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Change current Apple ID to another existing Apple ID?
- Thread starter scouser75
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yes,
I did this way back in 2015 and all you need the original email password.
I forgot the actual steps since apple is keeping on you using their things the process is simple.
hoped this helped!
I did this way back in 2015 and all you need the original email password.
I forgot the actual steps since apple is keeping on you using their things the process is simple.
hoped this helped!
Thank you. I tried this method, but was told the email address I selected already existed. It does as it's my email address and the email address I want to change to.
That's the thing. On the Apple ID I want to change the email address, I have the other email address and a gmail address. I want to add my existing iCloud address but am told it already exists so cannot use it
your welcome!
wanna hear something funny about this?
good-
I just complained to my neighbor about this email thing in jest just now stating that if apple can't help, how are we?
then I did a George Carlin-esque schpeel about a minute or so now
about how I have only 2 Mac while Cupertino has a building bigger than the pentagon which feature more computers
and mainframes than the planet combined and yet me and my macbok air with 8GB will solve problems Cupertino can't!
the neighbor just stared at me like I was 8 foot tall and told me I need to get out more.....
I hope you figure this out, that is the reason why we are all here.
even with apple's mega tech, they seem to miss a simple thing
I had 2 problems they could not solve that I eventually figured out.
wanna hear something funny about this?
good-
I just complained to my neighbor about this email thing in jest just now stating that if apple can't help, how are we?
then I did a George Carlin-esque schpeel about a minute or so now
about how I have only 2 Mac while Cupertino has a building bigger than the pentagon which feature more computers
and mainframes than the planet combined and yet me and my macbok air with 8GB will solve problems Cupertino can't!
the neighbor just stared at me like I was 8 foot tall and told me I need to get out more.....
I hope you figure this out, that is the reason why we are all here.
even with apple's mega tech, they seem to miss a simple thing
I had 2 problems they could not solve that I eventually figured out.
Alas, after having tried for the last hour or so, it seems it's a battle lost! I really don't think it's possible to do this without creating a new Apple ID.
The trouble is - if you have an existing @icloud.com email, then it IS on an Apple ID. It can’t exist without one.
Apple doesn’t allow @icloud.com emails to move from one Apple ID to another so yes, you’d have to use the one that it’s on.
So, right now, I'm using a non Apple ID. What I want to do is use an existing Apple ID to replace the non Apple ID. But I'm guessing that's not going to be possible? If not, I'll need to create another Apple ID to replace the non Apple ID?
Are you just trying to change a contact email address? People confuse the fact that their Apple ID uses an email address as a login identifier rather than say scouser75. Email addresses are unique, hence why they make decent login IDs.
If all you want to do is change an email address under which they contact you by, that can be done, you don't need to change your Apple ID.
Keep in mind that your Apple ID is tied to iTunes purchases, subscriptions, and AppleCare warranties, meaning that if you change your Apple ID, you will no longer be able to access that stuff using your new Apple ID. That information is tied to the Apple ID in which it was purchased under.
So be very clear of what your intentions here are. To change contact information, such as an email address, or literally change your Apple ID.
For example:
www.wikihow.com
If all you want to do is change an email address under which they contact you by, that can be done, you don't need to change your Apple ID.
Keep in mind that your Apple ID is tied to iTunes purchases, subscriptions, and AppleCare warranties, meaning that if you change your Apple ID, you will no longer be able to access that stuff using your new Apple ID. That information is tied to the Apple ID in which it was purchased under.
So be very clear of what your intentions here are. To change contact information, such as an email address, or literally change your Apple ID.
For example:
Can You Change Your Apple ID Without Losing Everything? Learn How to Keep What You Need
How to change your Apple ID while protecting your apps and dataIf you want to make changes to your Apple ID, it's important to read a little more about the process before going through with it. That way, you won't lose anything unexpected....
www.wikihow.com
Right now, you're using an Apple ID based on an email other than @iCloud.com. If your @iCloud.com email is not on that Apple ID, then it is already another Apple ID and that's the one you'd need to use. Don't try to create a 3rd one - that's what got you into this mess to begin with, you created a new Apple ID as part of your @iCloud.com email address.
Except, if you want to change the email address to an @iCloud.com email - you can only do that if the @iCloud.com email is a part of that Apple ID already. If it's not, then the @iCloud.com email is part of a DIFFERENT Apple ID (all @iCloud.com emails are de facto part of some Apple ID upon creation).
So if that's the case - the OP has to choose; use their existing Apple ID or change to the Apple ID with the @iCloud.com email address. And yes, if they change to the new one - that means all purchase history, etc. stays behind on the old one. So the OP would need to maintain the password, etc. to the old account in perpetuity or lose those purchases.
