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Apple ID change

My current Apple ID is an email from my company that I retired from, so that email is no longer accessible. I wish to change my Apple ID to my new personal Gmail address. I tried to change my applied from the old work email to the new personal one and it said ‘this account is unavailable’. Somewhere over the years I must have setup an Apple account with my personal email.

My question is, if I deactivate my personal email account through Apple, can I then switch from my work email to my personal one?

I’d rather not go through the process of deleting my current Apple ID (work email) and then recreate a new Apple ID using my personal because I have too many devices ties to the old work one.

Thanks much in advance for any help.

Posted on May 22, 2023 4:43 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 22, 2023 7:19 PM

I suspect you can't do as you wish. Unfortunately Apple does not have a clear position statement about when you can re-use email address you have used with Apple before.


From: Change your Apple ID - Apple Support

"If you see a message that the email address you want to use isn't available or is already in use, check that you or a family member aren't already using that email address with a different Apple ID. If a family member is using that email address, remove it from their account then try to use it."


Although this next section discusses email address re-use in the context of deleting an account, it supports observations frequently posted on this forum about not being able to re-use an email address as an Apple ID once used previously as an Apple ID:


From: How to delete your Apple ID account - Apple Support

"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 [notification] 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."


And a related article about using iCloud email aliases - Add and manage email aliases for iCloud Mail on iCloud.com - Apple Support - "Note: You can’t delete or turn off a primary iCloud Mail address. You can’t use an alias to create a separate Apple ID, and an email alias can’t be converted to a primary iCloud Mail address."


If you still have questions or problems:


Refer to this document for ways to contact Apple --> Choose your country or region - Official Apple Support

Select your country (also look for "other" regions), then a product. If you don't see one that handles your issue then keep experimenting with selections until you reach one that gets you a chat session or a telephone call and get the representative to redirect you.


or:


Contact Apple for support and service by telephone --> Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support



3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 22, 2023 7:19 PM in response to Steelerken

I suspect you can't do as you wish. Unfortunately Apple does not have a clear position statement about when you can re-use email address you have used with Apple before.


From: Change your Apple ID - Apple Support

"If you see a message that the email address you want to use isn't available or is already in use, check that you or a family member aren't already using that email address with a different Apple ID. If a family member is using that email address, remove it from their account then try to use it."


Although this next section discusses email address re-use in the context of deleting an account, it supports observations frequently posted on this forum about not being able to re-use an email address as an Apple ID once used previously as an Apple ID:


From: How to delete your Apple ID account - Apple Support

"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 [notification] 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."


And a related article about using iCloud email aliases - Add and manage email aliases for iCloud Mail on iCloud.com - Apple Support - "Note: You can’t delete or turn off a primary iCloud Mail address. You can’t use an alias to create a separate Apple ID, and an email alias can’t be converted to a primary iCloud Mail address."


If you still have questions or problems:


Refer to this document for ways to contact Apple --> Choose your country or region - Official Apple Support

Select your country (also look for "other" regions), then a product. If you don't see one that handles your issue then keep experimenting with selections until you reach one that gets you a chat session or a telephone call and get the representative to redirect you.


or:


Contact Apple for support and service by telephone --> Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support



Apple ID change

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