Unable to use old iCloud address (probably deleted)

An Apple iCloud specialist just unlocked the impasse at their end & enabled me to create a new iCloud email address on my phone. I'm now able to log in to appleid.apple.com & access my iCloud mailbox at icloud.com with this new address as well.

He did confirm my original iCloud email address has been taken by someone else (hence the unrecognizable phone number).

Thanks again to everyone who tried to help me out!

Sunthar

The https://iforgot.apple.com page recognizes the iCloud Apple ID, but tries to verify my identity by requesting my phone number. However, the last 2 digits that it shows for the correct phone number, do not correspond to my current mobile number nor to my obsolete home landline.

I'm beginning to wonder whether my old iCloud email address, which was working before I deleted it, has been taken by someone who shares my first name and initial of last name. I don't recall having used this secondary address as my Apple ID.

Is there some way of finding out whether that address now really belongs to someone else?

Perhaps, I should create a new iCloud address after all, as I'm being prompted to do...

Thanks so much for sticking with this!

Sunthar

Hello Michael,

Now that I have an iCloud email address that I'm using across my Apple devices (iPhone, iPad) and Windows 10 PC, I wanted to use my my new iCloud address (instead of my Yahoo! address) to sign in to iCloud for Windows. However, the latter does not allow me to use my iCloud address as an alternate login ID. At appleid.apple.com, my iCloud address is merely listed as an alternate email address ("reachable at"), not as an alias. While I'm able to log in to this website using either address (and the same password for both), there seems to be no provision for more than ONE Apple ID, not even an alias.

Has Apple changed its policies, or am I missing something here? Is there any advantage in logging in to iCloud for Windows with my new iCloud address (instead of my current Yahoo! address as ID), e.g. for synchronizing contacts, calendars, etc.?

Thanks,

Sunthar

Postscript: Friends,

Why would I want to delete my iCloud email address, when it could have been simply left unused (for the time being)?

Uneasily racking my brains, I'm unable to reconstitute the event cognitively but, emotionally, the desperation of that act has not been entirely forgotten. Whereas I assumed above that someone else hijacking my original address has been why even a new (suggested) address could not be created, it is starting to make more sense that it was the opposite that happened...

After successfully creating that address and accessing its mailbox in iCloud, I probably discovered that it already belonged to someone else. It's even likely that what drove me to attempt deletion, which I recall as not having been easy, was that messages started to arrive that were clearly not meant for me. New to this ecosystem and fearing that the owner might accuse me of having hijacked his address, I was perplexed & did not attempt to reach out to Apple support.

One might object that it would have been technically impossible for me to create an iCloud address that already belonged to someone else? But then, is it more technically feasible for someone else to have hijacked the (same) address I had created? The Apple advisors with whom I chatted this week were just as confounded and had to escalate the issue to an iCloud specialist, who was likewise unable to account for what exactly had happened as the result of my errant behavior...

In any case, I do hope Apple has closed any technical loopholes that might allow (re-) creating an already taken address.

Sunthar

Definitely not! I've never used anyone else's number or email for security purposes.

It's allowed me to get to the password field. Problem is I don't remember the password. If I respond "forgot" & reset, won't be able to retrieve verification email as I have no access to that iCloud mailbox. What do I do?

Thanks for your timely help!

Hello Michael,

Thanks for your suggestion.

I'm not trying to recover my Apple ID. My current ID, based on my primary (Yahoo!) email address has been fully functional for years on my previous iPhone, current iPad, Windows PC, etc. I'm merely trying to add an iCloud email account to my existing Yahoo! and Gmail accounts, but want to use the same (now obsolete) iCloud address. I do not recall having used it as my original iCloud ID, though this might be possible (my deleting that address on iCloud online might be related to this...).

If someone else has indeed taken possession of that iCloud address after I had abandoned it, the only option left for me, it would seem, is to create and use a new iCloud email address (without in any way affecting my current Apple ID).

Sunthar

Michael,

On my previous iPhone SE 2016 (personalized for my wife to be handed over), I attempted to follow these instructions:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201487#help

Again, the Apple Support app requests the associated trusted number ending in 2 digits that do not correspond to any phone numbers we've used before. So, I could not have created an Apple ID based on my lost iCloud email address. Instead, I must have deleted my original (secondary) iCloud email within my current account (based on my Yahoo! email address). Since then, someone else has used the same abandoned email address as Apple ID to create their own account. Is this reasoning correct?

If so, instead of wasting more (not just my) time trying to reuse it, I might as well create a new iCloud address.

I appreciate all the helpful replies received and so quickly.

So, I decided to create a new iCloud email address on my SE 2020, but each time I get the message "Problem Turning On Mail: There was a problem turning on your email, try again." If I try my old address, get the same reply that it's already taken, and now attempt any of the alternatives proposed (combinations based on my first & last names), I still get the previous message.

When I log in to iCloud online and click on the Mail icon, it immediately says "To use iCloud Mail, create a new email address by turning on Mail in your iCloud settings using iOS or MacOS". Which brings me back to where I started above!

What you say above makes sense, but if I could not have deleted my iCloud address (I still vaguely recall trying to do something of the sort until it disappeared from my online account...), where has it gone? Something seems amiss here...

Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice :-)

Sunthar

PS. Unfortunately, Apple Support online has not been available for the past couple of days.