Developer / Apple ID randomly locked without any reason given

Friday we were preparing to publish our final build in TestFlight. Our developer informed me that the account holder had to agree to new terms and agreements. I am the sole user of this account, and tried to login (1 week ago I was still able to login). To my surprise I got the notification “account locked”, ”you need to reset your password”. I followed the required step: filling in the phone number on file (which is my phone number). After filling this in the page informed me that they’d get back to me in 1 day.

On Saturday I received an email from no_reply@apple with the following “We have received the request for access to your account and we have denied access.” There was no further information in the email why this would be.

I tried Apple support but they tell me they can not reactivate the account and I should apply for a new Apple ID. This sounds really strange as it would mean I would lose access to our currently published application forever?

I also submitted request to Apple Developer Support, but it seems I can not call them myself, and I should await reply from their side.

But in general I am just shocked how they can deny access to an account, which is even a paid one (Developer Program), and not help me out. I am able to supply all identification (passport). I have access to the email that we use to login. I have access to the mobile phone number that is connected for exactly this reason (two factor authentication).

Anyone with similar experience and/or solutions?

Hey @Max2501 so sorry to hear this happened to you! The same thing happened to me on December 16th after releasing my first app in production. I was randomly logged out of app store connect, it wouldn't accept my password, and I couldn't reset it. I received the same rejection email the next day (which is managed by a computer algorithm btw :( so messed up...)

I was on the phone for 6-8 hours with about 12 different reps that week and didn't receive much help unfortunately. However, if it's like my scenario, the good news is that your developer account which you paid for is in good standing - it's just your developer apple ID which is blocked.

What resolved this for me: Any chance you have another email listed as an admin on your developer account under "users and access"? If so, log into that apple ID on app store connect. You will have full access to your app and there's a process to transfer your app ownership.

If you don't have anyone else listed on your "team", it sounds like they can help you recover your account but you have to provide the necessary documentation for them to verify your identity and ownership with the app, so there's still hope!

Wishing you the best of luck. I'm happy to provide any other details I can if you need it.

Developer / Apple ID randomly locked without any reason given
 
 
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