The built-in storage capacity for your iPhone may not be enough to allocate all your added files especially if you’re fond of downloading complex apps and multimedia contents on your device. But since iOS devices don’t have SD card support for extra storage, users would have to make use of iTunes or iCloud storage. For seamless backup process, iCloud is a better option. In order to use iCloud services, you will need to set up iCloud on your device by entering your Apple account credentials or Apple ID and password. Once you’ve set up the service, you’re all set to save or sync files to your iCloud account.
Nevertheless, there are instances when iCloud failed to work as intended. And this is the main issue that we’ll attempt to address in this post. Read on to find out what to do if iCloud doesn’t work or keeps prompting errors like Authentication failed, unsupported ID, and other relevant errors on your iPhone 7.
For owners who are looking for a solution to a different problem, drop by our troubleshooting page for we have already addressed some of the most common problems with this device. Browse through the page to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work or if you need further assistance don’t hesitate to contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire.
How to troubleshoot iPhone 7 with authentication issues
Before you begin to troubleshoot your device, verify if iCloud is available in your current location. iCloud is not available in all regions or countries. Also check and ensure that you haven’t reached or exceeded your iCloud storage limit. The 5GB free iCloud storage for your account might have already been used up, hence you can no longer backup files. Aside from storage, also check the current status of iCloud services from the Apple Support status page/site. Doing so can help you save time and effort from doing unnecessary troubleshooting especially if the service is currently down.
And if necessary, free up some space by deleting unwanted contents or buy more storage for your account. If that doesn’t help, then you can proceed and try any of these troubleshooting methods.
First solution: Reboot your iPhone (soft reset).
If it just occurred that iCloud stops working or shows an error on your iPhone 7, then it’s probably just among other random errors that can easily be remedied by a reboot or soft reset. Here’s how a soft reset is done on your iPhone 7:
- Press and hold the Power button until the slider appears.
- Drag the Slide to Power off right to turn your iPhone completely off.
- After about 30 seconds or so, press and hold the Power button again until you see the Apple logo.
A soft reset or device restart does not affect any saved data on your iPhone’s internal storage, thus won’t result to data loss. All it does is to clear minor software errors that might have triggered random issues to occur on your device including iCloud errors. It also helps wipe out cache from your iPhone memory for faster and better performance.
Second solution: Turn Wi-Fi off and then on again.
Network services may not become available at some point because of network connectivity issues. Your iPhone’s network functions, particularly the Wi-Fi feature may be having some minor glitches that make the connection unstable. As a result, network services including iCloud syncing are afflicted or not working properly. The simplest way to deal with minor Wi-Fi issues is by turning Wi-Fi off and then back on. This old trick has already done wonders to many people who succumbed into various types of Wi-Fi errors on their respective iOS devices before. Hence, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try this time and see what happens then. Here’s how it’s done:
- Tap Settings.
- Select Wi-Fi.
- Tap the Wi-Fi switch to turn the feature off for a few seconds and then tap the switch again to turn Wi-Fi back on.
Alternatively, you can access and toggle the Wi-Fi shortcut icon through the Control Center. You can also try turning Airplane Mode on and off shortly on your device. This does the same thing as restarting wireless functions of your iPhone. Wireless connectivity features of your iPhone are automatically disabled when Airplane mode is turned on, so be sure to turn it off again to re-enable Wi-Fi and other relevant functions.
Third solution: Reset network settings on your iPhone.
Network functions may also be halted by network settings errors on the phone. This is usually the case after installing a software update that’s programmed to automatically clear or override the current network settings on the device. There’s a chance that some options would have conflicts and eventually results to network problems. To clear this out, resetting the network settings on your iPhone 7 can help. Doing so will erase network settings from the iPhone and then restore the default options. After the reset, you can set up your Wi-Fi network like the first time you do so. Here’s what you can try doing next:
- Tap Settings from the Home screen.
- Tap General.
- Scroll to and tap Reset.
- Select Reset Network Settings from the given options.
- If prompted, enter your device passcode to continue.
- Then tap the option to confirm network settings reset on your iPhone 7.
Your iPhone will restart by itself as soon as the network settings reset is finished. After the restart, the original network settings are loaded. To use Wi-Fi services, you’ll need to enable Wi-Fi, set up and then connect to your Wi-Fi network.
Fourth solution: Update iPhone to the latest iOS version.
New iOS versions released by Apple are not only offering new features but also contain fix patches to address existing problems affecting different iOS devices, particularly those that are inflicted by random bugs and malware. Updates also offer system enhancements and remedies to certain functions that have suddenly gone unstable. Installing the latest update on your iPhone can therefore, potentially fix iCloud issues and errors. That said, check for any available OTA update to download and install with these steps:
- Tap Settings from the Home screen.
- Tap General.
- Tap Software Update.
You will see an update notification prompt if a new iOS version is available for download. If there is, then follow the onscreen prompts to instigate downloading and installation of the latest iOS update file on your iPhone 7.
Make sure your device is connected to Wi-Fi internet and has enough storage space and battery life to complete the entire updating process. You can also update your device using iTunes on a computer, if you don’t see the update in the list of apps or having some troubles updating via over-the-air.
Fifth solution: Sign out of your iCloud account then sign in again.
Like emails, iCloud functions may be likewise halted by invalid logins or account-related errors. If iCloud doesn’t work on your iPhone 7 and that you’re seeing an authentication failed error or other error prompts attributed to account issues, then performing the following steps can help:
- Tap Settings from the Home screen.
- Tap your name above the Apple ID, iCloud, iTunes & App Store section.
- Scroll down and then tap Sign Out.
- Enter your Apple ID password, if prompted.
- Then tap Turn Off.
- If you prefer, you can turn on the data that you want to keep a copy of on your device.
- Then tap Sign Out twice to confirm that you want to sign out of iCloud.
Reboot or soft reset your iPhone 7 and then head back to settings and sign into your iCloud account again.
You can also try signing into the Apple ID account page and see if you can sign into your account using the same credentials (username and password). If you cannot sign in, then you can reset your Apple ID account password by following the given instructions on that page.
Other options
Contact Apple or iCloud Support team for further assistance in performing more advanced solutions to resolve whatever issue there is to deal with for your iPhone 7 iCloud services to work properly again. You may have to set up iCloud again on your iPhone 7.
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If you need more help with the use of certain functions and features of the Apple iPhone 7 smartphone, feel free to visit our Tutorial Page. There you can find a list of how-to contents, step-by-step tutorials, as well as answers to FAQs regarding iPhone 7. If you have other concerns or encountered some troubles while using the phone, you can reach us through this form. Just be sure to tell us more details of the problem or device issue(s) you may have and we will be more than happy to assist you further.