I want to delete an apple account

I originally had one apple account for my kids, and now that they use ipads for school, I want to delete that old account and use their separate accounts for this.

Posted on Aug 13, 2023 10:26 AM

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Posted on Aug 13, 2023 10:31 AM

For information about how to delete your Apple ID account, read this support article —> How to delete your Apple ID account - Apple Support

Carefully and thoroughly read this for information about what happens when you delete your Apple ID account. For example:

"Make sure that you sign out of all your devices to avoid issues with apps that use your Apple ID account or iCloud. After your account is deleted, you can't sign out of iCloud or turn off Find My iPhone Activation Lock on your devices. If you forget to sign out, you might not be able to use your device when your account is deleted."



Takeing into consideration that purchses made with the old account cannot be trnasferred to new accounts and that if you delete the account they will not be able to redownload them or update them, you may wish to keep the account. Set up the new account (maybe have the old one kept by one child).


For a child (age varies according to country), read this support article about how to create an Apple ID for your child --> Create an Apple ID for your child - Apple Support


This support article tells you how to create a new, non-child Apple ID = create an Apple Account. --> How to create a new Apple ID - Apple Support


Merging, splitting or transferring items between Apple accounts (IDs) is for the most part 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 (toggle the ones you want to on). 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." Also turn off storage optimization before doing this. With Optimize Storage, smaller, space-saving photos and videos are kept on your device while all of your original, full-resolution versions are stored in iCloud. Make sure photo optimization is turned off. Manage your photo and video storage - Apple Support



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


1 reply
Question marked as Best reply

Aug 13, 2023 10:31 AM in response to Cbradyriley

For information about how to delete your Apple ID account, read this support article —> How to delete your Apple ID account - Apple Support

Carefully and thoroughly read this for information about what happens when you delete your Apple ID account. For example:

"Make sure that you sign out of all your devices to avoid issues with apps that use your Apple ID account or iCloud. After your account is deleted, you can't sign out of iCloud or turn off Find My iPhone Activation Lock on your devices. If you forget to sign out, you might not be able to use your device when your account is deleted."



Takeing into consideration that purchses made with the old account cannot be trnasferred to new accounts and that if you delete the account they will not be able to redownload them or update them, you may wish to keep the account. Set up the new account (maybe have the old one kept by one child).


For a child (age varies according to country), read this support article about how to create an Apple ID for your child --> Create an Apple ID for your child - Apple Support


This support article tells you how to create a new, non-child Apple ID = create an Apple Account. --> How to create a new Apple ID - Apple Support


Merging, splitting or transferring items between Apple accounts (IDs) is for the most part 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 (toggle the ones you want to on). 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." Also turn off storage optimization before doing this. With Optimize Storage, smaller, space-saving photos and videos are kept on your device while all of your original, full-resolution versions are stored in iCloud. Make sure photo optimization is turned off. Manage your photo and video storage - Apple Support



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


I want to delete an apple account

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