I wrote a week ago that I was cautiously optimistic about a solution to a long-standing ordeal with my Apple ID password expiring every 90 days.

Today I got a very encouraging response from the Apple support representative who was shepherding the problem through to the engineering team that evidently knew how to fix the underlying issue with my account.

An update on the ticket I submitted to the Engineers states that you should now no longer receive those password reset prompts. Please contact us back referencing our case number: 663194617 if for any reason the issue persists after 90 days.

I have raised my cautious optimism to outright good cheer at the sight of evidence from Apple that “Engineering” saw a problem, claims to have fixed it, and both they and the support representative are confident about the solution. Furthermore, they offer a very special kind of 90-day warranty by inviting me to get back in touch for another round of effort should they be mistaken in their assessment.

I’ve been complaining about this issue on Twitter for such a long time and with such repetition that I’ve had the opportunity to hear feedback from tens if not a hundred or more people who have let me know that they too suffer the problem, and are eager to know of a solution. In the wake of last week’s post, at least one person was inspired to get in touch with Apple, only be to be shunted from Apple’s developer relations team to AppleCare, where I had previously failed to obtain any successful result.

As helpful as the representative was who helped me, I don’t feel comfortable sharing her name or direct contact information. But the fact that she seemed genuinely interested in solving this problem made me realize that it would be ideal if others who go down this path could stand at least a better chance of finding somebody as empathetic to the problem as she was.

So I asked her if she had any problem with me sharing my case number with “everybody on Twitter.” I didn’t exactly want to sic a mob of frustrated developers on Apple, but I do genuinely wish that everybody who has been as annoyed by this problem as I have will have a path of hope towards seeing it resolved. To my satisfaction she agreed enthusiastically with my proposition:

I don’t have an issue at all with you mentioning this case. I’d be more than happy for our group to help anyone in this situation if/when we can.

So in summary, this long journey has led me to a position where I now believe I can offer what is the most definitive set of instructions for developers with Apple Developer Connection accounts who would like to eliminate the annoying 90-day password resets:

1. Go to the Apple Developer Program Support page.
2. Select “Access Issues” from the Subject popup.
3. Briefly explain the problem with your Apple ID password requiring a reset every 90 days, and reference my case #663194617 as a likely comparable issue which has been handled by developer support.

The fact that you’ll be in touch with a support staff that is empowered to consult with the pertinent engineering team, combined with the fact that they have persistent access to the documentation for my case will hopefully be a recipe that sets you up for the same success (finally!) that I have had.