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I am using an old iPad -- it's an iPad 2 model MC990LL/A -- running iOS 9.3.5 I noticed when I go to settings --> iCloud and tap the top part where my name and ID is, I get this:

Account Details Unavailable

If you are signing in to iCloud on another device or at iCloud.com, you can get a verification code while offline.

I tap "Get verification code" and it sends one -- but where do I put it in? I saw the answers that said to tack it onto the end of your password but there's no password prompt!

I wanted to add my iPad to my list of trusted devices (my phone and computer are there) but there does not seem to be a way to do it.

Any help appreciated.

ETA: The help offere by bmike was great; as it happened turning it off and on again a couple of times did the trick after I reset the settings. (Not a full restore). But dang, the back compatibility is starting to go...

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    I wonder if you could temp. disable MFA to get past this? - discussions.apple.com/thread/7312213.
    – slm
    Apr 19, 2019 at 22:07
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    @slm Given what we now know from my answer and comments, your suggestion here might be the best way to safely get iCloud re-attached to this device. I wonder if Jesse agreed to migrate his iCloud account to the newest format and have inadvertently left this old iPad forever left off iCloud for their account.
    – bmike ♦
    Apr 19, 2019 at 22:16
  • @bmike - yeah I'm out of ideas to try here except that one, without doing one of the more drastic choices that we don't want to do.
    – slm
    Apr 19, 2019 at 22:18
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    I wonder if Jesse has TFA or TSA - two factor is different than two step and it’s really confusing to even people who try to be experts and pay attention. I always have to read through the KB several times and check my work on accounts to figure which is which. support.apple.com/en-us/HT204152
    – bmike ♦
    Apr 19, 2019 at 22:20

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Tack the numbers on the end of the password if you don’t get a pop up to enter the code.

That’s what happens on older os in general.

To be clear, if your password were thirteen-odd-variations and your second factor (iMessage) were 330000, then enter thirteen-odd-variations330000 as your password instead of what you usually enter.

If you don’t see a password prompt at all, you’ll want to make sure you have a backup of your device and then sign out of iCloud / App Store / wherever you wish to sign in so that you get the account / password dialog.

  • I’ve seen this happen when the certificate has expired and you need to sign out to release the old pairing from the keychain and then request a new session from iCloud

If you can’t ever get that dialog, you will want to restore the device from a computer or reset all content and settings - this erases everything, so be sure you have a backup or can afford to learn that the device has failed before doing the erase.

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  • BUT WHERE DO I ENTER THE PASSWORD? It never prompts me. Do I sign out and sign in again? (There's a note at the bottom in red that says to sign out but I am afraid to do so)
    – Jesse
    Apr 19, 2019 at 22:04
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    Yes - you would need to sign out and back in, Jesse. That should prompt you if it deletes things. Thanks for helping us help you, @Jesse Nothing is obtuse when we can’t see what you’re seeing and words are hard to be precise for several people to all agree what exactly things are. We all read into things based on our expectations. slm / grg / me are well acquainted how hard it is to be clear in every case.
    – bmike ♦
    Apr 19, 2019 at 22:08
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    I just tried signing out and it told me that iCloud notes would be deleted. Then it says it will delete my icloud account(!) so I stopped as I was afraid to say yes.
    – Jesse
    Apr 19, 2019 at 22:13
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    Yikes! Glad you stopped. I would take stock of backups and maybe check the time sync / be sure you can’t get it to prompt for password tomorrow by turning on some other part of iCloud (rather than turning it off)
    – bmike ♦
    Apr 19, 2019 at 22:15
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    Yay! Please edit in my answer the final conclusion if that helps you select it. Also, if you want to just answer this I’ll vote up your answer. I suspect the time clock needed to reset once you joined the network and restarted if you changed nothing else specific.
    – bmike ♦
    Apr 19, 2019 at 23:10

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