How to Turn Off Two-Factor Authentication on iPhone?

We get a vast number of questions from our readers wondering how two-factor authentication can be turned off. Apparently, two-factor authentication is annoying to some users. As such, they may have various concerns about wanting to turn off two-factor authentication on iPhone ; even though it helps enhance your account’s security by making it a lot more difficult for someone else to sign in to your Apple account.

In this article, I’ll explain exactly how to turn off two-factor authentication on iPhone. The main purpose of this article is simply to answer this question: Is it possible to disable two-factor authentication on apple devices? and if so, how can you do that?

See also:
Cannot Reset Apple ID Security Questions?

So, is there a way to turn off two factor authentication? The short answer is maybe but there is high possibility that you cannot. If you  already turned on this, you may turn it off within two weeks. Then you would be able to head over to the apple.com website and navigate to manage my account. You would be able to turn it off there, if it shows. To do this, please follow these steps:

• Head over to
  appleid.apple.com
• Now, type in your Apple ID and password and log in
• Next, go to the Security section
• Next on, click Edit
• Finally, click “Turn off two-factor authentication” (if you do not see this, then you cannot turn this off).  Once you click, you will be asked to confirm: “If you turn off two-factor authentication on your iPhone, your account will be protected with only your password and security questions”. Hit Continue.

But if you cannot find the option to disable two-factor authentication on Apple ID, then it means it cannot be disabled.  As we mentioned above, it cannot be turned off after it has been on for two weeks or longer.  If this is the case, you cannot turn off this security feature. Apple does not allow it due to the following reason:
Your account is more secure when you use Two-factor authentication so that no-one else can access your account even if someone else knows your Apple ID password. And a lot of iOS and macOS features (iCloud Keychain, iCloud Messages etc) require this additional level of security.

Apple introduced the two-factor authentication feature in 2015 with iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 El Capitan.

Keep in mind, two-factor authentication and two-step verification  is NOT the same thing. They are different. Two-step verification is an older security method than two-factor authentication.

If you are using two-step verification, you CAN turn this off. Here’s how to turn off two-step verification on iPhone:

• Head over to
  https://appleid.apple.com/
• Now, type in your Apple ID and password to login
• Next, find the “Security” section
• Next on, click Edit
• Finally, click “Two-Step Verification…” and then you will be asked to confirm. You’ll see a notification saying Turning-off two-step verification will make your account less secure. Are you sure you want to proceed? Click to confirm your decision and you are done.

Keep in mind, if your device is using
iOS 11
(or later) or
macOS High Sierra,
you will be automatically switched from two-step to two-factor.
And that covers everything on how to turn off two factor authentication on apple devices.