Thank you guys for the helpful replies. But I must admit, my head's spinning with confusion 😵💫
The last thing I want to do is lose my purchases.
The account I'm trying to unsuccessfully add an icloud.com address currently uses a yahoo.com address and that's what shows on my Apple TV. And if I go to apple.id.com, I see this yahoo email address aswell as my Gmail address.
I'd I make a purchase of a film or music, I get email notification of this to my yahoo email. But I'd much rather it came to an icloud.com email so I can have all emails grouped under one umbrella - the Apple umbrella.
If I go to apple.id.com which has the yahoo email, and then add an icloud email address, will I get purchase emails sent to the icloud email as well as yahoo? Ideally I'd rather remove the yahoo altogether, but if it's needed, that's cool too.
The last thing I want to do is lose my purchases.
The account I'm trying to unsuccessfully add an icloud.com address currently uses a yahoo.com address and that's what shows on my Apple TV. And if I go to apple.id.com, I see this yahoo email address aswell as my Gmail address.
I'd I make a purchase of a film or music, I get email notification of this to my yahoo email. But I'd much rather it came to an icloud.com email so I can have all emails grouped under one umbrella - the Apple umbrella.
If I go to apple.id.com which has the yahoo email, and then add an icloud email address, will I get purchase emails sent to the icloud email as well as yahoo? Ideally I'd rather remove the yahoo altogether, but if it's needed, that's cool too.
Sorry, I cannot directly answer your question(s). However, curious, have you purchased any Apple devices in the past 90 days? If so, I would use the free Apple phone support option, to get this resolved directly...
The salient point about any @iCloud.com email address, is that it is ALREADY part of an Apple ID. You can't add it to a different Apple ID than the one it's already a part of. That's likely some of the source of your confusion, you're thinking of your @yahoo.com email and your @iCloud.com email as simply email addresses. But your @iCloud.com is also its own, separate Apple ID and the email can't be separated from that Apple ID.
The only way to get everything under that specific @iCloud.com address, is to log out of the Apple ID you're using from your @yahoo.com Apple ID and log into the @iCloud.com address. That means moving what you can (photos, messages, iCloud Drive) and abandoning what you can't (prior purchases, etc.)
One way to mitigate the loss is to put your @iCloud.com and your @yahoo.com under Family Sharing, with @iCloud.com as the Family Organizer. That will still require moving over to the other Apple ID as your primary, but it will let you access prior purchases as Family Shared purchases.
One other option - if you're not committed to that specific email address, but would be willing to start with a brand new @iCloud.com address - you could add a new @iCloud.com address to your existing Apple ID. Then, after 30 days, you can make that @iCloud.com address the primary on the Apple ID, and eliminate the @yahoo.com address. But, this has to be an @iCloud.com email address that has never existed, anywhere to do that. The steps to create that email are here.
That 3rd option would work a dream. Thank you. I'm not at all precious about the yahoo address. All I want is to:
a) keep my purchases
b) have an icloud email address so I can link it to my other icloud addresses and all purchase emails come on my mail app on iPhone and mac.
Yes, the only "Drawback" to that method is it won't be your existing @iCloud.com email, it'll be a brand-new one. But if that's not a show-stopper for you it's the best solution.
That's cool. Just gotta hope a decent ID is available 😂
Time to start keying in IDs on the tool.....
One option not mentioned is to merely forward emails from the one address to the address you wish to receive them under. For example, as a Comcast customer, I am given a Comacast email address that all my mail must come through. I also have a domain name hosted on a third-party site that allows me to send and receive email through Comcast under and email of my choosing.
I set up email forwarding from my Comcast email to my domain hosted email address, so all I ever see is the email address that I want to see. Pretty much any email service offers the ability to forward, even icloud. Mine is set up to delete the email once it is downloaded on my computer, so no storage of emails on the original or domain site to worry about.
So if you are currently getting stuff under a Yahoo account, you should be able to go into your Yahoo settings and forward those emails directly to your iCloud address. All your login IDs remain unchanged, but all your email correspondence now comes into one address that you have chosen.
This might be the only thing you are really looking to do, consolidate your emails to one tidy address.
I set up email forwarding from my Comcast email to my domain hosted email address, so all I ever see is the email address that I want to see. Pretty much any email service offers the ability to forward, even icloud. Mine is set up to delete the email once it is downloaded on my computer, so no storage of emails on the original or domain site to worry about.
