Could Not Sign In

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Level 1

8 points

Could Not Sign In

Hi guys!

New Apple user/owner here. I haven't been with Apple since the late 70's / early 80's (!!!)

Anyway, bought a used iphone 8 off my cousin's wife last night. She had it reset and dropped it off to me today. I had an Apple account and logged into it with a computer - no issue. I updated my info etc. So there are no issues with logging into my Apple ID on my computer.

When I start the phone and go through the steps we get to the point where it asks my Apple ID and password. I enter them, they are correct, and it shows me a terms of service page and when I hit agree it spins around a bit and then eventually comes up with.....Could Not Sign In. It is connected to my Wifi at home.

Any ideas on what could cause this?

Posted on Jan 25, 2020 5:50 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Eric Root

Level 10

685,251 points

Jan 25, 2020 7:57 PM in response to Bob-Jones

It can. If you are seeing an Activation lock, you need to have your cousin's wife remove it from her account using the steps in the second part of the article below.

Activation Lock - Turn off Find My iPhone

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

685,251 points

Jan 25, 2020 5:51 PM in response to Bob-Jones

Do you have access to another WiFi network where you can try? That has worked for several people.

Try a restart.

Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Try a forced restart.

Reset Device

If necessary

Hard reset

Do a backup and try a factory reset. Then restore from your backup.

Restore to Factory setting

Backup - Restore your device from an iCloud or iTunes backup

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Answer 3

Bob-Jones Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 25, 2020 7:59 PM in response to Eric Root

I called them and asked them about that. They said it was turned off. So here's the interesting part, I asked them to log-in to their account and see if the iphone was still listed. So they did, and it wasn't. So they were correct. But....as soon as they went into their account and looked, my account worked on the phone!

So it looks like I'm up and running. Thanks very much for the help Eric !!

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Answer 4

Jan 25, 2020 8:18 PM in response to Bob-Jones

I suggest you should call Apple and they'll find out what you should do it happened to my friend wants and Apple fixed when he called

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Answer 5

Bob-Jones Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 25, 2020 5:58 PM in response to Eric Root

Thank you!

I tried re-starting twice and am now trying your suggested forced re-start. I have the fone ready but it seems I should have some software installed on my computer. Do you know what software that is?

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Answer 6

Eric Root

Level 10

685,251 points

Jan 25, 2020 6:14 PM in response to Bob-Jones

You are welcome. What error message/message are you seeing that indicates you need software from the computer? An update message? If you get to the factory reset part, that should install whatever is necessary.

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Answer 7

Bob-Jones Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 25, 2020 6:18 PM in response to Eric Root

Hi Eric;

The actual problem is that when I start up the fone it goes through the new user setup. I enter my Apple ID and password and then it shows me a terms and conditions screen and then it tries to sign into my apple account and fails with a message stating Could Not Sign In. I re-started the phone, and am now following your steps to hard reset it. I found the software, it seems to be iTunes, and it's downloading the latest O/S to install on it. Hopefully that will allow it to log-in to my Apple account.

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