) including the device that you are using if it is already a trusted device. The following has more information: Two-factor authentication for Apple ID - Apple Support and if it isn't working automatically the following may also help: Get a verification code and sign in with two-factor authentication - Apple Support

See the bottom section of Two-factor authentication for Apple ID - Apple Support

Doug Lerner2 wrote:

 

 

(4) I was on the train a few hours ago and logged into these forums via iPhone Safari. This time it said the authentication code was sent to my "trusted device" - presumably my Mac back at home. Why didn't it send it to my iPhone, like it was sending it to my Mac> The clincher here is that in the authentication code message it said if I can't get access to my other trusted device it would send it to my iPhone. I chose that option and sure enough it did send it to my phone. So... if my iPhone is trusted enough to get that "backup" authentication code, why isn't it getting the authentication code to begin with?

 

This is the core of your problem, if you solve this then everything else will start to make more sense. Focus on your phone, and forget everything else for the moment.

As I said earlier, I think your iphone is "stuck" between authentication methods - it has not fully logged in to icloud using two-factor authentication, so it's not "trusted" yet and won't receive the codes until you complete that step.

Do this on your iphone:

1. Go to Settings (this must be done in Settings - not Safari. Remember that iOS and Safari are different "devices" even on the same phone! )
2. tap "iCloud"
3. Tap your name/icloud account at the top of the screen. This should immediately ask you to re-enter your icloud password again (and you'll need to be near your Mac to get the verification code). And be patient, it may take 30 - 40 seconds to complete the process.
4. It may also ask you to re-enter your iphone passcode. Don't skip that step if it asks (I found it confusing, I wasn't sure what it was asking for but it's the same code that you use to unlock your phone).

If that doesn't ask you to log in, try restarting your phone and repeat the above steps. And if that does not work, log out of iCloud on the phone and log back in (but that's a last resort - if you use ApplePay, logging out of iCloud will remove all your credit cards and you'll need to re-add them. It will also temporarily remove contacts and calendars, but those will get added back automatically so don't panic when you see the warning).

The "backup authentication" method uses regular text messages. It's far less secure, and the U.S. government is now recommending that it no longer be used (because phone numbers can be "hijacked" so a thief could potentially get your text messages and login codes). It's OK as a backup, but best if you can avoid using it  by getting your phone to be "trusted" through the iCloud login.

Once you solve the iPhone problem, I think you'll end up preferring Apple's method over Google's - despite the rough start. I know I do.

Yes, if you have two factor authentication enabled on your AppleID, then all devices associated with your AppleID will be required to use it. You cannot pick and choose which devices under your AppleID Account use or do not use the service.  Since they are all tied to your AppleID, the security featuee for that AppleID applies to all.

Two factor authentication is about protecting your AppleID, not your devices themselves. Since your AppleID is logged in on a device, the system won’t let you un-enroll just one device.