Apple Requires ID and Moving Away From Apple

Apple will ask for ID after the 26.4 iOS update (26.4.2 was the update I installed on my iPhone). Apple customers will not be warned of the ID requirement prior to installation. If you are unable to provide ID after the update then your phone will be locked down into a restricted child mode.

It was impossible for a family member to provide ID so while I still can I've put a stop to this update and any future updates which should buy me some time.

We want to move away from Apple, without moving back to Android. I am considering deep-diving into the reasons for this family decision because the ID requirement is not as simple as it may appear on the surface. But when I first thought about creating a website I had this idea that I would never post anything negative and would write about technology in the way I enthusiastically view it, a positive force in my life, which I believe can also be inclusive and accessible to others too.

I purchased a mobile phone from Cash Converters for £79.99 on Thursday the 25th of June 2026, which was delivered on the Monday. The phone is currently running Android while I test the hardware before installing an alternative operating system.

My Google phone is to replace an Apple phone I purchased for work, which is the easiest family device to phase out. A perk of replacing this phone for me is that I can geek-out on it after I've installed Linux. It should hopefully be a nice terminal device too, complete with its own built-in "UPS".

A few unboxing photos of my Google Pixel 3a XL: