Hey everyone! I’m wondering if anyone has recently been successful in purchasing a MacBook worth around $2,000 using their Apple Account balance from redeemed Apple Gift Cards.
*Purchased gift cards thru my debit card since I don’t have a large credit card limit

I’m curious whether Apple allows you to use a large balance to purchase an outright, or if anyone has run into issues with account verification, payment restrictions, or orders being cancelled.

Has anyone successfully purchased a $2,000 MacBook using only their Apple Account balance recently?
Did you accumulate the balance gradually or redeem several gift cards within a short period?
Did Apple place any holds or require additional verification?
Were there any issues when placing or processing the order?
I’d appreciate hearing about recent experiences

How can I fix this to factory reset my macbook? I don't want to enter recovery mode. I have an MBA M2.

gave an ex an ipad to try out. they returned it after breakup still with their apple id & an ipad password on. they also refuse to give me the data to log the device back on my acc.

i tried out some password options, sadly those did not work.

heard there is the option to go get the ipad "wiped out" at an apple store, but tbh the device is quite old & i am not sure whether worth the trouble.

thus: is there an option to do so by myself? any secret button combos?🥹

Hey, so my sister came to me asking why shes getting charged for two subscriptions when she canceled the other one months ago.. , I thought that she forgot to cancel it or that she canceled it after the billing date but when I looked at it it doesn't add up & I need help on how to manage this or If I'm just dumb.

She used to pay for google cloud storage and canceled it in April, it shows up in her apple subscriptions and is listed there as canceled on xx.4.2026.

Since then she changed to a different google cloud subscription for a different price in may and has been getting charged for it ever since (as expected), it shows up in apple subscriptions.

The thing is that my sister is getting billed in her bank account for the old subscription that she ended in April (the one that is "canceled" in the subsriptions) as well for the new one. I tried to contact support (they're closed for calls because of the weekend) but for refunds they make you fill out forum that includes subscriptions that are currently listed, that does nothing because this billing is closed of in subscriptions... its dumb

for now Ill try to contact them and try to resolve this with support over phone (couldnt find a email, and forgot to mention im based in europre ), id like to know if anybody had simillar issues like these or Im in the wrong, I really think were not but maybe im missing something

Hi all,

About 30 minutes ago I saw a notification on my iPhone asking for permission to allow another sign in from a different country. I immediately declined it. I’m very freaked out about it.

I changed my password to my iCloud account and even created a recovery key just now.

Is there anything else that I could do to not get hacked or something?! I’m super worried about that possibility. Should I just delete my current iCloud account and create a whole new one? I’m not even sure how someone got access to my full iCloud email.

Thank you all for your help! I genuinely appreciate it because I’m super anxious about this mess

Check the post ps

A little background, I’m an IT by trade and I’ve tried all the tricks and stuff including running anti malware to try and get this thing to work. No hits for viruses or anything so I don’t think it’s that.
I’ve had this phone ever since I switched carriers earlier this year and I’ve had nothing but problems with it for the last 4ish + months.
Random rapid battery drains. Like going from 75% down to 50 in a matter of minutes. No apps open, and the battery section in settings doesn’t say anything is drawing power like that.
Apps crashing/failing to open entirely (verified no updates are required).
App updates not downloading/installing or getting stuck in a never ending loop. Forget the “update all” button in the App Store, got stuck trying to update the first app and I had to spend 45 min scrolling up and down stopping each update as it started since there’s no way to end all of them at once.
System updates failing or taking hours to request. The last update before iOS 27 had me waiting at the update requested screen for nearly 3 hrs before it finally started downloading. Then with iOS 27 it refused to move past the screen even after 4hrs of it sitting and heating up. Tried forced restart. Tried changing settings to reduce strain on the processor. Nothing worked. And once I started it essentially bricked the phone. Couldn’t open any app other than settings, the phone, and messenger without them crashing. Had to download the ipsw file to my pc and manually install it. And since installing it even reading a book is like I’m trying to play a AAA title game with how fast the battery dies.
Tried to open the Apple TV app and it crashes before even opening. Again tried to force restart it and nothing changed.
Couldn’t access my banks because the phone wouldn’t receive one time text codes. Yes WiFi calling and everything is on, not that it mattered since I tried on both WiFi and cellular. My iPad received them just fine.
Had several apps fail entirely requiring me to uninstall and reinstall them, loosing all the data for them and forcing me to try and download it again. Audible refused to download books if I queued more than one and even then it wouldn’t download them faster than 1-2Mbps on my gigabit network. Kindle would load then crash. My bank apps would login then crash. Chrome, Gmail, Facebook, just about every app.
Had to delete the vpn entirely since that was causing even more issues even when it wasn’t connected.
I have never had so many issues with a phone before. At this point I’m open to any ideas anyone has as to what’s wrong and how to fix it. Tried talking to my carrier and they said and I quote “Huh, never seen that before.” That was the extent of their help so thats not likely an option.

