How can I unlock a disabled Apple Account on my new iPhone?

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How can I unlock a disabled Apple Account on my new iPhone?

I’ve been using Apple devices and iCloud for years with no real big issues (knock on wood). I have a coworker who I convinced to switch from her Samsung Galaxy S9+ to the iPhone 16, her first iPhone. I helped setup a brand new Apple ID for her and get the phone setup on Visible yesterday. She says she didn’t use the phone last night and when she woke up has alerts to sign in to her Apple ID in her notifications. She showed me and it wants her password again. But when she enters it, she gets a message that the Apple ID is disabled?

We went to the online account.apple.com and tried and same message. We did the reset password link, entered her Apple ID user and password, and it said it would take 24 hours to send an email to the Apple ID email (which is iCloud). She can’t access her iCloud email due to it asking for the password and the account being disabled.

We contacted online chat support. She advised it can take up to 24 hours and to try online in a browser throughout the day. She advised she doesn’t need the email that will be sent, but rather the account will be unlocked within that 24 hour window. She should then be able to go online and reset the password and gain access.

This doesn’t make sense at all, and we are clueless why this would occur. Any suggestions or help? I am a recovery contact for her but can’t figure out how she requests that code.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 16

Posted on Apr 25, 2025 3:19 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

MrHoffman

Community+ 2025

Level 10

144,437 points

Apr 25, 2025 6:00 PM in response to dano9258

Read through the following, and particularly “Regardless of how you started the account recovery request, you should turn off all other devices that are currently signed in with your Apple Account until account recovery is complete. If your Apple Account is in use during your request, your account recovery will be cancelled automatically.“

How to use account recovery when you can’t reset your Apple Account password - Apple Support

Once account access is regained, make an appointment and bring the iPhone into Apple Store, and allow them to help set this up.

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Answer 2

Apr 25, 2025 8:42 PM in response to dano9258

Hey Dano,

Can you confirm that you were added as a recovery contact BEFORE or AFTER this account lockup occurred? If it was before then there is a procedure which can help, if it was after then it won’t help as the recovery contact option needs to be enabled and setup prior to an account recovery being initiated.

What happens when your friend tries to login right now at https://iforgot.apple.com it may provide a status update or allow the recovery to proceed, report back!

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Answer 3

Apr 25, 2025 5:02 PM in response to dano9258

dano9258 wrote:

I’ve read though that’s just to unlock phase 2 which can take months to years.

Are you reading some GPT-generated text? Because account recovery takes a few days or so at the most.

If Recovery fails, the next step is to present proof of ownership to Apple, and get the disabled account removed.

If we set it up with a recovery contact, I can’t understand why I can’t provide that code to her so she can get into her account or at least reset her password. She can’t even get to the sign out button to sign out of the Apple ID to setup a new one.

The recovery contact has to be established ahead of whatever happened here.

Poking at an account in recovery is not recommended.

Out of curiosity, was this iPhone only ever used with this new Apple Account, or was some other Apple Account also used during the setup process, as part of some restored backup, or some other second-account usage?

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Answer 4

Apr 25, 2025 3:31 PM in response to dano9258

Apple already gave you the answer: recovery will take a day.

Why this happened or where the set-up may have triggered the block, no one here knows.

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Answer 5

dano9258 Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 25, 2025 5:38 PM in response to MrHoffman

No, been reading on Reddit and everyone is saying the first phase is waiting 24-72 hours. Then phase 2 was verifying you in some way.

The recovery contact was setup yesterday and I can see in her recovery contact on my Apple account. But it never gives her even an option for requesting it from me.

The phone is an iPhone 16 she bought brand new from the Apple Store Wednesday night. We then set it up yesterday and created the brand new Apple account/ID for her. After she left work yesterday it was working 100% other than we didn’t setup Apple Pay because she didn’t want it. She put the phone down and brought it today, and the notification was there.

the only thing I can think of is maybe Apple flagged her new Apple ID due to the Google transfer? We transferred her photos from Google photos to Apple via Google takeout.

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Answer 6

Apr 25, 2025 3:29 PM in response to dano9258

Try to log into the iCloud on a different device and use a recovery contact ( if you have one set up )

If your Apple Account is locked, not active, or disabled - Apple Support

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Answer 7

dano9258 Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 25, 2025 3:58 PM in response to MrHoffman

I’ve read though that’s just to unlock phase 2 which can take months to years. If we set it up with a recovery contact, I can’t understand why I can’t provide that code to her so she can get into her account or at least reset her password. She can’t even get to the sign out button to sign out of the Apple ID to setup a new one.

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Answer 8

dano9258 Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 25, 2025 8:33 PM in response to MrHoffman

It is her only Apple device as she just switched from Android. I had setup my Apple account as her recovery contact already. But it never prompts her or allows her to ask for the code that I can give. That is what we are so frustrated with, besides the fact that Apple just locked her account for no reason at all.

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Answer 9

dano9258 Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 25, 2025 3:56 PM in response to I-Am-Smart

Tried this, gave message stating ‘check the account information you entered and try again.’

It is the correct email and password.

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How can I unlock a disabled Apple Account on my new iPhone?

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