Second hand iPad, no iCloud possible?

DoubleCheese

DoubleCheese

DoubleCheese

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26 Jun 2005
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So, I've just bought an as new iPad Air for my sister and I did a factory reset and tried to set it up for her. I could not set it up with her iCloud details and after several tries called Apple Support only to be told that the iPad had hit it's limit for iCloud activations and would not allow any more.

Apparently you can't set up more than 3 new iCloud accounts on an iPad. This seems bonkers to me. Anyone else suffer this? Everything else works fine other than the iCloud services.

Would a visit to an Apple shop and Genius appointment be any different to the phone tech support?
 
When you say you can't set it up with her iCloud details, does she already have an account? The limit above is only regarding how many @iCloud.com email addresses can be created on each device.
 
@Caged, yes using her own iCloud account that she has had for a few years.

Isn't limiting it 3 new activating a bit over the top? I don't see the logic in why perfectly good hardware suddenly becomes limited by 3 new iCloud accounts being set up on it.
 
That doesn't sound right at all. The activation limit as far as I'm aware relates to the amount of new iCloud accounts that can be created by a device.

I would drop into a store if possible, or try calling again and seeing if the person at the other end just misunderstood your question.
 
From reading shine's link above it appears that once 3 new iCloud accounts have been activated on an iPad no more can be activated and even an old one can't be registered on the device.

i.e She was upgrading from an iPad 1 to the Air and as it was a used Air, the previous owner had hit the limit and its locked us out of iCloud. Also, it's impossible to know how many new accounts have been registered against the iPad before you buy it. So, buyer beware...

She sounded pretty switched on and went of to consult someone else and came back to me and said we were out of luck. I'll try my local Apple shop and see what they say, just in case she didn't understand me.
 
This means that, at best case scenario, 3 owners and then no more iCloud? That surely can't be right, it would kill residuals?!
 
DoubleCheese said:
From reading shine's link above it appears that once 3 new iCloud accounts have been activated on an iPad no more can be activated and even an old one can't be registered on the device.
Click to expand...

When I intially posted the reply I did not realise you were using an existing iCloud account. The last post in my link confirms you can sign in using an existing account. The limit only applies to creation of new iCloud accounts.

Once a device (iOS or OSX) creates three new iCloud accounts it cannot create anymore but you can login with existing iCloud accounts to these devices.

I would take this further with Apple.
 
Im trying to get my head round this restriction, if i bought this particular Ipad and it was not icloud locked so previous owner had disabled find my Iphone/Ipad and restored correctly then could i not just setup the device with my current long standing apple account.

I have bought several second hand apple products in the past and also setup apple devices for different users at work making sure find my iphone has been turned off, this without any problems.
 
Scozzer said:
This means that, at best case scenario, 3 owners and then no more iCloud? That surely can't be right, it would kill residuals?!
Click to expand...

Maybe Apple are hoping that people will start thinking of getting a newer product or buying one new instead of a pre-owned one. All about the profits! :p

Still doesn't seem right though, as it's an existing account.
 
Hmmm...I'm not sure whether Find my iPhone was on or not. I did a factory reset as soon as we bought it and going through the setup encountered the problem. Tried again, same thing. Thought it was odd and called Apple support.

Would find my iPhone lock out the iCloud functionality?
 
Seems an arbitrary restriction to restrict the second hand market. I would think the recycle sites must have an agreement with Apple to get around this or what's the point?

At least losing iCloud isn't a big deal. Backup photos with Dropbox and use Google for mail / calendar etc. Only thing you lose its app backups.
 
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