iCloud restore limit reached but I have never restored my device

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Level 1

4 points

iCloud restore limit reached but I have never restored my device

My phone has been acting very strange the past week, so I did a complete wipe and refresh of the device. After restoring from iCloud, it started to download the apps and gave me this error: "this apple id has restored to too many devices in the last 90 days". The weird part? This is my only apple device, and I have never reset it before... ever.

Now the full version of the story, and yes as with all great tech problems it has a very stupid move on my part, I promise:

My iPhone 4s phone fell 2 feet off a chair face down and the screen cracked to bits :/
After a week of putting up with packaging tape on my screen to keep from cutting my fingers, I decided to get it fixed. Up until this point not a single problem with my phone ever.
>STUPID ALERT< I took it to one of those cell phone shops that are every 3 blocks, because the nearest certified place is 2 hours away. This one came "highly recommended" by 2 respected friends who do not know each other. Just in case, I changed my number lock to a very complex code. (yes, I know how stupid that sounds now - I know about jailbreaking)
It went in with a 90% charge and came out with a 9% charge (??!!) - yes, I'm a nerd. I use the % on my battery meter.
They took 45 minutes to repair my screen. All seemed well at first, but later I realized my battery indicater was not moving. It was stuck at 9% for 2 hours, and even after charging for 2 hours still read 9% when I unplugged the cable.
I rebooted, after which it updated the power indicator, but then proceeded to lose power and reboot at least a dozen times on its own before stabilizing. I realized at this point it was only updating the battery indicator upon reboot. I quickly found out this would be the "new normal" for my phone.
I noticed things were sluggish. About every 10 seconds functionality would briefly hang, then catch up to itself.
After a week of this, I decided to finally reset my phone.
I did not know Wifi was needed to reactivate my phone :/ so I waited 2 hours then started the restore when I got home.
I let it go,screen dark due to timing out. An hour later I came back and was informed the restore had failed. I'm assuming it was due to switching over to 3G after the screen is off for a while.
I re-started the restore, only this time I had to leave the house and figured it would just pick up where it left off when I reconnect. Wrong! It stopped the restore saying it had lost Wifi connection.
Upon returning home, I restarted the restore, this time making sure I kept the screen alive by tapping it frequently and turning it back on immediately any time it went dark.
After coming alive finally, it started downloading apps to restore. Again it started the multiple reboot problem and each time it reboot, it would continue trying to download apps.
Upon returning to check on it later, I encountered the following error: "This apple id has restored to too many devices in the last 90 days". (!!??) I never knew such a thing existed.

So now my paranoia is starting to set in and I can't help but wonder if the cell store managed to steal my iCloud password and restore my account to multiple spoofed devices to try to steal my money/info/identity/passwords/etc... So now some questions to either justify or shut down my paranoia:

How many cloud restores are allowed within 90 days?
Is it possible someone else is restoring my account to their own device without me knowing? If yes, wouldn't those devices show up on my iCloud device listing?
Is it possible someone entirely switched out my phone and swapped my data over to it, giving me a damaged phone - undetected (i.e. if they broke mine while replacing the screen and to cover it up gave me a parts-phone that would appear fully functional)?
Is there a way to tell if my phone has been jailbroken?
Is 45 minutes too long for a screen repair?

Please forgive my conspiracy-mind. I've had my credit cards and email accounts hacked enough to know that the underbelly of tech is very real. I am involved in the IT industry so not stupid when it comes to this stuff (despite #3 in the top narrative); I'm just new to Apple so not sure if these kinds of breaches are craziness on an iPhone. I always hear about how secure Apple products are and maybe put too much trust in that. Thank you for reading such a long post 🙂

infofreak

iPhone 4S, iOS 6.1.1

Posted on Mar 7, 2013 10:03 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 8, 2013 10:46 PM in response to Infofreak

I'm having the same problem!

Backstory: Itunes 11 screwed up my iPhone 4S syncing. Since I have ~40GB of videos on my phone, I couldn't back it up with free/default iCloud and therefore never did. But the syncing problem forced me to sign up for the $100 iCloud plan, and I backed up my phone, then wiped it. Then started the tedious restore process.

My photos and videos were successfully restored, but now all my apps are stuck on "Waiting" and every time I click on anything I get the same error message as you: "This apple id has restored to too many devices in the last 90 days." I HAVE NEVER RESTORED A SINGLE DEVICE UNTIL YESTERDAY. (Actually, I did a test restore of an old iPhone yesterday just to make sure all my content was there before wiping my own phone. But still this should only be the second restore and far from the limit which I think I read is 10.)

