Small addendum from the last few days. There is a new case in which an Apple user was finally locked out of his digital possessions by locking his Apple account with Apple ID and can no longer use the devices.
With Apple iPhones and iPads, the devices are assigned an Apple ID with a corresponding Apple account. All digital purchases from Apple (apps, media) as well as the devices and the data from these devices are managed there.
And when that Apple ID is locked by Apple, the owner of the Apple ID is locked out of their digital possessions. Apple, for example, has set up this help page for those affected. But it doesn’t get you anywhere if Apple has finally blocked the ID or account.
I have come across cases at Apple over the years where the manufacturer blocked something. The last case I found on reddit.com was discussed here a year ago.
There must be two of my Apple IDs flying around somewhere. I have no idea whether these can still be used – here I am Apple-free so as not to cement these dependencies.
An account suspension due to an Apple prepaid card
Tomas Jakobs had already linked the case to the original article 20 Years of Digital Life, Gone in an Instant, thanks to Apple by the person concerned on December 13, 2025 in the discussion area of the blog.
Now Dr. Paris Buttfield-Addison, a technical product manager, author and computer scientist based in Hobart, Tasmania, has been affected by a lock on his Apple ID. He had apparently used credit from an Apple gift card that was sold by a large retail store for purchases – that is the purpose of these gift cards, which have a corresponding credit.
He tried to redeem a $500 Apple gift card to pay for his 6TB iCloud+ storage plan. The code didn’t work. The seller suspected that the card number had been compromised and agreed to issue a new card. Shortly afterwards my account was blocked.
Something seems to have bothered Apple about this gift card. This has rendered his Apple devices and his iCloud account, his Apple Developer ID, and everything associated with the Apple ID unusable. The person affected has no opportunity to take action because the provider’s blocking of the Apple ID is final.
The ban has been lifted
The whole thing must have happened at the beginning of December 2025 – and the case has achieved a certain level of publicity thanks to the blog post linked above. On December 14, 2025, someone from Apple contacted us, but was unsuccessful.
After The Register took up the case in this article on December 15, 2025, something seems to have moved. As of December 18, 2025, Dr. Paris Buttfield-Addison said he had access to his Apple ID again. A person from Singapore who works for Apple Executive Relations reached out and told me everything was sorted out.
The Apple Gift Card Problem
It happens again and again that Apple gift cards are manipulated. This also seems to be the case here, although the person concerned states that they had proof of activation of the gift card. But the Apple gift card could not be redeemed and shortly afterwards the account with the Apple ID was blocked.
The person concerned says that the whole thing sounds like a classic manipulation of a gift card. Dr. Paris Buttfield-Addison writes that the connection with a ban is of course unacceptable. He’s still trying to get more information from his contact. He advised him that he should only buy gift cards from Apple itself. The affected person wonders whether Apple’s supply chain to Blackhawk Network, InComm and other gift card providers is uncertain, but received no information from Apple. But he plans to release a more detailed update soon. The
Details of the case can be found in the linked articles. For me, however, it means confirmation of the old knowledge of not becoming dependent on any providers and online accounts that can be blocked. I had a few articles about Microsoft here in the blog.
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