iCloud cannot sign in. maximum number of free accounts have been activated on this iPad

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Error Message: "Cannot sign in.  The maximum number of free accounts have been activated on this ipad/iphone"

I encountered the same problem when I purchased a used iPad for my elderly father and couldn't set it up for him. I called Apple Support...

Apple support could NOT help me. I was told there is no way to circumvent the 3 icloud setup limit on iOS devices at their end. I was told to use a different mac or iOS device that hadn't met the 3 x limit.

So, using MY iPad I tried to do that. At first I went to Settings/iCloud. But that is your PRIMARY iCloud account    (and this was MY iPad and I didn't want to screw up my own settings!) which you don't want to trash.

After some online research (iMore to be exact) I discovered you can setup a secondary iCloud account using:

Settings/Mail,Contact,Calendars --> Add Acount... -->iCloud --> Get A Free AppleID --> Birthday Q then Security Question - then Name - then Get a free iCloud email address....

After you get to the new iCloud settings page at the end of the signup process - I deselected all the tabs which made the new account "inactive" on my iPad.

Next I went to the used iPad that had the initial problems, and tapped on Settings/iCloud. I signed in with the iCloud account that was newly created and was able to then get an iCloud account to work!

I left the new iCloud account showing on my own iPad (under Mail,Contacts,Calendars) as it is inactive. I am not sure what would happen if I deleted it - it may stop working on my father's iPad then.