r/applehelp

Hello everybody from the good life!

I’ve recently fallen down the rabbit hole of home automation. I’ve now set up most of my lights with Hue, and I also bought some of IKEA’s new Matter smart plugs.

Now I want to make everything work together in the same automations, which means I need some kind of hub/controller.

I see a lot of people recommending Home Assistant, but honestly, it looks a bit complicated to set up and maintain. I also want the system to be easy for my SO to use, so I don’t want to build something that requires a lot of tinkering.

I’ve also been looking into Apple Home. I understand that I’d need a Home Hub for this, and with Apple’s new Home products supposedly coming, I’m wondering if it’s worth waiting.

The new wall-mounted Apple Home device looks really interesting, but then I’d have to wait for it (or wait for a good deal on an Apple TV, maybe around Black Friday).

I have an LG G4, so I don’t really need an Apple TV as a media device. I’d mainly be buying it to use as a Home Hub.

So what would you recommend?

Should I wait for Apple’s new home products, buy an Apple TV now, or go with something like Home Assistant instead?

And if Apple is the better route, should I specifically wait for the new Apple Home hub rather than buying an Apple TV?

Would love to hear what people who have a similar setup would do.

I am trying to set up Apple ID through a new iPhone 16 I've got my email set up to where I log in using my email and my password I verify through email the verification number and then it gets to my debit card and ask for the security code which I enter and it tells me it's not working. So I make sure my car is unlocked which it is and it still won't work. I did have a apple at one time long time ago I don't think that's the issue I don't understand why it's not working and it's got me beyond frustrated. Any help from smarter people out there than me would be great.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling twice , restarted my phone and clearing data. I just got this iPhone like a couple months ago brand new. I was always an android user so im wondering if theres something else i could be doing. All my other apps run fine and everything is updated.

I have two MacBook Pros:
• 13” with M1
• 16” with M1 Max
I factory reset both of them from System Settings and went through the initial setup again.
On the 13”, Setup Assistant shows a screen asking me to sign in with my Apple ID. To be clear, this is not the Activation Lock prompt — it’s the normal sign-in step, and I can skip it with “Set Up Later” if I want.
On the 16”, that screen never appears at all. Setup goes straight to creating a local account, and once I reach the desktop I have to open System Settings and sign in to iCloud / my Apple Account manually.
I factory reset both machines a second time just to test it, and nothing changed — each one behaved exactly the same way as before.
Some details:
• Both were bought new and I’m the only person who has ever used them
• Both are running the same macOS version
• Both were connected to the internet during setup
Is this a malfunction, or is there a known reason why one machine would skip the Apple ID step entirely? Is there anything specific I should check on the 16”?

I'm trying to help my grandpa's girlfriend reset the password on her Apple Account so she can update her phone, but I'm not entirely sure how it will work due to the circumstances. Her lone Apple device is an iPhone 12 still running iOS 16.1.1, no Face ID or passcode, with full access to the Gmail address on the account. Changing the password is not available in the settings app, and starting the process in Safari asks to confirm her trusted phone number (which does match her phone's number). An SMS 2FA wouldn't be an issue, were it not for the fact that her carrier has no service at her boyfriend's or my place.

My question is, does resetting the password in this situation in fact require a code sent via SMS, or can it be sent via iMessage or something that doesn't require cell service?

Hello I have a pair Airpod pros and I'm struggling to get them charged at work. They still the lighting cable to charge instead of USB-C. I plugged them in and i checked through my phone and sure enough it says they were charging. I come back an hour later and nothing the case or the airpods haven't charged at all. I've cleaned out the airpods, and the inside of the case where they make contact.

IDK is it my cable thats broken or do I need to take them somewhere to check the charging port to clean it or something? For some reason they refuse to charge at work but they charge perfectly fine at home .

I have an iphone 6,I have fully factory reset it and created a new apple account (I don't have the previous one),and now I can't download apps it says not compatible etc....what to do now? I have bought it in second hand for 8000/-

I’m sorry if this is a question with a very obvious answer, but I’ve tried everything I can think of to get my AirPods to connect to my devices again, I called Apple Support and I had no luck with that either. I’m not sure if it’s something I’m doing, but I’m hoping someone could help me please.

I stayed in a hotel 3 hours away from my home, I checked out and I didn’t realise that I’d left my AirPods in my room. Luckily, I was still on site when I eventually did. When I checked the location of them on Find My it said the left one was outside of the case and it seemed to be in a slightly different location than my right AirPod and my case. Eventually the hotel found them in their safe & they handed over my case with my right AirPod. I explained that I was still missing my left AirPod, they went back into the safe and handed me a left AirPod (I’m only saying all of this because I’m convinced they’ve given me the wrong AirPod back)

Because when I got to a different hotel (10 mins away) that night, I tried to connect my AirPods to my iPad. It was saying my left AirPod was on 1% but the case and right AirPods were almost both fully charged, the left AirPod had been back in the case for around 6 hours once I received it back, so it should have been charged.

