Apple ID phone number might update automatically when signing-in to iTunes&App Store?

[iMore Question]

Hi, I recently I received a notification email telling me that my Apple ID information has been updated, more exactly it was about the phone number on file for my account. It was a suspicious email for me as I didn't perform any update on my account info at the time the email was sent. The only operation that I performed at that time was to sign out and then sign in using the iTunes & App Store in the iPhone settings menu.

After the checks performed with Apple Support, it seemed to be a valid email coming from Apple. The change that I could notice when logging to my Apple ID from the computer, was that the country code field was changed and the correct country code (39) together with my phone number, were both filled in the phone number field.

Eg:
Correct number (before the change) country code field: 39 phone number field: 123456789
Incorrect number (after the change) country code field: 1 phone number field: 39123456789

The Apple Support told me that this might have been triggered by the sign-out/sign-in which I performed. Still, I found it a bit odd that Apple performed this update without asking for a confirmation from the user, especially that in the end the automatic update resulted in a wrong phone number registered for my account.

Further-on, I performed the following test:


1. Using computer: I deleted the phone number from my Apple ID;
2. Using Iphone: I entered the correct number in the Settings/ ITunes & App Store/ View Apple ID/ Payment Information country code: 39 phone number: 123456789
3. Using computer: Sign-in to my Apple ID. The phone number was displayed as follows: country code: [blank] phone number: 39123456789
4. Using computer: I signed out from Apple ID
5. Using Iphone: Settings/ ITunes & App Store, Sign out and Sign in from the Apple ID
6. Using Computer: I signed to Apple ID and I was expecting the [blank] country code was updated to "1" due to the previous step but it wasn't.

Under these circumstances, I have no clue why I received the initial notification email and why my phone number was changed as described above. The only explanation would be an unauthorized access to my account. I still highly doubt this option considering that and I was very careful in securing the account. Of course, it would be childish from my side to totally exclude this possibility.

Can you please help me with some thoughts on what could be the explanation/trigger of this event?

Thank you very much for your help!

 

[kch50428]

Can you please help me with some thoughts on what could be the explanation/trigger of this event?

If you log out of anything Apple and log back in again, it notifies you... I've seen it a number of times.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Why did you initially sign out, then back in to the App Store/iTunes? When you spoke to Apple Support, what did they say about the phone number applied that wasn't yours?

 

[mirceaApple]

I was trying to identify what is eating my data plan. So the previous day I signed-out from App Store and the next day, when I received the notification, I signed-in. The Apple Support didn?t see it as not being my number, but more like being my number with a wrong country code . They didn?t even seem aware about the error that results when updating the number from the phone menu.

 

[mirceaApple]

Thank you for your answer kch50428! I am aware I am notified about sign-in in some circumstancies. Still, my question was if it possible that my phone number on file for the Apple ID might get automatically updated and further-on trigger a notification about this change.