Changing Apple ID to an existing account

I have my Apple ID tied to a business email which is going away. There is a monthly charge on that account for cloud storage. I have another Apple ID tied to my personal gmail account. I want to move the storage charge to the gmail Apple ID. When I go into my phone settings and try to change the Apple ID to the gmail account I receive a message “Email Used by Another Apple ID”. How can I merge the accounts or otherwise move all activity and my phone’s Apple ID to the Gmail related Apple ID?


iPhone 14

Posted on Apr 8, 2023 8:46 AM

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Posted on Apr 8, 2023 8:52 AM

You can't, well not easily. My first thought is to change the business ID to a third party address so you still have access to it, then set up Family Sharing on one of the accounts and subscribe to a family subscription level.


Merging Apple accounts (IDs) or transferring data is not officially supported. Read the links below for things you may need to do to transfer as much as is possible and to share some others.


Apps and media bought with one ID are permanently associated with that ID. Look into using Family Sharing to continue to be able to use items purchased with one Apple ID with other Apple IDs, and for some data sharing features.

- Family Sharing - What is Family Sharing? - Apple Support

- Set up Family Sharing - Set up Family Sharing - Apple Support


Share folders with iCloud Drive -->Share files and folders in iCloud Drive on iCloud.com - Apple Support


Read How to use Shared Albums in Photos on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac - Apple Support about how to share photos.


If you have signed into the first ID on a device then fortunately when you sign out of that ID, do not erase the device, then sign in with a different ID, it asks you in most cases if you wish to merge the data from the two IDs on your device. Say yes and later delete individual items from the other ID that you do not want. Note, in How to save apps and progress on one Appl… - Apple Community a Community Specialist says, "you will not be able to transfer the meta data from one Apple ID to another. Once you switch to another Apple ID the information associated with the old Apple ID will be gone except for physical content on the device like photos and videos."


Sign out of iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac --> Sign out of iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac - Apple Support


If another Apple ID is signed in you may need to enter the password for that ID to sign out of that ID first.


Click on this link to learn how to 'Sign in with your Apple ID' --> Sign in with your Apple ID - Apple Support



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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 8, 2023 8:52 AM in response to Mt615

You can't, well not easily. My first thought is to change the business ID to a third party address so you still have access to it, then set up Family Sharing on one of the accounts and subscribe to a family subscription level.


Merging Apple accounts (IDs) or transferring data is not officially supported. Read the links below for things you may need to do to transfer as much as is possible and to share some others.


Apps and media bought with one ID are permanently associated with that ID. Look into using Family Sharing to continue to be able to use items purchased with one Apple ID with other Apple IDs, and for some data sharing features.

- Family Sharing - What is Family Sharing? - Apple Support

- Set up Family Sharing - Set up Family Sharing - Apple Support


Share folders with iCloud Drive -->Share files and folders in iCloud Drive on iCloud.com - Apple Support


Read How to use Shared Albums in Photos on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac - Apple Support about how to share photos.


If you have signed into the first ID on a device then fortunately when you sign out of that ID, do not erase the device, then sign in with a different ID, it asks you in most cases if you wish to merge the data from the two IDs on your device. Say yes and later delete individual items from the other ID that you do not want. Note, in How to save apps and progress on one Appl… - Apple Community a Community Specialist says, "you will not be able to transfer the meta data from one Apple ID to another. Once you switch to another Apple ID the information associated with the old Apple ID will be gone except for physical content on the device like photos and videos."


Sign out of iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac --> Sign out of iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac - Apple Support


If another Apple ID is signed in you may need to enter the password for that ID to sign out of that ID first.


Click on this link to learn how to 'Sign in with your Apple ID' --> Sign in with your Apple ID - Apple Support



Apr 8, 2023 9:05 AM in response to Mt615

I have my Apple ID tied to a business email which is going away. There is a monthly charge on that account for cloud storage. I have another Apple ID tied to my personal gmail account. I want to move the storage charge to the gmail Apple ID.


No, that is not possible.

Your business email is normally yourname@company.xxx

Your business email with the monthly charge for cloud storage, is pay by the company where you work.


If you no longer work for that company, that company has already deleted your work email address. This is done as soon as you have left the company so that you can no longer log in. You no longer have any rights there.

An deleted email address, it is no longer valid, it simply no longer exists and it no longer works.

You may not be able to change that email work address because it is no longer exists.


Your Apple ID is the personal account you use with all Apple products and services. It includes the email address and password you use to sign in, as well as the contact, payment, and security details that you use with Apple.

You can’t merge multiple Apple ID accounts.


See -> Sign in with your Apple ID -> Sign in with your Apple ID - Apple Support

 


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Changing Apple ID to an existing account

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