Apple Disabled Dustin Curtis’s iCloud, App Store, and Apple ID Accounts Over Rejected Chargeback

Dustin Curtis:

The next time I tried to use my Apple Card, it was declined. Strange. I checked the Wallet app, and the balance was below the limit. I remembered the Apple support representative mumbling about Apple Card, so I did some digging through my email to see if I could find a connection.

As it turns out, my bank account number changed in January, causing Apple Card autopay to fail. Then the Apple Store made a charge on the card. Less than fifteen days after that, my App Store, iCloud, Apple Music, and Apple ID accounts had all been disabled by Apple Card.

We all make bets on these ecosystems. Even if you host your own email at your own domain name (to name just one service) you’re probably not running the actual server. And even if you are running the actual server hosting your email, you’re still placing a bet on the service provider / data center hosting the server.

I’ve got a lot of my digital life bet on iCloud in this way. It doesn’t seem like there should even be a path on Apple’s side of things from “you missed a payment on your Apple Card” to “we’re locking you out of your Apple ID”. Apple shutting your Apple ID off shuts you off from a lot.

Update: Apple statement on what actually happened and under what circumstances they’ll lock your Apple ID if you owe them money.

★ Tuesday, 2 March 2021