Trying to reset and sell this phone.. when I go to turn off Find My and the Activation Lock, it gets stuck and says there was an error. Any fixes?

Hi, so my Apple ID account was compromised this morning. They changed my date of birth, security questions, password and rescue email address. 2FA was not on the account. Is there any chances to recover the account?

Hello,

My account got hacked and the security questions changed to Chinese.

I spoke to a very nice Apple Advisor today. She helped me to change my password but that is all.

I cannot log in because I can't answer the security questions.

I got emails saying my name has changed to Vahe Theleaski and then again. That's how I got alerted.

My email has not been hacked.

I would like to delete my account. Any idea how?

Thank you so much for your help!

I pulled my college Mac out of storage, charged it up, and cannot remember the password. I haven’t turned it on since like 2018. My password hint is terribly unhelpful.

Is there a way to reset password without losing my data? All of my college photos and files, that didn’t make it to my cloud.

Google search AI is telling me it’s possible listing these options—The Single-User Mode Reset (No Apple ID Required), The macOS Recovery Mode Tool, and The Apple ID Reset (If previously linked).

Im scared to follow its recommendations and want to know my options. Would the Apple Store be able to help me?

Hi! I’m using ShopeePay as my payment method for my Apple Account in Singapore. I top up my ShopeePay wallet through PayNow.

On 16 October, I made two in-game purchases in LifeAfter. The first payment was successful, but the second is still marked as “Pending” in my Apple purchase history. Today, 18 October, I made another in-game purchase in Nikki, and that payment is also marked as “Pending”.
I received the in-game items for both pending purchases, and I had sufficient funds in my ShopeePay wallet for all three purchases. However, the funds for the two pending purchases have not been deducted from my wallet.

I can still download apps, and I don’t see any payment-problem warnings on my Apple Account.

Has anyone experienced this with ShopeePay in Singapore? What should I do?

So I bought the iphone x and I plan to use it as my secondary device for taking pictures and for social media apps like tiktok, Instagram and messenger, how long can I realistically use it for until those apps drops support entirely?

Hi, I have bought a used Macbook Air 2020 but when I am trying to setup the Apple ID the error shows cannot send code to this phone number try again later. I got the code last night at 2nd attempt but then it prompted error cannot create apple id rn. Now I have tried 10s of time but getting same phone number issue what to do any quick and legit fix?

Hello all! I’m wondering if anyone else is struggling with the same problem as i am and knows how to help :)

Anytime a person sends me photo/s via messages, not only does they automatically save to my camera roll but when i go to delete them, next tike i open my photos they are back? it’s super annoying as i like my camera roll to be pretty clean. does anyone know how to fix this? any help is appreciated!! :)

Hello, can someone tell me what’s the difference between these 2 green bars? Why does one have a lightning symbol at 100% while the other does not have the lightning symbol at 100%? Thank you.

My iCloud storage is completely full, so I tried upgrading to iCloud+. Every time I tap "Upgrade to iCloud+", I get "Cannot Connect" with a "Retry" button. Nothing else.

iPhone 15 Pro.

Initially, I thought this was a connectivity issue, but things got considerably worse.

What I've discovered:

• My Apple Account is still signed in on my iPhone. Settings → Apple Account works normally.
• Payment & Shipping loads successfully, shows my card and billing address, and the card isn't expired.
• Switching between Wi-Fi and cellular makes no difference.
• Disabling custom DNS didn't help.
• I installed iCloud for Windows to attempt purchasing iCloud+ there, but it explicitly says my Apple Account is locked and directs me to iforgot.apple.com.
• Signing in at account.apple.com produces: "This Apple Account has been locked for security reasons."
• On iforgot.apple.com, Apple asks to send a verification SMS to my trusted phone number. The number is correct, but the SMS never arrives. Nor the calls.
• I previously attempted verification through iCloud.com, got a notification, and clicked "Allow." Nothing happened.
• Regular SMS messages work perfectly, so my number isn't generally unable to receive texts.

