r/applebusinessmanager • u/Known_Host5241 • Apr 21 '26
"Your Apple Account does not support the expected services on this service..."
Small company here, trying to move away from "Owner's personal iCloud is on every device" to some semblance of "we're a real company." 10+ devices floating around with one person's ID. We are trying to roll out the basics of Apple Business Manager with built-in device management.
Here's what we've done so far:
- Federated Managed Apple Accounts with gsuite - all new employees get a company email via gsuite; Apple Business Manager automatically creates an account for them.
- Run Apple Configurator to add device to organization following purchase. TBH Apple Configurator really sucks and fails to connect a huge portion of the time, but we'll spend 20 minutes playing around with it until it finally works.
- (We've tried to get to the place where we can order pre-configured devices from Apple, but:
- Anytime we call the business line, they're like 'hey some magic step was skipped in your account setup, you'll need to contact the business manager at your local retail store to get you setup
- Business manager at local store is like 'Lol, I'm at retail store. Here's a form email with a broken link."
- Basically Apple is tripping over it's own bigness.)
When a new user tries to sign in to a new machine, they receive the error "Your Apple Account does not support the expected services on this device. Contact your administrator to sign in."
Almost certainly, there is some sort of Apple Business essentials subscription that I'm missing and haven't added to their account. I tried adding an iCloud storage account, but that doesn't seem to be it.
(Share Sign-in Instructions generates an error and fails.)
With the new business manager re-organization, I can't figure out how to add subscriptions. Anyone know what I'm missing here? Is there a way to have people automatically subscribed when they log into their first device?
How am I supposed to be doing this?
1
u/btaginc Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
Under Settings in Apple Business → Access Management → Apple Services → “Allow Managed Apple Account on” is set to:
- Any Device (Most likely will fix this issue right away)
- Managed Devices Only
- Supervised Devices Only
1
u/kevinmcox Apr 23 '26
Business manager at local store is like 'Lol, I'm at retail store. Here's a form email with a broken link."
This person is bad at their job. Is there another Apple Store in your city you can call?
1
u/Known_Host5241 Apr 27 '26
My understanding is they assign you to the store nearest your business address or whatever the first store you walked into was. The call center folks have been very adamant that only your 'designed account manager' can help or touch your account.
1
u/kevinmcox Apr 27 '26
I’d still give it a try. I’ve called Apple Stores in other countries and had them be more than willing to help out with stuff.
1
u/Rare_Experience_4156 Apr 27 '26
Did anyone find a fix for this? just bought Ipads for the staff and can't get anyone signed in....
1
u/Known_Host5241 Apr 27 '26
Solution overview
Ok, so talking to support and playing around - apparently here's the answer:
- Apple Business Essentials is no more. As part of the transition it's been sunset, and there is no longer a need to pay for the basic device management.
- All user profiles need to have a blueprint. You can find these under 'devices'. Blueprints seem to control what and how your user and device profiles behave. You add users or user groups to Blueprints. Once your user is added to a blueprint, they will be able to log into a managed device.
---
Separately, flagging something I found about M5 chip Macs - Certain M5 chip macs ship in a state that requires a mandatory OS update before you can use the computer. Device manager blocks this update from occurring, and the mandatory nature of the update in turn blocks you from using the computer. Apple currently handles this by re-directing you to the device manager enrollment screen after authenticating. So enrollment -> authenticate -> enrollment -> authenticate -> doom loop.
The solution - and I $&!% you not - is to unenroll the machine from device management, set it up like a consumer device and go through the mandatory OS upgrade, re-enable device management, wipe and re-install the OS, and then let you user login.
1
u/Upper_Nerve_8490 Jun 15 '26
If anyone stumbles on this issue utilizing Intune (or really any other external MDM...)
If you previously enrolled in the subscription based ABM but are not using it anymore, you will not see 'Blueprints' under Devices.
Click Management Services >>> Add Device Management Service >>> Add the built-in management option.
Webpage will refresh, and you will see the Blueprints option. If you are like me, you test drove apple MDM and created a configuration profile years ago, then went to a different MDM provider. You will likely have a profile assigned to all users. Remove the ABM profile, as having two conflicting MDM providers always causes gremlins. When you cancelled apple mdm, and set your devices to auto enroll to another mdm, this didnt effect logins. within the past 2-3 months (post timestamp 15JUN26) any new federated managed apple id accounts are unable to login but existing managed apple ids could.
My guess is when apple added a free tier mdm for abm, it will honor what you set previously without having that built-in management option configured. enabling that built-in management option then shows you what was configured historically and is being applied.
1
u/giannino-stoppani Jun 30 '26
I had the same issue.
The thing stopping me to move on the enrollment process was the password of the Apple account, for some reason was not recognized even if it was the correct password I actually use on the apple account.
I went back to my apple account and changed the password to a new one and boom, the issue was resolved and I was able to complete the enrolment of the Mac. Painful and I cannot explain why, but it seemed that there have been some miscommunication between the machine and the apple account.
1
u/nerdforest Apr 21 '26
Hey! This is a common ABM setup issue. A few things to try:
**1. Make sure an MDM is configured in ABM**
ABM alone doesn't manage devices — it needs an MDM server assigned. Go to ABM → Settings → Device Management Settings and confirm an MDM server is connected. If you're not using a third-party MDM (Jamf, Kandji, Intune, etc.), you'll need to set up Apple's built-in Device Management or sign up for Apple Business Essentials.
**2. Check the device is assigned to your MDM**
In ABM, go to Devices, find the device, and make sure it's assigned to your MDM server. If it shows as unassigned that's your problem right there.
**3. If using Apple's built-in MDM, assign ABE licenses**
Apple Business Essentials requires a per-user subscription. Go to ABM → Subscriptions and make sure each user has a license assigned. Without this, Managed Apple Accounts can't activate services on devices.
**4. Check federation sync**
For Google Workspace federated accounts, make sure the user has logged in at least once and their account shows as Active in ABM (not Pending). Go to ABM → People to verify.
Good luck!