manage devices has ambiguous names

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Level 1

27 points

manage devices has ambiguous names

So I need to deauthorize an old iphone 4s from my apple id account. Problem is under the manage devices menu inside itunes it lists 7 of my devices. I have two iphones bought and used within weeks of each other. One of the phones is the phone I want to deauthorize (I upgraded to a new iphone 5s). However they both just say iphone (iphone). The phones themselves have unique names but they didn't populate across to the apple id side. Now I don't know which is which. Any way to reveal this or add more descriptive info the iphone category?

iPhone 5s, iOS 7.0.2

Posted on Oct 20, 2013 6:14 PM

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Answer 1

Lake Nogebow Author

Level 1

27 points

Nov 3, 2013 6:53 PM in response to Lake Nogebow

Apple has no answer for this. They had to go into their system and figure what device was the old one. Inexcusable for such a well capitalized company to not have more discrete labels for their devices...

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Answer 2

Nov 3, 2013 7:13 PM in response to Lake Nogebow

Hi Lake,

It is up to you to register your devices and give them unique nicknames. You register them at:

https://supportprofile.apple.com/

You use the serial number on the device or Mac (or other equipment), and those will display on the "Manage Devices" screen on iTunes:

Once you have registered and named your devices on the device profile, then you need to sign out of your Profile page. Then go to Manage Devices and remove all of them from your iTunes profile.

Sign out of iTunes & App Store on your device, then sign back in, and download a past purchase. The will re-associate your device with your Apple ID, and should pick up the nickname you set up for that device.

If you get a new device, be sure to register it and nickname it before you re-download any past purchases. That way, when you do, iTunes will pick up the nickname you set it up with when it creates the association.

Just so you know, you can delete all of the Devices associated with an Apple ID. The association is created automatically when you re-download any past purchases from iTunes, so it is not something that is a big deal to remove.

Cheers,

GB

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Answer 3

Lake Nogebow Author

Level 1

27 points

Nov 3, 2013 7:31 PM in response to gail from maine

Where were you these last two weeks 🙂. Apple support never talked about this option. But why the redundant step to "register" these devices in another website. Why not just have the serial number displayed within itunes or at least have the option of renaming devices within the itunes manage your account?? Just seems redundant and obscure...

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Answer 4

Nov 4, 2013 4:34 PM in response to Lake Nogebow

Hi Lake,

Well, you register them on the Support Profile primarily so that you can check to see what your current Support Status is for a particular device. This would include your extended warranty service when you purchase AppleCare or AppleCare+ as well as case history information for any service calls you have made in the past for the device.

So, it serves an entirely different purpose than the Manage Devices does in iTunes. It's just that iTunes uses the nicknames you have given to your devices if you do register on the Support website...

Hope that answers your question!

Cheers,

GB

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