[ponector]

At least you can restore it. Imagine all your devices are lost in a massive fire, is there a way to get back your apple account?

[cortesoft]

I have a 'bootstrap' system... I have recovery codes and a backup for critical things encrypted and stored in a public git repo I push to both gitlab and github. If I lose everything, I can use those recovery codes to access the things I need to recover my digital identity.

[brookst]

Phone number and email access, if you can regain access to them.

It is definitely a good idea to plan in advance and set up a recovery contact: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102641

[ponector]

But email access is protected by MFA based on your destroyed device. Recovery codes are also stored in the same destroyed building.

[brookst]

I said “if” for email, which I at least have recovery codes stored with someone trusted.

And that link is to recovery contacts, not codes. If you’re willing to trust one person you can get back into your Apple account after a disaster.

[kijin]

You can get back your phone number once you have a photo ID and buy a new phone. Then you should hope that your service providers aren't secure enough to have disabled SMS-based account recovery.