I have been using my Apple ID account for over 10 years. I registered it with my Gmail address and my primary phone number. I am still using that Gmail and phone number, and no one has ever accessed my account. Currently, I am logged into my iPhone 15 Pro and Watch Ultra. Suddenly, my phone displayed the message: "The Apple ID is not active." I contacted Apple Support via chat and visited the link iforgot.apple.com , following the instructions. But a few hours later, I received an email from Apple stating: "We’ve reviewed your request, and access to your account ( [email protected] ) has been denied." After that, I tried everything, but my Apple ID account is still unusable. I contacted Apple Support multiple times, but they couldn’t help me. I am truly disappointed and don’t understand what has happened. I called Apple Support many times, and each time the staff gave me the same unclear answer, saying that my Apple ID is permanently deactivated. There is no way to back up all the data on my iPhone to another device because if I do, the deactivated Apple ID will transfer as well. Additionally, all the photos and videos I paid to back up on iCloud are now gone forever. I paid Apple to store my photos, believing that iCloud was safe, and now I've lost everything. I am really disappointed and exhausted. I thought using iCloud was safe, and now this is the result I get. More on reddit.com

When it’s locked, the password can be reset &/or the account unlocked. The attempts to logon over & over will LOCK THE account. What happens when you attempt to reset the password? More on reddit.com

Account recovery is a two phase process once started. Phase 1 is the evaluation period, usually 24-72 hours but can be longer or shorter. This phase says Apple is evaluating your info and you’ll get an update after the posted time is over (people mistakenly think it means they’ll be able to reset the password immediately after this first phase.) Once phase 1 is done it enters phase 2 where https://iforgot.apple.com/ will give you the final amount of days (can be weeks) you’ll wait. On that final day you’ll get a text/call, follow that text/call immediately. If you don’t receive the text or call, once the period specified in the original email is over, you can still go directly to apple.com/recover. Follow the instructions to regain access to your Apple Account. During the wait period make sure you are carefully following “After you start account recovery“ at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204921 If you started your account recovery in Settings, System Settings, or the Apple Support app, you can continue to use that specific device during the account recovery period. Regardless of how you started the account recovery request, you should turn off all other devices that are currently signed in with your Apple Account until account recovery is complete. If your Apple Account is in use during your request, your account recovery will be cancelled automatically. If you started your account recovery request with iforgot.apple.com through your device’s browser, you should avoid using that device during this period. If possible, turn that device off. Using that device might cancel account recovery. (Stolen with permission from u/Grimlocklou ) More on reddit.com

It takes a day to receive the email telling you what your wait time is. Wait time can range from 4-28 days depending on what caused the account to lock, what information you were able to provide them to request the unlock, and how backed up that team is. There is no way to speed that process up. Whatever you are told it is, that’s what it is. More on reddit.com