Various users that received Apple devices as Christmas presents unfortunately did not experience immediate joy due to a problem with iCloud Account and Sign-In. The company states that the issue began occurring on Christmas morning and is affecting some users.
Spotted by Apple Insider, the issue appears to be causing new device setup and account activation failures for a variety of new Apple devices, including iPhones, Apple Watches, and HomePods. Some users with new devices are having to wait a long time to complete the setup, while others are not able to do so at all, the outlet found.
Users on the MacRumors forums reported similar problems. A number of users reported setup problems with their new Apple Watch beginning on Friday morning and said they were getting a “Verification Failed” error message, which states that Apple could not verify the passcode on their device.
Apple Support addressed the problem on Twitter in response to a user that was having trouble setting up his mother’s new iPad and HomePod Mini and said it appeared to be a problem with “high capacity.”
“We know your mum is eager to have everything working and appreciate you helping to set them up. We are experiencing a high capacity at this time which is impacting your ability to set up iCloud, please try back in a couple of hours,” Apple Support said on Friday.
Apple’s System Status page showed no other issues with any other services. It’s a good way to check to see whether the iCloud issue’s been resolved so that you can set up your device, instead of trying over and over again and getting mad for hours (just a suggestion). As of 4 p.m. ET, the issue had still not been resolved.
Gizmodo reached out Apple about the issue on Saturday afternoon but had not received a response by the time of publication. We’ll make sure to update this blog if we hear back or when the issue’s been resolved.