Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#961

Post by tomaskafka » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 7:52 AM UTC

x3sphere wrote: post #32

It's just insane that a gift card redemption can trigger this. What's the rationale? It would make more sense if they just locked the person out of redeeming gift cards or something, not the entire account. But reading horror stories like this is is why I only use the very bare minimum of any of these cloud services. Keep local copies of everything. For developer accounts, I always create them under a separate email…

The rationale is that an egregore called Apple, inc. is blindly fumbling ahead, unable to see the lives it is trampling.

Note that this has nothing to do with the actual well meaning (mostly - see leadership emails leaks) people forming the egregore.

The purpose of the company structure is isolating it from liabilities, and as the regulation which would force it to recognize the damage it did is mostly missing, thus the outcome.

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#962

Post by tomaskafka » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 7:57 AM UTC

nullfield wrote: post #683

ryandrake wrote: post #673

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "gift card" in general is an anachronism whose time has passed. They have got to go. If companies are going to consider use of gift cards as red flags (as they often are, due to their being key components in money laundering and scams), then society should just abandon them. They are worse in every way than a prepaid credit cards, and in most cases where you want to give someone a gift card, you should probably j…

The only “use cases” I’ve seen are discount or niche. For example, Target and Bass Pro Shops/Cabelas in the US both offered some kind of 5 or 10 percent back/discount around Black Friday on gift cards. Niche would fall into, generally, some small enough business that these messes aren’t likely to happen, where the point of the gift is specifically later-consumption, like a local coffee place that you know someone lov…

It is a way to extract money from the unlucky unbanked people, like the immigrants making your lunch or cleaning the streets. A part of systematic oppression of the outgroup.

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#963

Post by jeroenhd » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 8:07 AM UTC

nullfield wrote: post #795

jeroenhd wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the fear many people have is that digital ID will be required for non-government services as well. I can easily see that happen in the USA and Switzerland is the kind of weird that may also let that sort of thing happen. With things like age verification becoming mandatory just about everywhere and actual privacy-conscious digital age verification being very difficult, there's definitely a risk towards abuse…

The kinds of things you want here, and that I think we all do, are hard. Yes, ideally a trusted intermediary would do something like… read your digital ID (which stiLL doesn’t guarantee it’s you providing it, up to a point), examine a birthdate, and sign an attestation to a liquor store that “this user is 21 or older” without you ever having to fork over your name, address, or biometric details. The will to enforce s…

This is why the EU is going the app route. You load your ID into an app, and can review on-the-fly what data you're sharing (including a simple "older than 18" token to buy liquor). The app also allows keeping a log of who requested what data, so if you find out in hindsight that your grocery store requested your full name illegally, you can report them.

Enforcement chances in the US, maybe outside of California, do seem low, but at least the "we cannot do it" argument is off the table when the EU has a ready-to-deploy suite on Github for anyone to access. If you don't like the EU, the Yivi (previously IRMA) project implements pretty much the same ecosystem, but in a slightly different way.

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#964

Post by andriesm » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 9:04 AM UTC

This really sucks, I hope Apple sorts it out, I wonder what one can do to put pressure on Apple - I suspect you may need a lawyer to write them in order to get your issue escalated.

I don't like that people just shrug and say this is how all big tech is.

Apple charges a premium and built their brand name on customer service.

But they have stopped caring about the customer.

I was also a loyal Apple customer for 2 decades and used to recommend them to everyone.

Now I recommend them to no one.

I've switched my phone back to android a few years ago to avoid apple lock-in. I still use an ipad pro and several macs and peripherals, sets of airpods and apple tv and what not - then I wanted to buy the watch - and was told it cannot work with any of their tablets or computer and cannot be activated without an apple phone. OK apple.

One day my debit card expired while on long overseas travel, suddenly I was unable to install apps I already paid for on my mac and other devices, update any apps, or install free apps, I could not pay with a different card because those were in a different region and would have required a region switch locking me out of a lot of content and apps. So for several months I could not install many of my apps I bought on my other sevice or update or install free apps. OK Apple.

I also remember how the base config of Apple laptops were 8gb ram and 256gb SSD when all other decent ones were on 16 and 2tb - and remember apple is supposed to be a premium brand and they're supposed to not burn you with a default config. OK apple. Then they charge you 3 times more for the upgrade from 256gb ssd to 2tb than what 2tb costs retail. OK Apple.

I still love their tablets and laptops and even the mac mini. But I've already started to mentally prepare for a switch to Linux and maybe x86 or other hardware.

Apple cannot be trusted. They are a fashion company and not a tech company any more. Jobs is dead.

