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

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?

OK, so far it's not clear what the solution is, only that (cancel) leads to the popup reoccurring, and that ((transfer) stops it from popping up. That indicates nothing about what is logged as data and what access is limited as a result. The issue would be multi fold:

A) trying to restore your phone again only to find out you are now locked out of downloading any previously purchased app for ~90 days

B) You have multiple apple ID's / accounts because you have had to do this to get around traveling/living in different countries, so how are these affected in the onboarding process or later trying to restore those apps through the restore option later offered by apple in the restoration user path.

C) it affects nothing at all, though that seems unlikely as the terms are clear, though the actionable buttons provide no insight as to what will happen as a result.

I imagine this is more than a bug, it's likely a safe-guard to theft in general, where just wiping a phone and another bug allowed individual phones to be resold after stolen, but now having to erase the phone from an Apple ID account which it was tied to marked as lost stolen etc would brick it, potentially. You get what I'm saying and it seems obvious, but this is why you are meant to check serial numbers because Apple didn't want to automate this. I imagine this is their fab solve.

Additional issue I encountered having two accounts: I was asked to sign into my other Apple ID in order to download the apps purchased under that ID, after doing so I had to provide a verification number sent to the numbers associated with the account. Well, I lost my phone down a manhole and can only receive texts and FaceTime calls on one of those numbers. Apple never made it clear who was sending the verification code, which country, and they never came through. So I will continue to monitor this and report my findings as they are unique.

I would call Apple, but, lol, no way if I can find the answer by googling it, stupid suggestion by whoever thinks all your time is best spent on hold then battling tech experts, why do you think these forums exist. I've called 911 countless times and they have not once come to my rescue. I hope for hope.

All I did was allow the latest update (18.1) and it doesn’t matter which option I use, the same message keeps popping up. I turned off my phone.

It has to be a bug.

just noticed there is another update (18.2). I will install that one and see if that fixes it.

The following message started to appear after updating iPad Air 3rd Gen to IOS 18.2. "If you turn on Automatic Downloads with your Apple Account, you cannot auto-download or download past purchases with a different Apple Account for 90 Days."

I have clicked on "Transfer" as suggested and the message still continues to occasionally appear. Does anyone else have a recommendation to resolve this issue?

Exactly the same here too: I have this iPhone for years already, was not second hand, and after updating to 18.1.1.- I started to get this message. Tapping either cancel or transfer does not help: the message keeps reappearing randomly.

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.

Thank you so much! Apple support didn’t solve the problem, I’ll try the transfer box next time it pops up. It is a very scary, cryptic message. Apple really need to get a grip, thanks for the red pill!

Hiya, thank you for posting this. I get this message daily. My phone is somehow linked to my son’s - which is fine. If i click transfer do you happen to know if either phone would be affected please? Thank you

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’ve had my XR for years always been associated with the same account. Started getting this message after updating to IOS 18. I have repeatedly pressed transfer and cancel. I’ve pressed transfer and restarted but I still keep getting the message sometimes 2-3 times an hour which is really, really annoying while you are playing a game. I have also now upgraded to IOS 18.2 in the vain hope they had sorted the bug in the latest upgrade but NO, I still keep getting it. Anyone got any miracle cures?

I agree. Spent waaay too long on Chat 'customer support' with an 'agent' who clearly had no idea what it was or how to fix. I was told that the 'solution' was to download all my apps that have been stored in the cloud. Sounded sus to me, but I did it anyway. no effect, naturally. Still getting the message multiple times each day. Clicked "Transfer" or "Cancel" multiple times. Turned my phone off and back on, looked for a software update, logged into Apple on the web. Nada.

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.

Thanks @investbling and glad it worked for you. Hasn’t worked for me. I’ve been on the phone with 4 different techs. First one said, download all your apps from the App Store that are stored in the cloud. Nada. Second one was honest - said they didn’t know how to fix it (!). Third one dropped the call when transferring to the ‘device team’, and forth one advised me to sign out of my Apple account - and was then surprised that I couldn’t (due to theft protection settings).

I can only hope this bug gets fixed. Phone seems to work fine otherwise but I get the pop-up multiple times a day.