iCloud and Facetime - can't log in.

[PapaPiccolino]

Hi everyone. I have come to the conclusion that Apple has dropped support for iCloud and Facetime (either wholly or in part) in Mavericks and Yosemite. I have tried logging in to iCloud and Facetime on the following computers and OS's without luck :

1. Mac Pro 3.1 - Mavericks
2. MacBook Pro 2008 - Yosemite
3. iMac 2009 - Yosemite

For all the above, I never get past the ID and password, as I am forced to enter them again and again, sometimes receiving many verification codes, none of which work, or not receiving any codes at all, despite being told that a code will be sent. I am able to log in to iTunes and the App Store no problems - I use the same Apple ID for iTunes, App Store, FaceTime and iCloud.

The Mac Pro in 1. above is fitted with 4 hard drives, one which has Mavericks as previously mentioned, another has El Capitan. I can log in to Facetime and iCloud perfectly on the El Capitan drive.

Thanks

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Everyone else seems to be having trouble with Facetime on Mavericks, but it has consistently been working fine for me, and it continues to do so. I don't understand why.

iCloud works for me too, except for syncing "Documents and Data". I've been using SyncThing to sync files between computers, and it's been working pretty well—I'd be happy to share the setup I've created for that, if anyone is interested. (It's on a long term list of Mavericks-related projects I want to share...)

 

[PapaPiccolino]

Thanks wowfunhappy. Based on my experiences, both Facetime and iCloud are completely broken on Mavericks and Yosemite. Heck, I can't even log into the Apple Support Communities to post my question there, as I get the same endless log in loop as I described above.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

And all I can say is it's working here, so it can't be completely broken. ?‍♂️ I would like to help, although I'm not sure how.

I never get past the ID and password, as I am forced to enter them again and again, sometimes receiving many verification codes, none of which work

I wonder... have you by any chance tried https://osxdaily.com/2016/08/23/login-apple-id-two-factor-auth-old-ios/ ?

 

[PapaPiccolino]

Hi again. Thanks for that. I guess when I said "broken" I meant broken on my end.

Thanks for that link. Yes, what is suggested therein is exactly what I have been doing over and over again. In fact, as I type this, I just tried logging into iCloud. I got three different verification codes, and none worked. Frankly, I long for the days of OS9. The Apple of my youth is very different to the Apple of my declining years. I realise the OS has more functionality now, but it used to be such a friendly, affable, forgiving and enjoyable OS. Now Apple is worse than Microsoft IMO. I fail to see why they can't give consumers the choice to have or not have things like two factor auth. It's wholly unnecessary for folks like me and a complete PITA.

 

[PapaPiccolino]

I should also add that versions of early OSX, up to Snow Leopard, were pretty OK as well.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Have you tried/considered calling Apple? I wouldn't mention Mavericks up-front.

 

[PapaPiccolino]

Hi again. No, I won't be calling Apple. I just don't see what it would achieve. I started using Macs in the computer lab at University in 1987. I bought my very first Mac in 1998. I've never called Apple once. I'm very confident that the problem is on Apple's end, although I doubt they would consider it a problem. They will almost certainly tell me to just upgrade my OS.