Plan your exit, reduce your exposure, soon they will be so evil and dysfunctional that you will regret it.

Don't trust them with your most valuable data. Use other services. Use a diverse mix of providers, no apple exclusivity. If you tie your entire life to one cloud, especially Apple, you have set yourself up for future ruin.

Their software quality and reliability is also slowly slipping. Everything is being dumbed down. Their business processes are becoming a broken maze. Apple used to be a company that aimed to satisfy simultaneously the power user and the basic user, now they only care about optimising for the casual user mass market, power user is going to have an increasingly tough time with them. Remember it is now a fashion company, watch their keynotes and believe the vapid image they project.

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#965

Post by parisidau » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 10:43 AM UTC

Aachen wrote: post #946

thih9 wrote: post #743

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody said iWord.

My apologies, I see I've misread it. Still don't know what iWork is. Surely what the question referred to was obvious

Here, I Googled it for you https://www.apple.com/iwork/

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#966

Post by account42 » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 11:28 AM UTC

chanux wrote: post #956

ryandrake wrote: post #673

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "gift card" in general is an anachronism whose time has passed. They have got to go. If companies are going to consider use of gift cards as red flags (as they often are, due to their being key components in money laundering and scams), then society should just abandon them. They are worse in every way than a prepaid credit cards, and in most cases where you want to give someone a gift card, you should probably j…

> you should probably just give them cash I really wish this was more acceptable. Even I have this block in giving just plain cash as a gift.

Giving cash also only really makes sense for kids or other asymmetrical relationships where one gives more than the other. If you are just passing cash around then you may as well have everyone not gift anything. If you want to show someone that you appreciate them then spend some time making something yourself or just spend time with that person.

Gift cards are worse in every case though unless they come with a heavy discount - and even then it's a pretty shitty gift.

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#967

Post by account42 » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 11:45 AM UTC

bmacho wrote: post #561

queenkjuul wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That you don't keep a PayPal balance and i don't buy Apple gift cards is irrelevant to the people that do keep a PayPal balance and do use Apple gift cards

I think the point was that PayPal and Apple are different since PayPal is easy to mitigate, and Apple not so much.

I would go even further and say for most PayPal users there never was anything to mitigate because they didn't keep a significant balance there in the first place. Which is a perfectly valid reply to someone not understanding why so many people would keep using PayPal.

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#968

Post by account42 » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 11:49 AM UTC

queenkjuul wrote: post #372

wink wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's so much not a fitting comparison. The most money I have ever had on my PayPal account was 100 bucks from a reversed transaction (like, double booking of a hotel room or wrong item sent), otherwise it's just a gateway. It would be annoying if my PayPal account was locked, because I use it a lot to order pizza online and a few small purchases. I could just use my credit card or something else but it's more click…

That you don't keep a PayPal balance and i don't buy Apple gift cards is irrelevant to the people that do keep a PayPal balance and do use Apple gift cards

"It hurts whenever I hit myself"

"But you don't have to hit yourself"

"tHaT yOu DoN't hIt YoUrSeLF iS IrReLeVaNt To ThE pEoPlE tHaT dO"

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#969

Post by account42 » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 11:53 AM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #772

mistercheph wrote: post #484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LOL it’s not some sisyphean task to not use big tech products, its slightly inconvenient and takes some time to adjust, don’t talk about it as though it were something that only the great men of the ancient times could do, take your iPhone and throw it as hard as you can against the concrete, you will be fine.

> LOL it’s not some sisyphean task to not use big tech products, its slightly inconvenient and takes some time to adjust, Many of us have expensive professional software tools that require Mac or Windows. So it wouldn't be "slightly inconvenient". It would be the end of our professional work in those domains.

There are always excuses. But in the end, they are just that.

Re: Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help

#970

Post by account42 » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 12:10 PM UTC

shelled wrote: post #297

subscribed wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had Amazon close my old, almostt-unused account in Amazon-in-another-country because I dared to add a new payment method. I proved them who I am, that the new payment method (virtual card from a well-known organization) is mine, everything. After lots of back-forth I've been informed their decision is final. I HAVE NOT BREACHED TOS. I wish I has a major law company behind me to force them to admit that. Very happy…

I am in a situation right now where Amazon delivered a fake product. Support suggested they can also try redelivery, and when I asked what if it happens again, they said it should not happen. It happened - fake again. Now the customer support flow is: you upload images of the product (max. three), and the system approves the verification or rejects it, and then you have a way to contact customer care. System rejected…

Does your country not have a small claims court or equivalent? This is literally what they are for: resolving obvious payment disputes with uncooperative corporations.