iOS 7 “activation required” error on iPhone and iPad

http://www.graphitas.co.uk/blog/2013/10/ios-7-activation-required-error-on-iphone-and-ipad/

by zengr • 13 years ago

47 54 13 years ago

graphitas.co.uk

taspeotis5• 13 years ago

This seems like a non-issue (only affecting users with beta versions of iOS 7) and a generally uninformed article:

Apple seem to have pushed out an update that forces users to update to the current version of iOS 7

Previous betas have had expiration dates hard-coded into them. So the "update" that Apple "seem to have pushed out" is probably "the future".

EDIT: It seems like this is the first time an iOS beta has expired for some developers. Get a GM release and (command|shift) click [1] on "check for updates" in iTunes [2]. This is basically how you do non-OTA updates between different beta versions.

EDIT 2: The blog post has been updated and "Apple seem to have pushed out an update" no longer appears in the body text. I wonder why... [3]

[1] Some modifier key is the right one. I don't remember which.

[2] http://www.jailbreaksquad.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Bro...

[3] http://i.imgur.com/zN2EttW.jpg

chucknelson• 13 years ago

I love how basically every headline for this event makes no mention of expiring betas. This is not that exciting, but gotta get those clicks and make it seem like iOS 7 in general is crapping out across the globe.

nonchalance• 13 years ago

The main reason I like HN is because of this: one of the first few comments, in pretty much any discussion, points out that the title is sensationalized (and gives a more levelheaded discussion)

MiguelHudnandez• 13 years ago

Got this on my iPad, thought "ohh shit, I should back up my phone right now, it's next..."

I backed it up and within 20 minutes it had been disabled.

Interestingly, it put it in a state in which it was unable to ring for incoming calls.

I wish Apple would not report that your iOS version is "up to date" in iTunes if you are running a time-bombed beta build. Even if they don't want to support a direct upgrade path from beta to GM, they could indicate in their software that your software is not up to date.

Not everyone can afford dedicated dev devices--even though that is in their terms of use.

bookface2• 13 years ago

This really screwed me over this time. My developer account expired a few weeks ago and I got worried because I still had the beta installed. I tried upgrading via iTunes, but it said I was up to date, and I assumed that meant that the phone had updated itself to the release version over the air automatically or that I'd forgotten that I already updated manually. And now that phone is bricked until I get back to my computer tomorrow.

objclxt3• 13 years ago

Not to come off as uncaring, but I think you screwed yourself over if you installed the iOS 7 beta and didn't read the release notes.

iOS betas have always expired, going back years, and this has always been documented in the release notes. It's also made clear in the release notes that you can't upgrade via iTunes to the public release from a beta - you have to manually download the IPSW and update it yourself.

37prime4• 13 years ago

Bear in mind that Apple then released the GM version of iOS 7. For those who actually read and comprehend the release notes installed the iOS 7 GM over the beta ones.

This is one of many reasons why people who have no business installing beta software should NEVER install beta software on their devices.

wymy• 13 years ago

I too was 'told' I was up-to-date, and lost a ton of parade pictures of the family from this morning. Badly done, Apple. Badly done.

37prime4• 13 years ago

You knew you were running iOS 7 beta and you failed to follow up with the developer beta program.

taspeotis5• 13 years ago

You didn't have to lose those photos. You can "update" to a particular IPSW in iTunes [1].

So just download a "production" iOS 7 IPSW and "update" to it.

That's what I did to update when the iOS 7 GM came out, and I've used it in the past when I unintentionally let an iOS 6 beta expire.

[1] http://www.jailbreaksquad.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Bro...

cmelbye• 13 years ago

It's not Apple's fault that you didn't understand what you were doing when you installed beta software onto a device with content of sentimental value.

jamesjguthrie• 13 years ago

I got this on my iPad this morning (it's 9am UK time) and, since I was drinking last night, I thought I must have tried to do a restore while I was drunk. Very glad when I discovered other beta testers had the same issue.

A quick jump onto developer.apple.com to download the latest IPSW and my iPad is working again.

jonhmchan• 13 years ago

This happened to me less than an hour ago - it puts you on an infinite loop if you try and do a login from the phone without a USB connection.

I'm a developer that's been using the beta - it seems to have only affected those that haven't upgraded.

