My child recently turned 18, but Apple still treats the account as belonging to a 16-year-old and requires my approval for new app downloads. We discovered that the birth year on the account is incorrect. My child submitted a request to correct it, and Apple sent me an email asking me to review and approve the change. However, the approval page asks for a verification code that is being sent to an old landline number I no longer use. My current mobile number is listed on my Apple Account and is shown as the trusted verification number. Although I cannot receive Apple's code at the landline, I receive a text from PayPal around the same time. Entering that code results in a "date of birth could not be changed because of a server error" message. This happens every time. We have already tried Apple's standard birthday-update process and confirmed that my mobile number is listed wherever we can find it. Is there another way to verify the change or correct the birth year?
2 Answers
Check the account’s trusted phone numbers and sign-in security settings from the Apple Account page, not just the contact information on the device. Remove the obsolete landline if Apple allows it and make sure the mobile number is confirmed as a trusted number. If the old number cannot be removed because it is required for verification, that usually has to be resolved through Apple’s account-recovery or support process. The server error may be a symptom of the failed verification rather than a problem with the birthdate itself.
Start with Apple’s official process for changing the birthday associated with an Apple Account, but don’t use a code from another service. The PayPal text is unrelated, even if it arrives at about the same time, so it will never authenticate the Apple request. If Apple continues sending its code to the old landline or the birthday update repeatedly fails with a server error, Apple Support will likely need to correct the trusted-number or account-verification issue manually.
We already followed the official birthday-change steps, but the verification problem happens every time. We’ll avoid using the PayPal code and contact Apple Support if there isn’t another account setting we can change.