locked out of Apple Developer account
I have a bunch of updates to products I need to do (and new products ready for release), but I lost access to the Apple ID that I set up about 15 years ago and haven't been using, except it is the owner of my developer account.
I have been going through their process to get my account back multiple times, and each time they have a ten day waiting period after which, for me, nothing happens. This is getting extremely frustrating and there seems to be no way of getting through to anyone that can help me there.
Has anyone here had a similar experience? And how did it get resolved?
The main issue is that the 2fa phone number for the account has lapsed (I don't have access to that anymore), and somehow I don't get their messages on the new one I have provided them...
Replies
Sorry, that sounds miserable. On your update: as far as I know, an App Store app transfer is started by the Account Holder of the sending account, so the new account alone will not get you the existing apps, you would still need the old one back for that. It is worth fighting for, because a new account means new app records, and you lose what the old listing carries: reviews, ratings, rankings. When I rebuilt my own app from scratch, I kept the old bundle id and the old App Store record for exactly that reason, so the listing carried over even though the code did not. While you wait, I would keep shipping new products from the new account and leave the old apps where they are until recovery comes through.
@gbasovv thanks for the insight and advise! Will do that
update: I am now just setting up a new dev account with the account I do have access to, so I can move along now, see whether I can move the apps there...possibly would need the account holder account for that too.
I am really quite disappointed in Apple's support here, and also the fact that it is even necessary - I have been connected to that apple account for 25 years, it is in a family group with my other Apple IDs, one of which is also connected to the same developer account - this should not be hard at all!
another update: I was on the phone with apple account support this time, after again reaching developer support who couldn't help me.
finding 1:
They have a pretty convincing speaking robot there now, which makes the uncanny valley worse for me but got my problem down surprisingly well:)
finding 2:
When I got through to a person I found the id-confirmation clunky, I had to spell out all my apple-ids even after the support person had found my account using my phone number, which was a bit strange to me and added unnecessary time and friction.
finding 3:
I was told that in my particular situation, other users experiencing similar problems with not getting through the automated systems, have had success doing the account recovery from the apple support app on someone else's device. So I borrowed my wife's iPad and went through it again there, and now I will be waiting another 10 days to see whether that took :)
will keep you guys posted - might help someone else in the future :)