iCloud (and now iCloud+) is the cloud storage space from Apple. Unlike traditional cloud storage servicesicl, the primary purpose of iCloud is to synchronize apps and files across your devices. However, you can access iCloud through website and manage your files like any other storage service. One frequent problem you face with iCloud is seeing a message like “app locked due to account maintenance”. This will prevent you from opening the apps and in this article, we will check some of the fixes you can try to resolve this problem in iCloud.
iCloud Web Apps
Go to iCloud.com website and login with your Apple ID. Generally, you will be prompted to grant access using a two factor authentication sent to your device. Enter the six digit code and login to your account. Your iCloud account comes with some default apps like Mail, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, Reminders, etc. You can access your files and edit online using these apps to sync across your devices.
App Locked Due to Account Maintenance
Though it is easy to use iCloud apps, you will frequently see the locking issues due to account maintenance. This problem happens when you try to open apps like Pages for editing files. You will see a warning message reading “Pages is locked. Due to account maintenance, Pages will be unavailable for the next hour”. When you have this problem, it will happen for all the apps and you will not be able to view or edit them using the iCloud apps.
The only option in the warning pop-up is to click “OK” and close it. After closing the pop-up, you will see a warning symbol in the app icon and showing it offline.
How to Fix App Locked Due to Account Maintenance in iCloud?
If this is familiar to you, here are the options you can try to fix the issue.
1. Check System Status
Sometimes, Apple services could be down preventing you from accessing the apps in iCloud. You will see a message like below reading iCloud has stopped working and an error has prevented this application from working properly.
This could easily confuse you as iCloud website is accessible while the apps are down for access. However, Apple offers different services for the apps in iCloud and hence there are possibilities that a particular app is down while other are up and working fine. You can also use the official Apple system status page to find all iCloud related services are up and working. As you can see, there are different services for iCloud apps and you can check the status of “iCloud Web Apps (iCloud.com) for Pages, Keynote and Numbers.
All system statuses are updated live and green status indicates the service is up. Whenever there is a maintenance or system down, you can click on the corresponding service item to view the details in a pop-up. If the system is down or under maintenance, you have no other options to wait until it is up and accessible.
In addition, you can use any third-party website monitoring services for checking whether iCloud.com is up or down for public access.
2. Switch to Safari
If you see the account maintenance and app locking issues in Windows, try using Safari browser in your Mac or other Apple devices. Even if you are using Google Chrome in Mac, logout from your account and try with Safari browser. good part is that Safari will automatically try to login to iCloud account when you enter Mac admin password.
- Open iCloud.com website in Safari and click on “Continue with password” button.
- Enter the admin password for your Mac and click “Continue” to login to your iCloud account.
- Now, check whether you can access iCloud web apps without any problem.
3. Disable Ad Blocker
Ad blocker extensions are so popular that many of us use to block advertisements. However, these ad blockers can do block services that are needed for accessing iCloud web apps. No matter whether you use Safari, Chrome, Firefox or Edge – make sure to disable ad blocker extension in your browser. alternatively, you can whitelist iCloud.com website so that it works properly with ad blocker enabled. After that refresh the page and check if you could access the apps without locking problem.
4. Edit Files Online
This is an alternate option for editing files online when you can’t apps like Pages.
- When you are in iCloud web access, tap on iCloud Drive icon.
- Browser through to locate and open your file. If required, you can upload a new file to iCloud Drive.
- Double click on the file to edit with corresponding apps.
- This will open the file within the browser and you can start editing online.
- Modifications will be saved automatically and available across all your devices.
5. Logout of iCloud on All Browser
In our case, we started seeing the account maintenance warnings after logging into iCloud account from Windows laptop. If you are using multiple devices to login to iCloud account, first logout from all browsers and login again to check the apps are accessible.
- When you are logged in to iCloud account, click on the “Account Settings” link showing below your name.
- Scroll down on the settings page and click on “Sign Out Of All Browser” link.
- Confirm the pop-up by clicking on “Sign Out” option.
6. Contact Apple Support
If nothing else works for you then the last option is to contact Apple support. However, you should have a valid maintenance support for your device serial number. Go to Apple official support page and select “Apple ID” category. Then select “iCloud, FaceTime & Messages” option to get the call back or schedule a meeting with support team.
Final Words
Apple iCloud is a reliable service for synchronization and cloud storage. However, it could create problems like locking apps and showing irrelevant account maintenance warning. We hope one of the above listed options helped to fix your issue. Also, make sure to have a valid payment method is added in your iCloud account before you try fixing the issue.
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