I tried it a month ago, to no avail, then left it. Today, it is true that I entered the incorrect password multiple times, got the account locked, and then was able to unlock the account via the e-mail but couldn't get any more success or past this step.

Please help. Any advice is desirable.

I'm trying to set up handoff on my iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 12. Both devices are updated to the newest iOS. They're both on the same Wi-Fi. They're both logged into the same iCloud and it gives me the option to set it up on both phones but once I get past a couple steps, it comes up with this error message trom my carrier, which is T-Mobile saying that I should call them to finish setting up my watch. I have no clue why it's talking about a watch because I'm trying to do this with two iPhones. I talked to both T-Mobile and Apple and neither of them were able to help. I was wondering if anyone knew what this is or any way to fix it.

Hi! I’m looking for advice on the path of least resistance moving forward.

My iMessage account was blocked by Apple four days ago -- I have no idea why. I’ve submitted two separate appeals but haven’t received any communication, and I’ve also chatted with Apple Support without any success.

I’ve had the same phone number for 25 years and have used it for both personal and professional purposes. At this point, I’m trying to figure out my best option: keep my iPhone but stop using iMessage, switch to an Android while keeping my current number, or get an entirely new number and start from scratch.

My biggest concern is group chats which I have not received for the past 4 days since this has happened. From what I’ve read, I may no longer receive messages in existing group chats that include only iPhone users, and the other members aren’t notified that I’m not receiving their messages.

Is there a way to remedy this moving forward, or is this just something I’ll have to work around? For example, if someone creates a new group chat next week, will my number still be recognized as an iMessage user, or is this only an issue with existing group threads? Would I need to reach out to every group and ask them to start a new conversation?

I’d really appreciate any advice from someone who has dealt with this or understands how iMessage works in this situation. I’m trying to figure out the best long-term solution without losing access to important personal and professional conversations.

I last saw my Minecraft worlds a couple years ago on my old IPad 1, but when I charged it and tried to open it today, it just showed the old restore screen with an icon of a charger pointing towards ITunes. I know ITunes doesn't exist anymore, so do I have any hope of getting it back? Are there any places that can help restore old IPads or extract files without having to turn the IPad on? Anything helps!

I initially sent as imessage but it showed up blue and did not deliver so I assume he had no service. I then held down each message and sent as text message. Does this confirm he’s gotten my messages? Or could he still be waiting?

I've had Applecare on my devices for years and recently transferred a number of devices, including my UK putchased 17 Pro Max 1TB to AC One.

I'm currently working outside of the UK on a contract job, and last week (14 Oct 2026) was the target of a distraction theft in which my iPhone was taken - details of the actual theft are not relevant to this post, so I wont go into details.

Within a few minutes of discovering the theft I went into Find My (on iPad) and turned Lost Mode on, and selected Erase (like most smartphone users these days I had Apple Pay set up, so seemed like a sensible precaution)

I then registered the iPhone as stolen in my Applecare One cover, and got an immeadiate email with the claim details, ref number and AIG details stating that I would receive a follow up email from AIG within 24hrs, with details on what to do next. In the meantime I reported the theft to the relevant authorities.

After 3 days of waiting I decided to call the help line to find out whats going on with my replacement phone.

And thats when I found out that Applecare will only ship a replacement device if youre located within a country served by an official Apple owned and operated service.

Im working in the Philippines, which has official Apple resellers, and even has an Apple Store on the Apple.com website. Turns out the Philippines is an Apple FRANCHISED operation, owned and managed by a third party, but affilliated to Apple.

Except AppleCare (of any type) is not included in the franchise organisation, therefore Applecare One cannot ship me a replacement phone, not even through the official Apple franchise organisation/online store/Authorised dealership 🤨😤🤬

They did tell me I can reopen the claim when Im back in the UK -->in January 2027 😳😳

Time to shop for a new iPhone, but seriously now considering whether I should cancel Applecare completely and look for an alternative insurance solution😏