Can’t get into some iCloud settings, errors occurring

I had the exact same problem after updating my iPad mini five and my iPhone 12 and my husbands iPhone 12. After spending four hours on the phone with Apple Support, and three hours in the store with a genius technician who had me wipe iPad clean and he reinstalled IOS16.3, same problem occurred.

he set up a phone consult for the next morning with Apple Support again. This time I really did get a genius. The technician figured out that I had never set up a pass code. She had me set up a pass code on each device and lo and behold, iCloud came back on. I then went back and removed using the pass code and iCloud was still there. So if you have no pass code, try this workaround, you don’t have to keep the pass code unless you want to. But I am thrilled everything in iCloud is working now on all three devices. I hope this input helps someone else out there. She said she was going to inform Apple of her solution. Good luck to all out there with this problem. FYI I already had two factor authentication turned on before the update but never used a passcode.

The update to iPadOS 16.3.1 fixed the issue for an iPad 9th gen without enabling 2FA.

I had this same issue.

What solved it for me is to add my phone number again for two factor authentication.

Settings > Your Name > Password & Security

Next to trusted phone number click on “edit” > “add a trusted phone number”

I just added the same phone number that I already use and it was accepted.

Now when I go back to settings it all works.

It seems to be that you must have 2FA on, and a pass code in order to get your iCloud to function. I already had 2FA on but no pass code. So when the tech help me set up a pass code, iCloud immediately came on, and then I was able to disable the pass code and it is still working since then. 2FA does not bother me but I can understand why some users don’t like it. You are correct Apple should not be forcing 2FA on users, hopefully they will release an update to allow users to make their own decisions on how much security is enough. Good luck on this problem.

Hey Demo,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. It sounds like you've tried some great troubleshooting so far. We'd recommend looking over If you can't connect or sign in to iCloud - Apple Support which may help further. For instance, if this happens on cellular data, the following section may be particularly helpful.

"If you're not able to sign in using cellular data only

Make sure that your iPhone, iPad, or PC has a strong Internet connection and that you've turned on cellular data on your iPhone or iPad by going to Settings > Cellular or Mobile Data. If this setting is off, you might not be able to access your Apple ID and iCloud when not connected to a Wi-Fi network."

All the best.

Today, I checked my iCloud backup history: Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud. Tap Manage Account Storage, then tap Backups. Tap a backup to see more details about it, choose which information to back up, or delete the backup. My iPhone is backing up even though I'm getting the error message and can't turn iCloud auto backup on.

FWIW, you might want to wait a bit longer. On another site, I saw a screenshot of an update to iOS 16.3.1 that just became available. There's nothing on the Apple security update page yet, but that's not all that unusual.

(It states there's bug fixes.)

Were you able to resolve this, Demo? [I'll be around if you want to ask any questions.]

I'm getting the same thing after updating to 16.3 from 15.7... on an iPad 9 (WiFi only). I can't enable iCloud Drive, Back Up, Notes etc....Another data point, don't know that it's relevant––I don't have 2 factor turned on.

I'm signed in to my iCloud ID and have the 50 GB plan. I've restarted and have done a soft reset (if that's what it's being called today); no joy.

[[[Edit to add: I can access/download files in Files app which are stored on iCloud Drive. At the Files app home screen footer for iCloud Drive, it's written "Synced with iCloud"]]]

Apple is still denying that this is a real and very serious problem happening to many of us. I talked to Apple today for the third time

since I updated my iPhone XR, on the first day iOS 16.3 was offered,about being locked out of iCloud back up.

Today I was not rude, I did not raise my voice, etc. there was just dead silence, and I got disconnected. The tech did manage to tell me before I was disconnected that Apple may be doing this deliberately to those of us who have refused two factor authentication. That makes me quite angry. However, I see in this thread that this is happening to some who already have two factor authentication enabled.

This is a very frustrating problem. I have a back up from over three weeks ago that is getting old and I want to be able to do another back up but Apple has not been the least bit helpful about this. My iPhone drives me crazy continuously telling me that I need to make a new back up but I can’t turn cloud back up on since I got the latest iOS update.

Hi Demo,

At this point, we recommend reaching out to Apple directly to resolve this issue here: Get Support

Cheers!