If you frequently configure your iPhone and change various iCloud and ID settings, you may have to regularly get to the Apple ID screen which you can access by tapping your name from the top of the Settings window. But what if your Apple ID is greyed out?
At this point, you might wonder what did you do that triggered this issue, and if you should talk to Apple’s customer support team for a resolution.
The answer is, before going for any professional assistance, you can try a couple of solutions suggested here yourself and see if any of those can help you find the root cause and fix it.
How to Fix “Apple ID Greyed Out”
Some most effective solutions that have been helpful to many people facing the same problem are listed below.
Solution 1: Allow Account Change in Screen Time Settings
If you have turned on Screen Time and configured ‘Content & Privacy Restrictions’, the chances are that you have also enabled restrictions to make changes to the account. As a result, the Apple ID is greyed out and you cannot make any modifications to it.
The solution for this is to check and allow the user to change account settings even during the active Screen Time hours. The method of doing so is explained below:
- Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.
- Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.
- Scroll down to the ALLOW CHANGES section on the next screen.
- Tap Account Changes.
- Tap Allow on the Account Change screen.
- Exit the Screen Time app and see if you can tap your Apple ID from the top of the Settings window now.
Solution 2: Turn Off Screen Time
If the above solution fails to work, you can try turning off Screen Time altogether. When you do so, any restrictions that the Screen Time app has imposed on your iPhone are removed and the “Apple ID greyed out” issue is likely to get resolved. You can follow the steps given below to turn off Screen Time:
- Go to Settings > Screen Time.
- Scroll down to the bottom.
- Tap Turn Off Screen Time.
- Tap Turn Off Screen Time again when the confirmation box pops up.
- Check if the problem is gone.
Solution 3: Reset All Settings
Sometimes, Apple ID grayed out because of some settings you didn’t notice. Resetting all settings on your iPhone reverts all its settings to factory defaults without erasing your data and this may get things back to normal. However, the only thing that people hate about this solution is that they have to customize everything from scratch which might take a significant amount of time. Nevertheless, if Apple ID is greyed out and you can’t manage your device, this resolution is worth it. The method of resetting all iPhone settings is explained below:
- Go to Settings > General.
- Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone from the bottom.
- Tap Reset from the bottom of the next screen.
- Tap Reset All Settings from the list of options that pops up.
- Enter your iPhone’s passcode.
- Tap Reset All Settings when iPhone prompts.
- Tap Reset All Settings again on the confirmation box when it appears.
- Wait while all your iPhone settings are reset to their defaults and the phone restarts.
- After that, go to Settings and see if the “Apple ID greyed out” issue is fixed.
Solution 4: Check If Your iPhone Is Owned by a Company or School
If Apple ID is greyed out and none of the above solutions work, you may want to check if your iPhone is monitored by your company or school via Mobile Device Management (MDM). Generally, the screen you see will be like the screenshot below. If so, you can delete the profile and see if it works. You can learn how to do this by following the instructions given below.
Note: You may need permission from your school or company before deleting the MDM profile.
- Go to Settings > General.
- Tap VPN & Device Management.
- If available, tap the MDM profile (which has the name of your school or company).
- Tap Remove Management.
- Follow the on-screen instructions from there to get rid of the profile.
- Once done, check if you can tap your Apple ID from the top of the Settings screen.
Solution 5: Flash iPhone Software
After trying all the resolutions suggested above, if you still notice that the Apple ID is greyed out, you can use third-party software to flash the entire iPhone system without erasing your data. Because such dedicated applications use smartly developed algorithms, they show promising results in most cases.
One such tool that is considered to be efficient and reliable is AnyFix by iMobie. iMobie AnyFix can fix more than 50 iPhone, 40+ iPad, 20+ iPod touch, and 20+ Apple TV problems with merely a few mouse clicks.
When talking about learning how to flash iPhone software using AnyFix, the process is given below:
- Use your favorite Internet browser to go to the URL given above.
- Download and install iMobie AnyFix on your computer.
- Launch the program.
- Click System Repair from the main interface.
- Connect the problematic iPhone to the PC using a genuine Lightning Cable.
- Click to select the 50+ iPhone Problems option on the iPhone screen.
- Click Start Now from the bottom.
- On the next screen, click to select the Standard Repair tile.
- Click Standard Repair from the bottom.
- Click Download on the next window.
- Wait while AnyFix downloads the latest iOS version compatible with your iPhone.
- Click Fix Now when the download completes.
- Wait while AnyFix flashes the new iOS on your phone, fixing any issues that the previous one may have.
- Click OK on the Repair Completed window.
- Check if the problem is gone.
Note: If the issue persists, you can choose Advanced Repair to see if it works. If even that fails to help, you should go for the Ultimate Repair option. You must keep in mind that using any of these two methods will erase all your data from the device.
Solution 6: Restore iPhone to Factory Settings Using iTunes
Apple’s proprietary, iTunes works as the last resort to fix any issue that your iDevices encounters. When nothing works, you can use the software to factory reset your iPhone. When you do so, iTunes downloads a fresh instance of the latest firmware for your smartphone removes the current one and installs the new, error-free copy of iOS. However, all your data and settings are erased in this process.
You can learn how to fix ”Apple ID greyed out“ issue by factory resetting your iPhone using iTunes by following the instructions given below:
- Launch iTunes on your Windows PC.
- Use the genuine Lightning Cable to connect your iPhone to the computer.
- Wait while iTunes detects the phone.
- Click the iPhone icon from the top of the interface.
- From the right window, click Restore iPhone.
- Follow the on-screen instructions from there to allow iTunes to download and install the latest iOS on your device.
- Disconnect your iPhone from the PC when the installation completes.
- Set up your iPhone and continue using it normally.
Conclusion
If your iPhone doesn’t allow you to tap your Apple ID from the top of the Settings screen, you can try the above solutions to fix the issue. Because it could be challenging to know the exact cause that made your Apple ID greyed out, you may have to try each method, one at a time, until the problem is gone.
