Fix “This iPhone is already activated. You may disconnect this iPhone now.”

Some Apple iPhone or iPad users may experience a problem when they attempt to plug in their device to their computer and sync it with iTunes where a message repeatedly appears that says:

“This iPhone is already activated. You may disconnect this iPhone now.”

To move past this message and allow your device to be synced, follow these steps.

MacOS

1. Close iTunes.
2. From the Finder, select “Go” > “Utilities” > “Terminal“.
3. Type the following, then press “Enter“:
   • defaults delete com.apple.iTunes StoreActivationMode

Windows

1. Close iTunes.
2. Hold the Windows Key, then press “R” to bring up the “Run” dialog box.
3. Perform one of the following steps:
   • For 32-bit versions of Windows, type the following, then press “Enter“:
     C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.exe" /setPrefInt StoreActivationMode 0
   • For 64-bit versions of Windows, type the following, then press “Enter“:
     C:\Program Files (x86)\iTunes\iTunes.exe" /setPrefInt StoreActivationMode 0