Apple Says iCloud Terms Can Be Accepted on Web After Viral Tweet [Updated]

[MacRumors]

Apple today shared a new support document explaining how to accept iCloud terms and conditions for an Apple TV without owning an iPhone or iPad.

Apple says customers who do not have an iPhone running iOS 16 or later or an iPad running iPadOS 16 or later can accept the new terms and conditions on the iCloud.com website. The support document outlines the steps to take:

1. Go to iCloud.com, then sign in with your Apple ID.
2. If necessary, follow the prompts to review and update your account settings.
3. Review and agree to iCloud Terms and Conditions.

Last month, Google employee Chris Koch said he was unable to accept the new iCloud terms and conditions for his Apple TV since he did not own an iPhone, iPad, or any other Apple device. He noted that he tried signing into iCloud.com at the time, but said he was not prompted to accept any new terms and conditions on the website.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1614794516309118977

While it's a simple workaround, Apple evidently felt this issue was worth addressing in a support document after Koch's tweet received nearly one million views. In a follow-up tweet, Koch said signing out of his Apple ID account under Settings → Users and Accounts → [Name] → iCloud and then signing back in led him to be prompted to accept the new iCloud terms and conditions directly on his Apple TV, with no other device needed.

Update February 10: Apple has pulled the support document for unknown reasons.

Article Link: Apple Says iCloud Terms Can Be Accepted on Web After Viral Tweet [Updated]

 

[gaximus]

Why not show them on the tv with an accept button. My playstation can do that.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

The iCloud Terms and conditions should have a accept and decline button on AppleTV.

How hard is that to put it on there?

 

[avmsam]

Yeah why not just let them accept it on the AppleTV ?

Or if that's not possible then at least say in the popup it can be done on the web too.

 

[apparatchik]

Yeah why not just let them accept it on the AppleTV ?

Or if that's not possible then at least say in the popup it can be done on the web too.

I think they went back and fixed it, don't think it was possible. They realized the Apple TV doesn't require in the box to own another Apple device, it's no Apple Watch, and had to workout a solution. Sometimes Apple is too deep into the vision of everything working together they forget not every Apple TV owner has an iPhone.

 

[saudor]

The iCloud Terms and conditions should have a accept and decline button on AppleTV.

How hard is that to put it on there?

Apple probably thinks that's too much for the user to handle. Even making a mice with more than 1 button was a GIANT leap of faith back in the days.

 

[DoctorApple]

Apple probably thinks that's too much for the user to handle. Even making a mice with more than 1 button was a GIANT leap of faith back in the days.

But you have to accept ToS when you set up an Apple TV..

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

Apple UX at its finest.

 

[dumastudetto]

Don't buy an Apple TV if you don't want to properly exist in/commit to our ecosystem. SImple.

 

[rorschach]

Yeah why not just let them accept it on the AppleTV ?

Or if that's not possible then at least say in the popup it can be done on the web too.

They probably will but that will require a tvOS update. Likely just deployed this for the meantime.

 

[Gizmotoy]

I had to deal with this a month or so ago. My mother is not super tech literate and got locked out of her AppleTV. She does actually have an iPad, but it wasn't on the latest OS. Apparently its storage was full and so stopped auto-updating. I had her try logging in online, but it didn't work at the time. The only way to accept the terms was apparently with that device.

So I had to spend a bunch of time walking her through getting her iPad updated because Apple couldn't include a little "Accept" button on the AppleTV.

 

[Aaron44126]

My Apple TV has been nagging me but no T&C prompt appeared when I logged into the iCloud.com website. (I do have a phone with iOS 16, but the Apple TV is on a general/family account, and I haven't gone through the trouble to shuffle device accounts to make it happy.)

 

[6787872]

complete incompetence from apple

 

[kalafalas]

Why not show them on the tv with an accept button. My playstation can do that.

It literally says in the article it did the second time he tried. Must be a bug.

 

[Ace McLoud]

What kind of man does not own an iPhone?

 

[JosephAW]

It's incomprehensible to Apple that somebody might not on an iPhone that can run the latest iOS version.
But in reality there's millions of people still on iOS 12 and millions more running order versions of macOS or running running old Apple TV equipment.
Only a small percentage of the world can afford to buy the latest in the greatest.

 

[dannyyankou]

At the very least, put a QR code on the screen to access the terms and conditions on your phone

 

[svish]

Option should be made available to accept the terms on TV itself.

 

[zakarhino]

For me this scenario underscores how Apple's software team seemingly build/test for 'perfect environment' scenarios and don't bother (or care) about the evil outliers. Perhaps partly explains why so many people run into issues upgrading software versions on macOS unless they're running a hardly modified version of the direct predecessor to the new update.

Apple, start building new experiences and software for your 0.1% power users. They're the ones that will make new experiences for the masses anyway.

 

[msackey]

Why not show them on the tv with an accept button. My playstation can do that.

Exactly! That seems very dumb of Apple.

 

[patent10021]

Apple is definitely surfing Twitter on the low-down. Timmy can't resist either. Such hypocrisy.

 

[Pezimak]

Why not show them on the tv with an accept button. My playstation can do that.

PlayStation can do that, Xbox can do that, Android TVs and streamers can do that, and the majority of the market own Android phones. Apple must be special though.

Got to say this is a farce from them, it takes them this long to fix a glaring issue.

 

[CarAnalogy]

South Park episode comes to mind..

Remember, you agreed to this…

 

[TechnoMonk]

Finally! Apple screwed up bad on this whole fiasco. My old itunes account is the one I use for my Apple TV, and other common hubs. Just accept and click shouldnt be hard to implement on ATv.

 

[TechnoMonk]

What kind of man does not own an iPhone?

I don't use my main icloud account on Apple TV. I have a legacy Apple ID from iTunes, with all the music and purchases. Its convinient to have one common Apple Id for homekit/itunes or apps. It was asking me to sign out from my .Mac/iCloud to the old itunes account to accept the ToS. I want to fire the guy who thought this was a good idea.