Apple ID deactivated with no reason given

I know that most people don't sit down and read find print. Understandable, but when you do then you can see pearls about a company's position on things.

Legal - iCloud - Apple

Legal - Apple Media Services - Apple

You're talking to somebody who still buys all their music on CDs, gets DVDs from the library, only had a handful of free apps (and no subscriptions, so I have no payment methods with Apple) on an inherited iPhone (an old SE), and all my computers have been secondhand. I think the only thing I bought from Apple itself was a Snow Leopard DVD 10 years ago (got the last copy of the server edition which it took them 10 minutes to find). I use iCloud but only the free part, and since I have almost nothing on my iPhone I can get by with 5 GB free iCloud. I transfer all photos to my other drives every dozen or so I take. I don't really need to have them with me all of the time. I like using Apple equipment, but if something were to happen to my account or equipment (apart from my backup drives which I keep in multiple copies in safe places) I am pretty insulated from the effects. Of course you have to accept doing things a certain way but I am not of the generation with a cellphone surgically embedded at the end of my arm.

Holy cow, this just literally happened to me as well. Everything you said sounds like a carbon copy of my situation and conversations. I’ve done absolutely ZERO to violate their terms. I have sensitive work info in the cloud and am very upset. I just don’t know what to do

Hi,

I just had the same situation. Contact support can not help anything, just emailed the security department, asking me to wait 24h. But 24 hours after receiving the email, the reply is still "not eligible for reactivation". No reason, just said to disable my account, now a lot of my precious documents on icloud are likely to be lost, my 5 devices can't log in either. A bad experience. Hope someone can help me

You would need to check what you are doing to generate a need to create an ID so many times. I have had one ID for 20 years and no issue. Apple may have security and fraud flags set up so you are probably doing something to trigger those. Determine what behavior may be triggering those and stop doing it.

You also don't need to buy lots of iPhones except you are right, Apple does limit the number of IDs that can be created on an iPhone in one year. Use a computer to create more or just wait until the limit is erased again.

Well I think if Apple is willing to give a reason to why accounts are removed without any notice and chances for appeal, then I think it will prevent users from doing those things. As for creating accounts, that may be a reason but also might not, as it is not an explanation given by Apple. You see why the non-communication is a problem?

We create new IDs mostly to facilitate transfer of some elements from old devices to new, but we also HEAVILY recycle our mobiles across our organisation, which sometimes means that we can easily go over the limit on individual devices.

Wish I knew this in advance - we would have found some other solution to get around it before now.

MarcC_IT wrote:

which sometimes means that we can easily go over the limit on individual devices.

You are referring to something different from the issue of accounts being deleted (and the subject of this thread).

A message saying, "The maximum number of free accounts have been activated on this iPhone" or, "This iPhone has been used to create/setup too many new Apple IDs" is discussed in the support document: If you see a Could Not Create Apple ID or Could Not Set Up iCloud message - Apple Support

I'm not talking about something different. We've made our accounts outside of the device (via appleid.apple.com) and then used them on 2 different devices to sync call/message history and contacts. Within a day the account is deactivated.

This is proven by my test today - tried signing out of icloud but couldn't - as it stated on the phone 'This appleid isn't active'.

Same here Apple ID permanently not active, with no reason provided, I am horrified. First new iPhone, lost everything accept what I can access on my device. iCloud was my backstop for backups I must review my situation now. While I agree and accept that Apple can do such a thing to protect my user data it is totally unacceptable in my mind not to provide a valid reason for doing so when requested! I am not aware of any breach that I might have caused I am certainly not aware of any. I shudder to think all the work and time I must spend sorting and correcting that was affected upon me, first with apple support resetting the phone to accept new ID. Once done the whole circus could start over again. I think Apple needs to front up be honest and resolve these issues pronto. It is my hope that their security systems decisions are not being decided by A.I.?

I get your main point. Cloud things aren't fully in your control if the company storing them can remove or block access to them at any point. I guess that's really the main point that people posting about - the slow erosion of their trust in Apple.

As per many previous, if you contact Apple support in the first instance they may be able to assist and give you access (managed to get this done a few times but it would only stay active for about 12 hours before going inactive again). Your mileage may vary though.

Exactly the same thing has happened to me. I have been treated in exactly the same way. No one can tell me why the account was deactivated and I don't have access to all my purchased apps! I have now been forced to buy an Android phone because I can't reactivate my account or use it on any of my devices. I have been using Apple products since the iPhone 5 and have two Apple TVs, three iPads, two MacBooks, and an iPhone... Now I can't use any of them and I don't know why the account was deactivated!! I'm from Norway, and Norwegian Apple Support just directs me to "Apple Legal".

My wife just had this happen to her. What can we do about this? This is so strange to just close an account with no reason given. T&C is a document, not a reason. "Violation of the T&C" doesn't help at all.

Happening to me right now. ID was disabled for no reason. Only thing I can figure is that my ID might have hacked and customer service said I violated terms and agreement but won’t tell me specifics. I’ve talked with multiple people, waited the 24 hours, called back, still no answer, sent an appeal, it was denied, called again, got asigned a senior case agent, got another call back and still disabled.

So incredibly unethical what Apple is doing.

The problem is not the data. The problem is that Apple doesn't explain the reason for an account deactivation or try to resolve the issue for their customers. I have been using Apple products since the iPhone 5. I have two iMacs, three iPads, and an iPhone. I have many Apple-specific apps that I have purchased over the years. I have backed up everything from day one, but that doesn't help when Apple refuses to let me access my account or start a new account using the same phone number as the deactivated account. What good are backups when you can't use purchased apps, physical products, or data in Apple-specific apps!?!?