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Cannot sign in to iCloud on 3GS

I have a fairly old iPhone 3GS; it's no longer my main phone but it does good and useful things for me. Over the weekend it suddenly started repeatedly asking me to sign in to iCloud. The usual advice for this situation is to sign out and in again. So I signed out, but can no longer sign in.


Here is what happens. I go to "Settings", "iCloud" and enter the Apple ID and password. (If I enter a wrong password, it reports that, so the password is being checked). I then reach the "Verify Identity" screen and am presented with the list of devices for two-step verification. I select one of them (I doesn't matter which) and tap "Next". Then... nothing. It just stays on the same screen. No verification code is sent and I am not invited to enter it. The "Next" button does react when I touch it, but it doesn't do anything.


The only other option here apart from "Cancel" is "Unable to access your devices?". I tried this, and am prompted for the recovery key. There's an oddity on this screen that the text entry area is partially obscured by text, but I can enter it. But again, after tapping "Next", nothing at all happens. It just sits there with the recovery key on the screen.


I have tried rebooting the phone, which makes no difference.


Everything else seems to work. My Apple ID is fine on other devices.


Any ideas?

iPhone 3GS, iOS 6.1.6

Posted on Jul 6, 2015 9:34 AM

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5 replies

Aug 15, 2017 11:25 AM in response to Martyn Johnson

The iPhone 5S does not allow Two-Factor Verifications so to link it to your iCloud - Find My Phone - Settings you have to turn off the Two-Factor Verification. You do this by logging on to your Apple Id Account here https://appleid.apple.com/#!&page=signin then Security/Edit where you can remove the Two-Factor Verification.


Don't forget you have to turn on Location Services on the iPhone 3S in 'Privacy'

Jul 14, 2015 6:23 AM in response to Martyn Johnson

same problem with me.

I've signed out from iCloud in all devices (including mac), reset the iphone and restored it. Nothing worked.


by any chance, do you have have a problem in signing in at discussions.apple.com with your appleID?

because my appleID works in the site applied.apple.com but to sign in on these forums. I got an error page when I try to sign in.

Jul 14, 2015 6:40 AM in response to regenwald

No, I didn't have any problems logging into the discussions forum.


Yesterday, in desperation, I got my 3GS talking to iCloud again by temporarily turning off the 2-factor authentication stuff. Of course this is very time consuming, and reminded me just how stupid their suggested "security questions" are! ("Where did your parents meet?" - Huh - do they think I was there at the time?)


I have a feeling that this workaround may not last very long. I really don't want to have to keep doing it because it takes so long to set up the 2-factor stuff again afterwards.

Cannot sign in to iCloud on 3GS

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