Yes, I come from a computer engineer background. And yes, I realize that this stuff is easier for me than for laymen.
However, at some time tackling these problems is part of adulting, like doing your taxes, spending less than you earn (when you have that option), doing laundry not when you have literally nothing to wear and than realizing that washing and drying isn’t instantaneous.
That’s why I brought up the key example, which should be easy enough to understand. If you put all your stuff in one place, you create a single point of failure.
Like putting all your credit cards in one wallet. Like having all your money in one account and using only that one. And before computers it was “having all your telephone numbers in one book”.
And it’s not like Apple didn’t explain that stuff. Pretty sure that they have an explanation when I set it up, with a link to https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204915 :
„Trusted phone numbers“
A trusted phone number is a number that can be used to receive verification codes by text message or automated phone call. You must verify at least one trusted phone number to enroll in two-factor authentication.
You should also consider verifying an additional phone number you can access, such as a home phone, or a number used by a family member or close friend. You can use this number if you temporarily can’t access your primary number or your own devices“
Security and convenience are often at odds. Lots of companies try to steer users towards more safety, far smarter engineers than I work at Apple and Google and try to make it easier. But even Google is still basically at “Don’t lose or drop your phone, but if you do, you better have access to the magical passwords we asked you to keep safe.” (Which then promptly are discarded or stored on Google Docs.)
Of course, your don’t habe two two-factor authentication. Not doing so is unsafer than using it, but not as unsafe as leaving your car unlocked and the motor running when you park your car to get something from the corner store. But unsafe enough that celebrities will expose their password and then find their nude photos one the web, with certain journalists gleefully blasting how unsafe “Apple/Twitter/FaceBook“ are and that they should have pushed for two factor and that you, dear reader, should use two factor. And then neglecting to tell you that it isn’t magical fairy dust and that you can run into problem like yours.
Now, regarding your questions:
- The landline is actually easy, you can set that one to voicemail and query this voicemail remotely.
- The 2nd option is to take our the SIM our of your iPhone, if it’s still working, and put it in another phone.
- The easiest option, if you don’t have a trusted person with you, who have their own phones, is to get a dumb mobile with their own sim. It’s less than $50, heck, you can have this for free when you ask people for a discarded near-obsolete smartphone and get some ad-based tariff. It’s how I use WhatsApp, something I deeply despise, but cannot avoid unless I want to be out of the loop with regards to the other parents in my kid’s class and his judo class. Totally disconnected from my main system, eat dirt, Zuckerberg.
You can call Apple, in a way. It’s the account recovery process. Be prepared to know the answers to your security questions, though. Otherwise you’ll have problems.
Just calling, however, would be counter produce. The whole point of two factor authentication is that having a bit of knowledge (especially the password) isn’t enough to access your account. Otherwise you’d basically expect that a locksmith would open up you’re door in your say so. Or a bank issuing you a new password by phone.
