How can I resolve Apple Account association issues on my iPhone?

I’ve selected both cancel and transfer and still see this multiple times a day!!

After reading this thread, I spent almost 2.5hrs dealing with Apple Support; first online chat, then a callback from phone support, and finally escalated to their second-tier technical support team...

I was eventually told that this message has to do with Apple's "back end" settings, and had resulted from the Apple ID changeover to Apple Account, and associated major changes in the iOS 18.0.1 update.

They agreed the message is not clear, and said that by selecting Transfer it confirms to Apple that the device is to be associated with the Apple Account being used by the device, which then creates the association in the "back end"; the message should no longer recur. This "back end" is only visible to their second-tier technical support team, so neither the chat support nor the first-tier tech support have the level of access required...

When Cancel is selected; the message will recur after restarting the device, and possibly at other random times.

Hope this helps, and congrats to anyone reading this for choosing the red pill. 😎

My wife is having the same issue. Not a new phone. Not purchased off anyone.

All she did was update to IOS 18.1 and the error message has just started today.

I'm having this too. And it's the same phone with the same Apple ID and the same Account. For years.

Looks like an iOS18 bug, possibly with legacy Apple IDs?

Brought my iPhone 12 Pro Max two years ago used and didn’t get this message till now after I upgraded to IOS 18.0.1 so I am on the side that this is an IOS 18 bug. Just keep pressing Cancel. Anyone know what happens if ‘Transfer’ is selected? Thanks!

I’m now 100% sure this is a IOS 18 bug. Just upgraded my husband’s iPhone 12 Pro to IOS 18 and now he is getting that message! Will be reporting to Apple Support!

I have pressed transfer several times on this pop up, nope still popping up! I have the same Apple ID I’ve always had, nothing new or different for years. Only happened since the new IOS update 18.1.1, I’ll live with it until the next update which may or may not fix the bug! Frustrating or what!

I think I've now had that error-message 4 or 5 times, and each time I've played safe and clicked 'Cancel', as my phone seems to be working normally.

I've just updated to 18.0.1, and got that message again. This time I tried clicking 'Transfer', and the message went away, curiously with no further dialogs - I was expecting to be asked to choose another account [which I don't have] or perhaps enter a password, but dialog just went.

Again, the phone seems to be working normally. I then did a restart, and this time DIDN'T get that message: I don't know if that was all that was needed, but it seems to have fixed it in the short-term.

I also updated my iPhone 13 to 18.01 and I get the error every time I restart and at random times. I have the same iPhone with the same apple account. Don’t know what to do. I just ignore it. I’m sure this is a bug. Someone in this thread mentioned that selecting transfer fixes it but what does transfer do?

Same problem. The tech’s I’m dealing with are giving me circular reasoning: “you are getting the error message because you have something from another account on your phone, even though you don’t think you do. No, we have no way of checking what thing from another account is on your phone and no way of checking whether the error message is correct or not, but it must be correct because it says it.”

I have nothing from another account on the phone. They are supposedly running it by the engineers who the tech thinks are just going to come back with the same circular reasoning. Apple made this bug and is refusing to do anything about it.

I’m getting the same error message – and I simply updated my own phone.

I previously mentioned that I got this error after updating iOS18, and have never had another Apple ID.

After clicking ‘Cancel’ on several occasions, I finally tried clicking ‘Transfer’ - about 2 weeks ago. The error-message disappeared without requiring me to do anything else, and has not reappeared since.

Hope that helps.

I’ve been hitting the transfer button for several days on the same devices and it continues to pop up. Hope they fix this soon.

This problem suddenly appeared a few weeks ago with my iPad Air 3. I’m guessing it is a bug related to iPad OS 18.1.1

Bought this iPad second-hand and have owned it without issues for over six months. It had been fully signed out and erased when I got it; had no trouble adding it to my devices.

The alert recurs multiple times each day, seemingly at random. Makes zero difference whether I click on "Cancel" or (as recommended in this thread) "Transfer." The alert box closes for the time being but invariably pops up again later.

And, yes, I have tried restarting my iPad.

A minor but persistent (and irritating!) glitch.

Devices can only be associated with a different Apple ID once every 90 days. The seller probably had changed the Apple ID previously and now you would need to wait. They should be ably to tell you how many days are left before they are able to remove the iPhone from their Associated Devices. Not sure if the Transfer option will immediately let you use the device or not.

View and remove your devices that are associated with your Apple Account for purchases - Apple Support