Changing AppleID

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Changing AppleID

The email that I used to create my AppleID is going away - the provider that I have used for 25 years is ending email support at the end of the year. I created a brand new @iCloud.com email address that is not associated with any other AppleID and am trying to change my AppleID to this new email address. When I log into my current AppleID and click on Change your Apple ID I just get the error message "You can only add the @iCloud.com address that is already on file in your account". I don't have a @iCloud.com address on file with my account nor do I know how to add one.

Posted on Sep 1, 2022 11:13 AM

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Answer 1

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Eric Root

Level 10

684,609 points

Sep 1, 2022 12:45 PM in response to StrangeBrewTatoo

The iCloud account you created is a separate Apple ID. You can't merge Apple IDs.

See if anything here helps with creating an iCloud account on your existing Apple ID.

iCloud: About your @icloud.com, @me.com, and @mac.com email addresses. *

iCloud - Create or change email aliases. -

Apple ID email addresses. *

Based on what I have read, I suggest you leave your Apple ID email address as a 3rd party email address because you have more flexibility if you need to change the email address. For example, if the Apple ID got compromised, you can change it to another address. I also have read of many people who were locked out of their accounts when they forgot their password. Since the recovery email address is the @iCloud email address, if you forget your password, you also can't access your email to get emails from Apple to recover your account. You can set a rescue email address, but for some people, this hasn't worked.

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Changing AppleID

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