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

hey.paris

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

#81

Post by firecall »

sho wrote: post #23

Wow. This is a cautionary tale. I don't think I'd be as devastated as this poor chap, but as it grew I realize I've allowed my iCloud photo library to become a single copy. How are people handling this these days? If i wanted to ensure a full backup of everything on my iCloud to a NAS, what's the best way these days? Seems like they make it difficult by design..

One rather counter intuitive way to “backup” your photos is to install Google Photos and One Drive on your iPhone!

Google and MS don’t charge as much as Apple for storage, and you probably need you need to pay beyond the free limits, but it’s not a huge expense.

Once your installed Google Photos and One Drive on your iPhone, just tell the apps to sync all your photos all the time!

Now I appreciate that isn’t for everyone.

But it works, is reliable, and requires no technical knowledge of running your own service.

The other thing to do is setup a Mac that synchs all your iCloud data, One Drive documents and Google Drive.

Then back up that device with Backblaze.

This gets expensive as a Mac with decent levels of storage isn’t cheap!

I live in fear everyday or my primary Apple and Google accounts getting locked!

I’ve had accounts since day one of iTools and very shortly after Gmail launched….

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

#83

Post by leobg »

sho wrote: post #47
yardstick wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I run a Synology NAS with a docker container that periodically downloads new iCloud Photos to a local directory.

this? https://github.com/boredazfcuk/docker-icloudpd seems pretty high touch. A lot of hoop-jumping if you don't have a mac in the middle

Thanks. I had no idea something like that existed.

How do we know using such a tool won’t trigger an account lockout? How ironic would that be.

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

#84

Post by css »

beala wrote: post #59
sho wrote: post #23

Wow. This is a cautionary tale. I don't think I'd be as devastated as this poor chap, but as it grew I realize I've allowed my iCloud photo library to become a single copy. How are people handling this these days? If i wanted to ensure a full backup of everything on my iCloud to a NAS, what's the best way these days? Seems like they make it difficult by design..

I self host an Immich [1] instance to backup photos on my iPhone. It’s OSS and has a level of polish I’ve rarely seen in free software. Really, it’s shockingly good. The iOS app whisks my photo off to my home server several times per day. What I’m not sure about is how to backup things like iMessages, Notes, and my Contacts. Every time I’ve looked, it appears the only options are random GitHub scripts that have rever…

What's wrong with `imessage-exporter`?

https://github.com/ReagentX/imessage-exporter

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

#85

Post by mh- »

beala wrote: post #75
mh- wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, I have the same problem and need to do something about it. I wonder if it can calculate (estimate) how big of an external disk I'll need. My wife and I each have 40-50k photos and a few thousand videos in iCloud Photos.

On my iPhone, I can see the size of my iCloud photo backups. Settings -> Apple Account -> iCloud -> Storage. Weirdly, that number is different than Immich’s estimate of my photo library (95 GB vs 150 GB), but perhaps good enough to get you in the ballpark.

Oh yes, of course. Thank you. 422 GB. Looks like my wife has slightly more.

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

#86

Post by jval43 »

sho wrote: post #23

Wow. This is a cautionary tale. I don't think I'd be as devastated as this poor chap, but as it grew I realize I've allowed my iCloud photo library to become a single copy. How are people handling this these days? If i wanted to ensure a full backup of everything on my iCloud to a NAS, what's the best way these days? Seems like they make it difficult by design..

I run a separate Mac Mini that has the full iCloud Photos library on a massive external drive, set to "Download originals". I then rsync that filesystem to a separate Linux box. This works but you must not ever disconnect the external drive.

I don't have a solution for iCloud Drive, as there wasn't a keep offline setting last time I checked. So use it only ephemerally.

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

#88

Post by stepquiet »

baby wrote: post #7

If Apple engineers read this: I can't sign in into my iCloud account from my android phone, it just doesn't work, meaning I can't manage my subscription like HBO now that I switched to an android phone. PS: My plan is to wait for Apple to release a folding iPhone to move back!

You can manage Apple subscriptions using your web browser (no Mac/iPhone needed). The subscription management page is:

https://account.apple.com/account/manage/section/subscriptio...

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

#89

Post by aurareturn »

SiteRelEnby wrote: post #61

Has it been 12 months again already? That's about how often one of these stories come up. I guess some people don't learn.

Apple has over a billion users. Do you expect every single one of them to learn how to do backups, protect their purchase on iOS, etc.?

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

#90

Post by b112 »

parisidau wrote: post #10
Beijinger wrote: post #9

Since your money is gone, I would file a complaint here: ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission): The primary enforcer of gift card laws, ensuring businesses comply with the three-year minimum expiry, clear terms, and fair practices.

Absolutely, but that doesn't solve my immediate issue of my devices and accounts, but of course I will do that.

There are escalative methods to employ in such situations.

In many legal jurisdictions, a 'demand letter' holds weight. These can be served by courier, with proof of delivery as valid. One aspect of such a letter is a hard, specific time by which you will start legal action, along with associated additional costs.

You have two paths after the letter. The first is small claims court, or normal court. In many places, small claims court does not allow lawyers, and the judge will even have to explain any confusing terms.

Which means the playing is leveled, including reduced or no disclosure requirements, and legal cost assignments. Where I am, it's $100 to file.

The goal is to force a fix, at threat of legal consequences.

I am sending an email.

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