RMacy• 13 years ago

Good luck if you had "find my phone" turned on.

onats• 13 years ago

I have Find My Phone turned on. Can I just upgrade / restore the iPhone?

tpurves• 13 years ago

If you have find my phone turned on:

0. Go to iCloud and disable find my phone for your device 1. Download the GM final OS7 build 2. Restart in recovery mode: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1808#sthash.qByAjn0z.dpuf 3. Do NOT click ok when prompted to restore your phone 4. Click the secret command/alt combination with the restore button. 5. Select the downloaded OS7 file. your phone will fix itself

Real asshole move of Apple to suddenly brick your phone then provide no instruction for how to do this instead of... you know just allowing the phone to automatically update or activate. Hope that you didn't have anything better to do with your life for the last hour.

emp• 13 years ago

Required starting in DFU mode + restore. Didn't think to try option + update as eggbrain mentioned above. Does this mean Find My iPhone can be circumvented with a DFU mode restore?

taspeotis5• 13 years ago

Does this mean Find My iPhone can be circumvented with a DFU mode restore?

I am just speculating, but perhaps iOS 7 GM and later cannot be circumvented but the beta versions could be. This might be intentional - after all, it's beta code. The circumvention might be a plan B.

maqr• 13 years ago

I just made the same mistake, restoring with DFU. It doesn't bypass the Find My iPhone lock though, you still need to do the activation, but it will let you activate.

selectodude• 13 years ago

Why? Because you have to type in your Apple ID and password once you do the DFU restore?

eggbrain• 13 years ago

Just hit this error myself -- found an easier way than restoring from backup.

First, download the latest iOS7 version (I used an ipsw from this website: http://www.iphonehacks.com/2013/09/update-ios-7-beta-ios-7-p...)

Open up iTunes and go to your iPhone, and press alt/option + the "Check for Update" button.

This will open up a window that will allow you to browse to your ipsw download. Choose the iOS7 ipsw you downloaded for your phone, and choose it. After 20 minutes, your iPhone will update, and you'll be ready to go -- no restore required.

benguild• 13 years ago

That's lucky. It didn't use to work. Before the iTunes Betas would expire and the beta iOS versions would only sync with those. Also they wouldn't allow updates to the final GM.

31reasons2• 13 years ago

Did anyone find this extremely rude. I was suddenly locked out of my own hardware for which I paid hundreds of dollars. I stopped receiving calls in the middle of the day. Why do they have to treat people who installed beta like they are criminals on a parole. Where is the magic Apple ?

37prime4• 13 years ago

There’s the part about common sense and reading the release notes.

It is a beta software. Historically, iOS betas do expire.

31reasons2• 13 years ago

It can always give a gentle warning before locking people out.

gibwell3• 13 years ago

You locked yourself out by deliberately installing a time limited piece of software and then neglecting to update it when a complete version was offered to you for free.

You aren't being treated like a criminal on parole. You're being treated like a software developer who understands how to handle pre-release software.

glitch• 13 years ago

Read the continual developer release notes next time. When Apple released the GM, they had specific instructions about updating from the betas. If you are a developer engaging in the beta program, this is something you should have kept tabs on.

Having said that, yes, Apple should have handled this more smoothly. However, it was documented in the developer documentation.

jrockway2• 13 years ago

Why did you use a test operating system on your production device? The beta is for testing compatibility with apps you're developing, not for daily use.

swalsh• 13 years ago

Because apps on make on the side are a hobby. At work we have test devices, but for my home stuff i can't justify a second phone for test only.

mturmon• 13 years ago

Agreed. The meaning of the concept "beta" has been devalued.

sausman• 13 years ago

I was able to update my 4S by downloading the official release and updating it in iTunes by option+clicking "Check for Update" and selecting the file.

If you have a 4S: http://thepiratebay.sx/torrent/8936924/iPhone_4S_iOS_7.0_(11...

objclxt3• 13 years ago

You can also just download the IPSW directly from developer.apple.com, if you have a paid-up developer account. And if you don't you probably shouldn't be using iOS betas on your device.

wavesounds• 13 years ago

I was just in the apple store and heard someone complain about this. She was there for some other reason and it just so happened to strike her phone while she was waiting. The guy helping her was pretty puzzled and kept insisting she must have reset her phone.

klimthn• 13 years ago

I understand the misfortunate situation revolving around this "issue", but shouldn't this of been seen miles away? I mean a beta version/GM version were running on the phone. A developer would know that beta/GM development release are mean't to expire, and for good reason.

Heck this even happened to me and it was my own fault. I knew that I needed to update to the public release of iOS7. This reminds of the kids who were buying developer accounts just to get the iOS7 betas, and walking into the apple store when their phone takes a dive.

Finally, a developer or a person who reads the TOS know that shit happens, and when it does, usually they know the instructions to recover from this.

taspeotis5• 13 years ago

Heck this even happened to me and it was my own fault.

