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

- Use an external password manager like Bitwarden

[1]: https://skogsbrus.xyz/dont-put-all-your-apples-in-one-basket...

Interesting read, your experience gave me some ideas to reduce dependency on Apple ecosystem. A few questions:

1. "Don't use safari" Why?

2. Is there an alternative to "Find My" that I can use with AirTag?

Some of the things, I have done since this experience:

- Exported all my passwords from Apple Password Manager to BitWarden. Also, now I better understand why my wife was keeping her passwords in a notebook (no service can be trusted).

- Looking at ways to export Contacts and Notes and sync.

- Keeping Dropbox storage subscription instead of considering migration to iCloud storage.

- Dropped the idea of upgrading my iPhone13 and wife's MacBook (light user) to Apple devices.