Automatically forward email in Mail on iCloud.com
In Mail on iCloud.com, automatically forward emails to another account.
support.apple.com
So if you are currently getting stuff under a Yahoo account, you should be able to go into your Yahoo settings and forward those emails directly to your iCloud address. All your login IDs remain unchanged, but all your email correspondence now comes into one address that you have chosen.
This might be the only thing you are really looking to do, consolidate your emails to one tidy address.
Thanks pmiles. That's a top option too. But I think I'm going to take this opportunity to gradually make my yahoo account obsolete and simply use an altogether new iCloud ID.
Update time: I managed to create an 'alias' to my yahoo.com email address. Now on that iCloud account I can see the new alias @iCloud.com address. Would it be safe to swap the yahoo.com to @iCloud.com? Or should I still wait 90 days to prevent loss of purchases?
Purchases are tied to your Apple ID under which you made the purchase. You change or create a new one, all purchases associated with the old ID will not transfer to the new ID. The waiting period you are referring to is in regard to creating a new iCloud email address. Has nothing to do with past purchases.
Thanks mate. So, I think I've finally done this correctly:
I now have my Yahoo.com email address, which is what I use to purchase films from the US store. This would be my Apple ID, right?
Linked with this email address, I have my gmail email address, which is my recovery email. I only get emails to this if I log into the yahoo account to notify me its been logged into.
AND I now have an ALIAS iCloud.com address which is also linked to the Yahoo email.
So, am I correct in thinking that if I purchase a film using my yahoo.com account, I will also get an email receipt to both yahoo.com and iCloud.com?
UPDATE: I tested this and the answer is NO! If I purchase anything via yahoo.com emails are only sent to yahoo email address and not the iCloud alias.
BUT I cannot make my new iCloud.com alias my main email address as I will then lose my previous purchases?
Last edited:
Receipts are sent to the primary Apple ID addresses, not aliases. You need to remove your yahoo.com address and make your icloud.com address as your primary Apple ID. You might need to wait 30 days after it was created though. You will not lose your purchases. They are tied to your account, not the email address.
Change your Apple Account primary email address - Apple Support
Learn how to change the primary email address that you use to sign in to your Apple Account.
Thanks iStorm. I created the icloud alias yesterday, but to play it safe, I'll wait till 1st Feb to make it my primary email and demote the yahoo email.Receipts are sent to the primary Apple ID addresses, not aliases. You need to remove your yahoo.com address and make your icloud.com address as your primary Apple ID. You might need to wait 30 days after it was created though. You will not lose your purchases. They are tied to your account, not the email address.
Change your Apple Account primary email address - Apple Support
Learn how to change the primary email address that you use to sign in to your Apple Account.support.apple.com
Have been following this discussion with some interest because my Apple ID a gmail address (like user@gmail.com) and I have always wished it could just be user@icloud.com, which is what I always use for e-mail. I originally used my verizon e-mail address (user@verizon.net) however, Verizon shut down their e-mail service long ago (maybe 10 years?) and I setup the gmail address at that time just for the Apple ID - I don't use the gmail address for anything else. Back then, you were not allowed to use user@icloud.com for your Apple ID, but I believe they later removed that restriction and it was discussed in some threads here.
Anyway, whenever I make a change to my Apple ID, it's always a pain with multiple alerts on all my devices that require entering passwords, etc. That has pretty much scared me away from changing anything, especially since everything works as-is!
But a few days ago, an alert popped up on my Mac asking me to enter the password for my old AppleID (user@verizon.net). That was a mystery... and I don't see how it would be possible since Verizon no longer has e-mail. All I can think of is that it was triggered by accessing some old iTunes purchase? But everything still works after cancelling that alert.
Then, just now I restarted my phone and it asked for the same old iCloud password! It also asked if I wanted to add my phone number to iMessage - I already had, but I approved it anyway. That might explain why some text messages mysteriously stopped syncing on my phone recently but still work on my Mac. Why is this stuff so hard?
Anyway, whenever I make a change to my Apple ID, it's always a pain with multiple alerts on all my devices that require entering passwords, etc. That has pretty much scared me away from changing anything, especially since everything works as-is!
But a few days ago, an alert popped up on my Mac asking me to enter the password for my old AppleID (user@verizon.net). That was a mystery... and I don't see how it would be possible since Verizon no longer has e-mail. All I can think of is that it was triggered by accessing some old iTunes purchase? But everything still works after cancelling that alert.
Then, just now I restarted my phone and it asked for the same old iCloud password! It also asked if I wanted to add my phone number to iMessage - I already had, but I approved it anyway. That might explain why some text messages mysteriously stopped syncing on my phone recently but still work on my Mac. Why is this stuff so hard?