You sound like the type of developer that would read the manual before asking for help.

far33d• 13 years ago

For everyone saying "you should have read the release notes" - yes I agree. However, there are two things that made this very opaque and should have been better.

1) all sources indicate everywhere that the software is "up to date". I realize that as a developer I should be keeping better tabs on things but I usually trust things not to just lie to me. It's pretty opaque.

2) The error you get when the beta expires makes no mention of the fact that the beta expired. Without judicious twitter searches and a quick look on hacker news, I didn't know what the source of the error was and assumed something was wrong w/ apple's activation or that someone had compromised my account in some way.

yeldarb• 13 years ago

So much this. And since it happened with no warning on a weekend evening I was not at home and wasn't able to even look it up since my phone all of the sudden self destructed AS I WAS USING IT. It just rebooted and all of the sudden was non-functional.

As the responsible DD for tonight this put me in a tough spot where the drunkies I was responsible for were unable to contact their driver.

This was a ridiculous way to handle this. I had even tried to manually update to the public release manually via iTunes last week and since it said "Up to Date" I thought it had worked.. but apparently not.

ctdonath• 13 years ago

Yes, this. No hint that anything would happen or when. No apparent means of updating, or to what. No ability to back up when it hit. I was at a confluence of development needs & tools & deadlines which delayed a sensible update sequence.

gibwell3• 13 years ago

So you're saying you didn't know the GM had been released?

mortenjorck• 13 years ago

There are lots of comments here that rightly point out that you have no reasonable expectation of uninterrupted functionality using beta software. But to me, there's a bigger, more interesting picture here: There's clearly a demand for pre-release Apple software among people who don't really have any need for it.

I'm sure I'm not alone in having seen people this summer running iOS 7 betas on their personal phones, even people with no software development experience who probably couldn't tell you what Xcode is. It's not in Apple's interest for this to be happening, as it leaves a bad taste in people's mouth when things like this inevitably happen.

Restricting access clearly doesn't work. Everyone who knows the beta exists knows someone who can hook them up. There's got to be something else, some other way Apple can make these betas less appealing to the casual user, without lessening the betas' usefulness for people actually trying to test things.

misiti37802• 13 years ago

I agree - they should change the registration process so each developer account only install firmware on a single phone

taspeotis5• 13 years ago

You should be able to answer this one for yourself: why is this a bad idea?

Hint: there is more than one type of iPhone.

objclxt3• 13 years ago

That's a terrible idea that assumes each developer only needs one phone. But someone who is making a full-time living off iOS development probably has several devices: a 5/5x for the taller screen, a 4/4S, until recently maybe a non-retina model...

socillion• 13 years ago

I wonder if the large amount of regular users who jump at the chance to join a beta has anything to do with the severe dilution of the term. These days a product labeled as beta is very likely to be using that to imply a degree of exclusivity or simply to emphasize that it is the absolute latest, rather than it being unfinished. Beta access for video games is extremely desirable, Google has made the term completely meaningless with products like Gmail, etc.

When beta is so frequently a good thing, who wouldn't want to get the latest iOS and tell all their friends about how awesome it is?

Just some thoughts, but I'm feeling deja vu while writing this post - I suspect the topic has been beaten to death in the past.

edit: indeed it has, here is a discussion from when iOS5 was released: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2649222

dangero• 13 years ago

This is semi related tangent.

I've worked in at a lot of software companies where they spent a lot of time being concerned about small groups of customers that were using old builds, how we would keep their setup working, etc. It always impresses me how Apple moves forward in spite of who may be left behind and I assume that this is a conscious choice they constantly have to revisit. The counter example would be Microsoft that still supported DOS for more than a decade after they moved on from it.

I don't know any engineers who like maintaining legacy systems, so it seems to be a perk of working with Apple and I also think that this lack of concern for legacy is allowing Apple to move forward faster. At my last job every time a new project was requested by management I would ask, "What old project will we remove then? Because maintenance takes time." I pretty much never got an answer on that. It takes discipline to stay lean and to non-engineers legacy costs can be invisible a lot of times.

One area where I see progress accelerating is XCode. You basically need to be running latest XCode to publish apps to the App Store, so people always run latest. On the other hand, I've got Visual Studio all the way back to 2003 on hand because clients don't want to take the time to upgrade. It drives me nuts.

There's something satisfying about progress and something very depressing to me when I sit down to make changes to a project using Visual Studio 2003 .NET. Anyone know what I mean?

iOS 7 “activation required” error on iPhone and iPad

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