Why does Apple make it so difficult to use the App Store?

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Level 1

4 points

Why does Apple make it so difficult to use the App Store?

My 2011 MacBook Pro crashed. Hard. Not even a startup chime. Black screen. Worked two nights ago, was dead the next morning. Apple was no help at all - but that's okay. It is an older machine. I have a 2008 MacBook Pro that I managed to resurrect - sort of. I had Mavericks on a USB stick and managed to boot the machine. Figured I'd install the system on a 2.5" drive, copy files I need and proceed. Booted the USB with Command-R. Disks show up fine. I selected the target drive. clicked install, and the nightmare begins. Apple wants my Apple ID and password. Never mind that Apple is notorious for making sure you can't use a memorable password - I don't even remember my Apple ID because I kept it in a text file on the Mac that died. So I create a new Apple ID and password and enter them. I click "sign in" and I get a message, "This Apple ID has net yet been used with the App Store". Well, duh! I had to create it just to install the software on the USB stick I just booted from!!

But all is not lost - there's a "Review" button which, in a SANE world might take me to a page that will let me chant whatever magical incantations Apple demands before I can proceed to recover my data. Except, on clicking the button, I get dumped right back to the page where one selects the install target, and upon selecting the drive again, I wind up back in App Store!

Questions:

1: If I don't have my Apple ID, how am I supposed to download the right OS?

2: If I create a NEW Apple ID, and it works elsewhere (say, to post on this forum), why doesn't it work in the App Store?

3: When I click "Review" - why am I not taken somewhere that I can "review" (and presumable make some change) to the account to get it to work?

4: Given that the App Store has been around for YEARS, why hasn't this been addressed?

5: What's the fix?

It gets worse! I rebooted and went to the App store. If I sign in, I get the same message. "This Apple ID has not yet been used with the App Store". When I click "Review" I get a "welcome to the App Store" page. When I click continue, I get the Apple lawyers page (Terms and Conditions). After I click through that, I'm taken to the "Edit Apple ID Details" page - which PRE-FILLS my email address, but when I fill out the rest of the page, generates an error message telling me that the email address is not available...

So if I sign in, I'm told I need to review my account information. Apparently, I can't use the same email address because it's already assigned (to ME!)

6: Why does Apple send someone to a "review" page where there's no way to "fix" the account?

Just to be clear, here's how I think this should all work:

Plug in the USB and select the target for the system install. Wait a few minutes. Done. A brand new system installed. If there are applicable updates, click updates, wait some more and Done!

To recover files, connect the Time Machine, select the target drive to restore files, elect which version to restore from. Click "go", go to bed, wake up the next morning with a full reinstall on the selected drive.

That''s how is should work.

I've been a Mac user since 1984. I've owned at least 8 Macs. The process should NOT be this difficult.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4), Sierra

Posted on Oct 31, 2017 2:27 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Dah•veed

Level 9

66,487 points

Oct 31, 2017 3:10 PM in response to Kurt314

Everything that you report here is user error, nothing is wrong on Apple's end as everything that you report is as it should be. I too have been using Apple products since 1984.

1. Until macOS Sierra, all previous versions of Mac OS X were tied to the Apple ID used to acquire them, the Apple ID is encoded into the installer. It's forever in that licensed copy's DNA and is why it is being asked for when trying to install from the thumb drive.

2. Only the Apple ID that was used to acquire the Mac OS X installer app can authorize its use. A newly made Apple ID is not recognized by an app acquired with a different Apple ID, because the new Apple ID is not the one encoded in the licensed copy.

3. An Apple ID and an iTunes/Mac App Store account are two separate things, however, they are related. The iTunes/MAS account uses an Apple ID and has to be set up to use. The best way to do so is with the iTunes app on a Mac or PC. Open the app and click the Account link in the Quick Links on the right side of the store.

4. However, setting up an account with that new Apple ID will not solve your issue, because it will not give you access to the installer that you acquired with the old Apple ID. The reason that you are not being able to set up the account with your email address is because it must be associated with the old Apple ID. An email address can only be associated with one Apple ID.

5. If you recall the username from the old Apple ID, Apple Account Security may be able to assist you in ressurecting an Apple ID for which you have forgotten the password. 800-MY-APPLE.

Late 2012 Mac mini, macOS 10.13.1;  Watch S3, watchOS 4.1; iPad Air 2 & iPhone 6+, iOS 11.1; TV 4th Gen, tvOS 11.1;  Airport Express

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Answer 2

Kurt314 Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 31, 2017 3:30 PM in response to Dah•veed

1) I can boot from the thumb drive. I can even log in. I have root access. Why isn't that enough? You indicate that there was a process change with Sierra. Did they do away with the linking of Apple IDs to installers? If so, then why don't they do the same with older OS versions?

2) Okay - so how do I set up an installer app for the NEW Apple ID?

3) This is not clear. If they are different things, why are they both called "Apple ID"?

4) Why? I can't even log into my email account because I trusted Apple's keychain. This isn't a case where I had a drive fail and now I'm in trouble because I did't back it up. I backed it up using Time Machine, but it's Apple that seems to be making it difficult to recover my files.

5) And if I do NOT recall the old Apple ID? What is the solution then?

Here's the point: I'm trying to install an Apple OS on Apple hardware. I have my user ID and password and root access on the machine. Why doesn't it just work? What's the point of making the process so intractable, and most importantly, how do I get it to work?

I vehemently disagree with your characterization of these issues as "user error". On a linux system, if I wanted to install software, all I need is root access. I don't do much with Windoze, but I doubt that they make their users jump through these kinds of hoops. It's not as if I'm stealing an operating system that I'd otherwise be paying for - the price of the OS is factored into the purchase price of the machine. So why does Apple make it so difficult? I see that as a POLICY error, not a USER error.

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