My first (and last) Apple impression
Sorry for such a long post, but I wanted you to see it the same way as I did.
tldr at the end.
Also sorry for alternating between czech/eng language in the screenshots, I was playing around with apple intelligence so I occasionally switched mac’s language for it to work.
So after being a Windows and Android user my whole life, I wanted to give a chance to “the other side” and bought a macbook air m4.
I wanted something reliable, light and with a long lasting battery for my possible upcoming travel so I could do my work on the go. Mac seemed perfect for that.
- The first impression
I loved the way it looked when I unboxed it, a really beautiful device. I powered it on and the classic Hello screen came up.
I was then prompted with logging in or creating an Apple ID. As I didn’t have any I wanted to create one. I filled in all the required info and found a free good looking address (which was kinda hard as a lot of them with my name, as I wanted it to sound a bit more professional, are already taken). I then had to fill in my phone number and fill in the code that came as SMS. I did that aaaand…. got an error “There was a problem creating your new Apple ID. Your account cannot be created at this time” Whut?
I tried it again and again to no avail. I then skipped it and tried it in the settings once the whole thing booted up to the desktop, still the same issue.
I had to google around to find out that I should update my software and try it then.
That worked and after installing the new Tahoe version, it let me create my Apple ID.
I guess it makes sense to want the user to have the latest OS version before leting them create a new ID, but why THE HELL is it not written there? Why this loose error message?
Anyway, I then continued trying the new mac out.
- iMessage
I wanted to text my brother (long time Apple user) cause he’d lose his mind if I texted him as a blue bubble. But I couldn't. I imported my contacts from google (which was cool tho, I just logged into my google account in the settings and contacts and calendar events were right there). I tried texting my few other friends. 2 of them no problem.
1 of them I had to manually enter his phone number, because otherwise he showed up green (although the same exact number was in the saved contact).
So I tried manually entering my brother's number. Still nothing. His name was either red (contact) or green (manually entered phone num.).
I had to text him for his icloud mail to be able to communicate with him. Weird how this functions with how praised imessage is. And no he has no other phones or numbers.
- Account action required
Day two of me owning this machine, I get a notification from the settings app that an action is required with my apple account.
I click on it and it wanted me enter my password again. Weird, I thought, but entered it.
“Unknown error”.... what? I try again. “Unknown error”.
The fuck is this machines problem.
So I had to google again, cause really? Unknown error? What amateurish error is that? Users should never get this kind of error because then, you know, knows shit about what's wrong. At least provide me with some number I can reference tho god damn it.
So back to googling AGAIN.
I came across a few reddit posts, each having a slightly different issue than me, but the advice was to go on https://account.apple.com/ and to try to log in there.
Well. Great? The hell is this.Another advice was to go to the https://iforgot.apple.com/ and try to reset my password. Into the “Email or phone number” input field I enter my phone number.
wtf. I tried the email then.
That works and this is what I get:
What is this? security reasons? Like was someone already trying to get into my account or what? I didn’t even use it for nothing yet, I had it for a literal day. It was just created and that's it.
Anyway I clicked the unlock account. It wanted my account and my phone number again.
Then I got this
Essentially “thanks for wanting your account back! we’ll check it and then contact you on THE EMAIL YOU JUST LOST ACCESS TO LOL”
The FUCK is this? This is the praised Apple company, marvel of engineering? Really? WTF?
Anyways I wait. I try to reset my password here and there again as I DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER WAY OF KNOWING if my request is processed already or not. And mind you, this was the SECOND day of me owning this expensive device so I sure as hell was impatient.
To no luck, I always got the “acc not valid or supported” message.
I even tried the Unlock Account way again. And I entered it again and got to the same screen again. The only difference was that now they included a message saying basically “We are still working on it”.
Okay I gave up for the day. I tried it the next day, roughly after 24h.
WHAT. IS. THIS.
Like really, at this point I’m exhausted. I googled again and found a lot of posts saying that if this is the message you’re seeing, then say goodbye to that account cause it’s gone for good and that you have to create a new one. Many people confirm that that’s exactly what they got from the a. support.
That can’t be right, right? Like this account existed FOR A DAY. How could it be locked out forever without any reason or warning?
I wanted to call the support (as that’s the only way of contacting them in the 21st century), but they were closed by that time and I had to wait another day… sigh.
By the way, navigating their support websites is also a nightmare. No info for my problem, just constant links to other pages that are either dead end (error or “ur acc is locked”), or it’s in a loop. I had to GOOGLE their support phone number as I cound’t fucking find it on the website.
- Contacting support and resolution
So the next day I called them. Explained the problem into detail and the support guy was very nice about it, but clueless about what or why it happened.
He wanted my apple ID and my (this time different) email where he can send me info.
He said that he himself doesn’t have rights to see a lot of things so he’ll advance this up and I have to wait for another 2 days to get some results. So I waited, as that’s what I was doing most of the time with this device anyway.
After 2 days I get the arranged call and he says basically the same thing. “Security reasons” but doesn’t know any specific info, just this generic bullshit. He says that the only way now is to log out from my Mac - which you can’t do on your own ofc as it’s linked to a locked account and you have to fill out some forms and, you guessed it, WAIT SOME MORE so they can unlock it.
Then create a new account and use that.
But WHY IN THE HOLIEST FUCK would I do that. WHO would guarantee me that I won’t create a new account, fill it with important info/photos/emails and stuff and then LOSE IT randomly because of “Security reasons” without any further info or way to get it back. Like how this can be a multibillion company? How can so many people put trust in this god awful support of their?
Am at a loss of words really. Sorry to get all heated up but I am angry, believe that.
I’m returning this piece of shit back to the store and never touching apple again
TL;DR
I bought a MacBook Air M4 as a longtime Windows/Android user expecting a smooth “it just works” experience, but instead spent days dealing with broken Apple ID creation, random account locks, vague error messages, confusing recovery flows, and support that couldn’t even explain what happened. The hardware is great, but the whole Apple account ecosystem completely killed my trust in the platform.
