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I have already signed in with ten different Apple IDs on this Mac this was the 12th time I was trying to create a new Apple ID and sign in to this Mac, and it was then when my Mac (system preferences) gave me an error that this Mac can no longer be used to make a new Apple ID please check myappleid.com, so I went over to my appleid.com and created a new Apple ID then tried to sign in to iCloud with this new Apple ID, it was then when my Mac/system preferences gave me this error that this mac can no longer be used to sign in with a new Apple ID!

I am stuck, please help!

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    I knew phones had a limit... seems you just found the Mac limit. Why in hell's name do you need more than one Apple ID, let alone 12?
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Sep 8, 2017 at 15:05
  • @Tetsujin I had some syncing issues therefore I had to continuously keep on creating new Apple IDs to check if the problem is gone!
    – Sayan
    Commented Sep 8, 2017 at 15:22
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    Don't keep making new Apple ID - you will get banned since that's also what people that submit false reviews on app stores and run marketing pushes to buy multiple copies of one app to try and influence / astroturf the download numbers on the app stores. If you need an AppleID in a sandbox for developer testing - that can be arranged. Same if you need an AppleID that can be cleared for work use and testing. Both ways require you to reach out to Apple and get pre-cleared for that sort of information and exception to their protective systems to detect fraudulent account creation.
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Sep 8, 2017 at 15:40
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    In your case - sync errors can easily be debugged with a development account and debug profiles added to macOS or iOS - but that’s really a different question here than “why was I locked out”
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Sep 8, 2017 at 16:31
  • @bmike Ok let me try then!
    – Sayan
    Commented Sep 9, 2017 at 6:20

2 Answers 2

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That Mac is likely now locked out due to automated processing to detect fraudulent account creation.

You'll want to use it with one of the 10 AppleID you made initially on it. I presume that after several weeks or months you might be able to make another AppleID - but you likely got flagged as abusing the AppleID system and would need to contact Apple and have your IP address white listed so you can create a large number of new Apple ID.

They do this for schools and businesses that need to make a lot of Apple ID - reach out to your Apple Sales contact or get together a list of the serial number of the Mac you have so they can see why you need so many new Apple ID at your site.

Otherwise, I would stick to making one test account and one production account and working with Apple to clear / reuse your test account for testing purposes. There are formal testing programs for education, business and if you are a non-profit - you might easily fall under either program to set up some test accounts for testing that don’t belong one-to-one to actual people using different devices.

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  • I will try it, hope it solves my issue!
    – Sayan
    Commented Sep 9, 2017 at 6:21
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It sounds like your Mac has reached the limit of how many iCloud accounts it can create. To explain what's going on, I need to start with a bit of background about the Apple ID/iCloud account system.

An Apple ID is basically an identity in Apple's system that you can use to interact with Apple for a wide variety of services -- iCloud, iTunes music purchases, App store purchases, Apple Developer account, posting to discussions.apple.com, etc etc etc. The first time you use an Apple ID for a particular service, it generally goes through a little setup process to enable that Apple ID for that particular service. For example, the first time you use a particular Apple ID with the Mac App Store, it'll ask you to agree to the MAS terms & conditions, and enter/verify your name, address, and payment info. If you create the Apple ID in a service, the ID creation and service setup processes get done together.

iCloud is one of the services that can be set up on an Apple ID. Basic Apple IDs are free, but iCloud accounts cost Apple money (ok, not very much) because they include storage, email service, etc. Thus, Apple sets a limit on the creation of iCloud accounts. I don't think the limit is documented anywhere (and may change without notice), but last time I tested there you can only create three iCloud accounts (/set up three Apple IDs for iCloud) per Apple device (Mac, iPhone, iPad).

Your Mac has reached its limit.

Note that this three account limit only applies to the initial setup of iCloud services -- either creating a new ID for iCloud or using an existing Apple ID for iCloud for the first time. You can use as many iCloud accounts as you want on the Mac, as long as they were created/set up on other devices. Re-using existing iCloud accounts does not count against the limit.

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  • I believe Apple also now flags AppleID made via the web due to bulk AppleID creation abuse. The real answer is going to be to have individual people request one or two accounts each and then get good one of that one for production and a second for testing. Unless you pre-clear account creation to someone in Apple - the system can’t scale with thousands of people requesting even a dozen accounts each worldwide “for testing”
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Sep 8, 2017 at 16:26
  • +1 for calling out clearly that iCloud is what costs Apple money on a month to month basis, far more than just one of a billion AppleID where the marginal cost to add 1,000 accounts would be far less than provisioning a full cloud storage ecosystem that triggers when you log in to iCloud on your first device.
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Sep 8, 2017 at 16:32
  • @bmike Yeah, Apple has a whole bunch of limits at various parts of the Apple ID system, to prevent/limit abuse. Another I've run across is that you can only create/set up 3 Apple IDs per day for the App Store. So for those, you can create quite a few, you just need to do it over time. iCloud accounts are the only ones I've seen a hard limit on, and I'm sure that's because of the ongoing cost to Apple.
    – Gordon Davisson
    Commented Sep 8, 2017 at 16:42
  • Apple is just too secure!
    – Sayan
    Commented Sep 8, 2017 at 18:18
  • I think I have to contact Apple then regarding Apple ID!
    – Sayan
    Commented Sep 9, 2017 at 6:19

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