I always share this post of my experience [1] whenever I hear of others encountering similar issues.
I was able to regain access to my phone and laptop eventually, but my airpods are still "someone else's" and my air tags were permanently broken (ringing a bell whenever they are moved).
As for derisking things from Apple:
- Whenever you buy apps on App Store, ask yourself whether you'd be OK buying it again if you get locked out
- Don't use icloud for email
- Don't use icloud for permanent storage (it's OK for transfer)
- Don't use safari
- Ideally don't use "Find My" - it's what locks your device to your Apple ID
I was able to regain access to my phone and laptop eventually, but my airpods are still "someone else's" and my air tags were permanently broken (ringing a bell whenever they are moved).
As for derisking things from Apple:
- Whenever you buy apps on App Store, ask yourself whether you'd be OK buying it again if you get locked out
- Don't use icloud for email
- Don't use icloud for permanent storage (it's OK for transfer)
- Don't use safari
- Ideally don't use "Find My" - it's what locks your device to your Apple ID
- Use an external password manager like Bitwarden
[1]: https://skogsbrus.xyz/dont-put-all-your-apples-in-one-basket...