New Apple ID repeatedly locks and prevents new account creation

Were you seeing a message about a number being unavailable? If one is unavailable then according to Apple it will say that (see below).

Some contributors to this forum will reply with a definitive statement saying you absolutely must use a different number. What Apple says is in this support article: If you can’t create an Apple Account or see “your account cannot be created at this time” - Apple Support and is more nuanced, saying that if you see a message telling you to use a different number then you do need to use a different number.

“If you’re trying to create an Apple Account and see a message that says the email address or phone number is unavailable or can’t be used, then an Apple Account already exists that uses it. Try a different email address or phone number, or reset your password for that account ( If you forgot your password and can’t sign in to your Apple Account - Apple Support ).”

The easiest way to find out if you can use the same number is to try it.

Check Apple’s list of solutions for seeing that "at this time" message —> If you can’t create an Apple Account or see “your account cannot be created at this time” - Apple Support

If it’s not a problem with your connection to Apple then it may be a problem with your data entry. “At this time" is unfortunately a somewhat vague Apple catch-all error message. It could mean that you cannot connect to the Apple service you need to use, or it could mean there is something invalid or missing in your information entry and once you correct that, _then_ it is time. ;-)

- Check if the problem actually is at Apple’s end of things and if there’s an issue with Apple's servers: Apple - Support - System Status

- Completely remove (don’t just disable) any VPN you are using.

If those do not resolve the issue, there is probably something Apple doesn’t like about your information. Check what you are doing is valid (such as when creating an account, that all your information is internal to the country in which you are creating the account) and has ALL the information required (scroll down to see if there’s more off the bottom of a page). Confer with Apple's documentation about the action you are trying to do.

If you still have problems, contact official Apple Support:

For help with Apple Account issues, click here ➞ https://getsupport.apple.com/?caller=cups&PGF=PGF63005

Click here --> Choose your country or region - Official Apple Support Select your country, then a product. If you don't see one that handles your issue then keep experimenting with selections until you reach one that gets you a chat session or a telephone call and get the representative to redirect you.

or:

Contact Apple for support and service --> "See a list of Apple phone numbers around the world."

Click here --> Contact Apple Support - Apple Support

marekmierzwa

Are you in India or China? Those are the places where you can use a phone number as an account identifier. "When you create a new Apple Account in China mainland or India, you can use your mobile phone number to sign in to your Apple Account." From Using your phone number for Apple Account instead of an email address - Apple Support

If you are in one of those two places read the article about how to create one there. However, you say you are in Poland (is she not in Poland?), in which case we are not talking about a telephone number as an account identifier, we are talking about one used as a trusted number which is what my post was discussing. In that case I think there is a problem with some other data you are trying to enter.

Another thing you say is that the first account was locked fairly quickly after creating it. Apple is pretty vague about its reasons for locking accounts but in general it means you probably violated some kind of terms of use with the account. Try to make sure everything you are entering is internally consistent with a single country, including where she is located.

marekmierzwa wrote:

Later, we tried to create a new Apple ID connected to a her new email and her (old) phone number

This was a mistake.

You cannot use the same phone number as the primary sign-in identifier for multiple accounts.

sberman wrote:

You cannot use the same phone number as the primary sign-in identifier for multiple accounts.

Does Apple say that somewhere (I would like to see a link)? I would find that surprising since despite the number of cellphones out there I can't believe everybody has their own phone. What about families with young children? When I was a child we shared a single number between 6 people.

Thank you for all your responses!

> Were you seeing a message about a number being unavailable?

Nope, I hadn't.

> Are you in India or China?

Nope, I'm from Poland. My daugther was trying to register with an email, not the phone number, as the login identifier. The number is required, as I understand, only for 2FA.

> or reset your password for that account

This option is probably not available anymore after my daugther received an email (at the second reactivation try) that her first account is locked and it won't be reactivated (with no reason given).

We'll try to create the new account once again from a different network (all our tries were from our home network, no VPN) and with different phone for 2FA. If that doesn't work, I will advise her just to switch to different vendor. It's sad that Apple makes such basic things so difficult.

Limnos wrote:

Does Apple say that somewhere (I would like to see a link)?

From Siri AI - See the last sentence of the first paragraph.