I followed a few different tips that I found on Reddit and the Apple support page. I charged them for 10 mins, reset them, basically I’ve done everything you can think of to try and connect them again. I ‘forgot them’ on both my iPad and iPhone and that’s when I lost all connection with them at all. So I tried to connect them to a phone that I have never connected them to before (because I read that if someone finds your AirPods they can just reset them and use them as their own - if stolen for example) and they won’t even show up as a device for a phone that’s never been connected to them. I’m fully convinced that one of the AirPods isn’t mine, but if they’ve been factory reset, surely they’d show up on a new device? I’m really confused haha.

So sorry for the long story, I was wondering if anyone had any tips to get them to connect before I have to purchase new ones 🙃

I dunno if this helps, but when I thought they were lost I put them on ‘lost device’ so I’m not sure if that had anything to do with it.

I hope this all makes sense. TIA

I got a new Macbook Neo (macOS Tahoe) recently, yay! I had a Windows computer before this and I want to transfer my data to the Mac, and I'm trying to do so using Migration Assistant. However, every time I try to set up this interaction, my Mac loses WiFi connection as soon as I get the code to connect my Windows computer. This results in the connection not working.

Apparently it's common for the WiFi to go out during the transfer, but not before. And It's only my Mac doing this, not my Windows computer. How do I fix this? If all else fails, I know I can use an ethernet cable, but I'm still waiting for the multi-use USB-C hub to arrive since the Neo doesn't come with a port built in. But for personal reasons I'd like to try to get this resolved as soon as possible.

Note if it helps: I'm doing this transfer after the initial setup phase of the Mac. During initial setup, I set it up using my phone. I am also sure that the Migration Assistant version is the correct one (Windows 11 to Tahoe).

Hi all, I was trying to help someone today and ran in to a series of unexpected problems. The user had forgotten their password to their MAC and wanted it to make sure a password was in place (they had been logging in automatically). So, very regretfully, I ran passwordreset command from the rescue screen. We managed to log back in OK to his user account. But the following things were broken: iCloud login, email login, automatic login, and other apps relying on keychain. I took full responsibility, obviously, and am trying to sort this out still. Any words of advice on how to deal with the fact that emails from Apple Mail can be sent now but not received? (User has POP).

Hey, so i have my iphone 17 pro since october 24th 2025 and since that day i use a 5w charger (less heat/overcharging), optimized battery charging, never let it under 15%.

Im now at 257 cycle counts, at 225 it dropped to 99%, but now after around 30 cycles later it dropped further to 97%.

just how? I take so good care of my phone and battery and it just dropped so fast.

Any explanation or what to do now?

WHAT DO I DOOOO

TLDR: I want to know if my device is brand new or not

Last month, I brought iPhone 16 from e-commerce retailer at the time itself the apple pull tag was missing and the box was sealed with some color tapes. I checked the phone at that time itself including usage signs, physical damages, device activation and battery health all fine so I accepted the device.

From that itself I am started facing issues like the auto rotate is not working for couple of weeks I initially thought it was limitation in brave browser later discovered it n’t it was fixed after the device restart. Next thing thermals the mobile was in sudden temperature raise even when it was idle I thought it was normal since my region was slightly hotter. But yesterday the wireless hotspot is not working properly I cant able to connect my laptop with mobile network I turned the maximum compatibility and turned hotspot on and off multiple times before it was working very fine there is no need to check compatibility option after some period of time the network was visible to my laptop and other devices but it disconnected automatically after a certain time frame. Finally the display at night start to dim high and low I checked notification centre to ensure that it was not auto brightness likely it wasn’t it was fixed automatically without restart.

I raised a dispute on the e-commerce platform especially the serial number of the device start with FXXXX - from internet I came to know refurbished device has this no at start I straightly accused them for selling me a refurbished one with the evidence I have they redirected me to get denial certificate from apple and shared a mobile to me.

I contacted that mobile no and it was official apple mobile number the person on the other side of the mobile able to find my iCloud account remotely using the device I contacted. After they send request to screen share to troubleshoot they checked coverage the warranty period was the date was 1 day before from when I received the device but still not a big thing. The checked battery life and asked me to make update and reset all settings. Then direct me to go near by service centre if still issue persist. The clarified the serial number are also randomly generated M, F, N or P not meant for anything it was just random but I still cant agree this thing flooded on whole internet. I just want to know if my device is brand new or not? please clarify!

Hello

A while ago, I bought a 27W i think USB-C to Lightning cable. It wasn't an official Apple one, but it was MFi-certified. I was charging my phone with an official Apple 20W charging brick I've had for two years. The setup was plugged into a power strip along with four other devices. After like a month, the charging brick stopped working completely, and the cable started charging some times, some others no. I went to the store to get it replaced, but at that exact moment, it decided to work, so they wouldn't swap it.

Figuring it would be the only solution , I decided to order (online) both a brand new, official Apple 20W charging brick and an official Apple USB-C to Lightning cable. However, i got the 2 meter one by accident . Sometimes even though my phone shows the charging lightning bolt icon, it doesn't always charge and the battery doesnt stay still, but dies, other times it charges slow, and other i have no problem. This is very annoying cause i have to watch my phone to make sure it charges fast and if it dorsnt plug of then on to try again.

When i use my old 5W brick w charger usb to lightning i got no problem, nor when i use someone elses 1 meter fast charger w fast brick.

Has anyone has the same problem? What happened with the first brick and charger? My MAIN issue is now if the 2m charger is the problem.
Please help me