Now I'm basically stuck and I can't download my apps or basically use my phone for anything but Safari web browsing and phone calls.

Are they trying to turn me into an Android customer? 😝

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Answer 2

Mar 9, 2013 1:29 AM in response to Infofreak

I don't know the answer to how many restores it takes to get to the lock out message, got same one today! As for the iPhone, it sounds like the repair shop might of given you a battery swap. iPhone is turned off while it is apart and replacing screen. To remove the front screen you have to remove the battery to gain access. The only way you could drain your battery that fast is if you were playing Angry Birds the whole time while using iPhone as a wifi hot spot connected using a Bluetooth keyboard and talking on the phone (AT&T network of course). That is why I believe they swapped your battery out while they repaired your screen. As for the 45 minutes for the repair would be about right I believe. I've done repairs on iPhone 4/4s enough to replace the screen in under 30 minutes or less. But if they are working, stopping to help other people coming in, or they were working on one prior to you arriving, then 45 minutes sounds about right. I would suggest if there is a next time, just go to an Apple Store, make a trip out of the day if you need to drive 2 hours. Because, 1) they may do shady things like swap out your battery for a cheaper one to sell yours at a premium. And 2) they always almost use cheap replacements for the repair. The key words to look for, OEM, don't buy. If it states Genuine Apple replacement parts, they would have the proper replacement parts that you want for the repair. And that is not always the case too, if the place looks like its ran out the back door of an apartment and states Genuine Apple replacement, I would run as fast as I can away from that place. I know it's a lot cheaper to have it repaired by a shop but your getting an almost new iPhone from Apple Stores (Remanufactured) for $150 plus tax. As for the lock out, call or e-mail Apple and ask for them to remove the lock out and they will remove it with a disclaimer. Just contact them and you will get a response in a day or two stating that it has been removed. Had iTunes Match 90 day lock out removed twice by contacting Apple and asking for them to remove restriction. Anyway, I just want to wish you two the bast of luck, with regards to the lockout. Just get a hold of Apple and they will take care of you. One more thing, "Once you go MAC you never go back!"

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Answer 3

Mar 9, 2013 1:14 PM in response to Infofreak

Just got off the phone with Apple. You have too many devices associated (signed in) with your Apple ID. You need to sign out of iCloud and the App store on your old devices and it takes 90 days for them to fall off of your account. You can restore using iTunes in the meantime but iCloud restores will not work until you reduce the number of devices associated with the ID.

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Answer 4

Mar 9, 2013 1:20 PM in response to Infofreak

And yes, to your specific case they very well could have spoofed your account if you have reached the limit but don't have that many devices. I'd change your passwords, call Apple and see what they can do.

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Answer 5

Mar 9, 2013 2:07 PM in response to Infofreak

I'm not signed in anywhere else. Never used iCloud before trying this backup. Even if I was auto logged in to my devices, that accounts for maybe 3 devices at most. Not the 10 you are supposedly allowed.

Called Apple today and they said many customers have been experiencing what is clearly a bug. I fixed it by deleting all my apps and reinstalling each one at a time. It still gives me the error each time I install a new app, but I click through the warning and the app installs just fine.

To the OP, I doubt someone has spoofed your account. But I'm not the paranoid type so we'll both just have to wait and see!

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Answer 6

Infofreak Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 12, 2013 11:51 AM in response to Infofreak

My apologies for letting the thread go stale on this a few days. Thank you all for your responses! Yes, I have learned my lesson and will never again go to a non-certified apple place. I will probably go to the mall's Apple Store that's a couple hours away. I've wasted more than that trying to figure this problem out.

I do only have one device and as stated never even made it to full restore more than once, ever... But strange thing is that after leaving my phone off a couple days, I did a cable-connected firmware reset to original state, then restored from icloud (I went to an old backup prior to the repair, just to be safe). This time around, no error message. Go figure!

I tried to contact Apple at first, but they wanted me to receive something on my phone and authenticate, but at the time I was concerned my phone was hacked so did not want to type my newly reset icloud password. In short, for me it just worked out somehow.

However, the battery indicator and multiple resets keep happening. After about a dozen resets, it stops resetting and is good. I took it to VZ and to my surprise I'm barely under warranty and they are sending out a new one. They only seemed to care about making sure the water strips were still white, not about the screen replacement.

To anyone else having this problem, I wish you luck, and wish I had more info to offer you all about what was originally wrong and how I fixed it... :/

infofreak

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