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I have an Apple ID tied to my work email. It is tied to a phone number that I no longer have access to and have forgotten. Employer now want me to set up my new work phone with an Apple ID tied to the same email, but when I try to, I can’t get past the need to have access to or remember that old trusted phone number. Can this be solved without having to change my email address?
iPhone 12
If you need a verification code, see if anything here helps. If necessary, you can use account recovery as explained in the link at bottom of the article.
Verification code - how to get one and sign in with two-factor authentication. *
If you can get a code and sign in, you need to change/add the number on your Apple ID. Look in the Security section when signed in online. You may have to add the new number before you can remove the old number. After the change, allow up to 24 hours for the change to sync. Before trying to make the change, sign out of Messages/FaceTime on all devices/computers.
If you need a verification code, see if anything here helps. If necessary, you can use account recovery as explained in the link at bottom of the article.
Verification code - how to get one and sign in with two-factor authentication. *
If you can get a code and sign in, you need to change/add the number on your Apple ID. Look in the Security section when signed in online. You may have to add the new number before you can remove the old number. After the change, allow up to 24 hours for the change to sync. Before trying to make the change, sign out of Messages/FaceTime on all devices/computers.
The first link above is ways to get a verification code so you can sign into your Apple ID. It has nothing to do with changing your password. If you can get a code, you can then sign into the link below the second paragraph and change the phone number on your Apple ID to the current phone number.
You can’t reuse the email address from a deleted Apple ID. From the Apple Support Support article below:
Can I use the primary email address for my deleted Apple ID account to create a new Apple ID or with another existing Apple ID account?
No, once your Apple ID is deleted, you can't use the email address that you used with it to create a new Apple ID. In addition, you can't use that email address with another existing Apple ID except as a rescue email. Also, if your primary Apple ID email address is with a Custom Email Domain, it can never be reused to create an Apple ID after your Apple ID is deleted, even if the domain ownership changes.
Contact Apple ID Support for assistance. See the Apple Support articles below for contact information.
Apple ID - Official Apple Support. -
Contact Apple for help with Apple ID account security - Apple Support. * (Link doesn’t always load)
Get Support - Work through the screens to get a chat option. You may have to pick a slightly different problem.
Apple Support schedule phone call. -
From the Apple Support article below.
Without proof of your identity via security questions and other carefully selected criteria, Apple Support can't help you reset a password or perform any other actions on your account. These policies are audited and reviewed on a regular basis.
All of that seems to relate to resetting the password. I know the user name and password. I am just stuck with the "trusted phone number." that seems to be a single point of failure in this clever system. Apple just delete the account so I can set up a new one on the same email?
Well, yeah, if i was logged in to any other device with this account, we wouldn't be here. Since it is an account that has been unused for several years, there is no other device to get me the verification code. So that leaves me out of options. Boy, Apple sure is clever.
I forgot my trusted phone number for my work account. Can Apple reset it or delete my account?
