I am retiring and losing my company phone with a unique Apple ID. I want to transfer the fitness data from that Apple ID to my personal phones Apple ID. How can I do this?
[Re-Titled By Moderator]
iPhone 13
Unfortunately your request was too much to fit into one post...
If you absolutely must use a different account, this will entail data loss. No choice. Some data (and I suspect your fitness data falls under this) cannot be transferred between accounts. Other can, with difficulty. Apple has no formal account merging or transferring process. The things below will help you in doing ongoing or one-time transfer of as much as possible from one account to the other, but some things can never be transferred (namely purchases), only shared.
You can use various iCloud sharing features for some ongoing data sharing.
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.
Sharing music playlists —> How to share an Apple Music playlist on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support
Apps and media bought with one Apple account are permanently associated with that account. Look into using Family Sharing to continue to be able to use items purchased with one Apple account with other Apple accounts, and for some data sharing features.
- Family Sharing - What is Family Sharing? - Apple Support
- Set up Family Sharing - Set up Family Sharing - Apple Support
The next section may sound tricky but it lets you merge some things on a device where you have already signed in with an old account but want to use a new account and incorporate data that is already on the device from the old account. Incidentally, the data will then propagate to other devices using iCloud with that new account. (I haven't tried this with a computer but it may also work with two computer accounts signed into the old and new account.)
If you have signed into the first Apple account on a device then fortunately when you sign out of that account it asks you if you wish to retain the data from the old account on your device (toggle the ones you want to on). If you keep data on the device then when you sign in with the other account it will merge this data with the account signing into the device. You can later delete individual items from the old account that you do not want. Similar information can be found in this post: I have 2 apple IDs i want to merge them h… - Apple Community , and a step-by-step in this User Tip: How to “unshare” an Apple ID - Apple Community . Note that only content physically present on the device such as contacts, photos and videos will be retained. Meta data such as a game play scores that are tied to a specific account or are only on a vendor's Apple Account-specific database remotely will not be retained. 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 so the full quality versions from the old account are actually on the device before merging the content into your new account. Manage your photo and video storage - Apple Support You can turn optimization back on again once you are fully using your new account on the device.
Even though apps may remain on a device and may work for a while, you will not be able to update them or redownload them unless you buy them again with this account or download them with this account using Family Sharing.
Sign out of iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac --> Sign out of iCloud on your devices - Apple Support
Unfortunately your request was too much to fit into one post...
If you absolutely must use a different account, this will entail data loss. No choice. Some data (and I suspect your fitness data falls under this) cannot be transferred between accounts. Other can, with difficulty. Apple has no formal account merging or transferring process. The things below will help you in doing ongoing or one-time transfer of as much as possible from one account to the other, but some things can never be transferred (namely purchases), only shared.
You can use various iCloud sharing features for some ongoing data sharing.
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.
Sharing music playlists —> How to share an Apple Music playlist on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support
Apps and media bought with one Apple account are permanently associated with that account. Look into using Family Sharing to continue to be able to use items purchased with one Apple account with other Apple accounts, and for some data sharing features.
- Family Sharing - What is Family Sharing? - Apple Support
- Set up Family Sharing - Set up Family Sharing - Apple Support
The next section may sound tricky but it lets you merge some things on a device where you have already signed in with an old account but want to use a new account and incorporate data that is already on the device from the old account. Incidentally, the data will then propagate to other devices using iCloud with that new account. (I haven't tried this with a computer but it may also work with two computer accounts signed into the old and new account.)
If you have signed into the first Apple account on a device then fortunately when you sign out of that account it asks you if you wish to retain the data from the old account on your device (toggle the ones you want to on). If you keep data on the device then when you sign in with the other account it will merge this data with the account signing into the device. You can later delete individual items from the old account that you do not want. Similar information can be found in this post: I have 2 apple IDs i want to merge them h… - Apple Community , and a step-by-step in this User Tip: How to “unshare” an Apple ID - Apple Community . Note that only content physically present on the device such as contacts, photos and videos will be retained. Meta data such as a game play scores that are tied to a specific account or are only on a vendor's Apple Account-specific database remotely will not be retained. 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 so the full quality versions from the old account are actually on the device before merging the content into your new account. Manage your photo and video storage - Apple Support You can turn optimization back on again once you are fully using your new account on the device.
Even though apps may remain on a device and may work for a while, you will not be able to update them or redownload them unless you buy them again with this account or download them with this account using Family Sharing.
Sign out of iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac --> Sign out of iCloud on your devices - Apple Support
If at all possible, a much better solution is to change hte ID on the current account.
The support article Change your Apple Account primary email address - Apple Support outlines various methods for changing the email address (Apple ID) you use for your Apple Account while retaining everything in your account.
If you have an iPhone or iPad:
1. Go to Settings, then tap your name.
2. Tap Sign In & Security.
3. Next to Email & Phone Numbers, tap Edit.
4. Tap the Remove button next to the email address, then tap Delete.
5. Tap Choose Another Email Address and enter your device passcode if asked.
6. Enter the new email address, then tap Continue.
7. Enter the verification code that was sent to your new email address. Read this support article to learn what to do if you didn’t get the email —> If you didn’t receive your verification or reset email - Apple Support
8. If you encounter issues with certain services after doing this, this outdated support article may still have useful suggestions --> What to do after you change your Apple ID or password - Apple Support
Refer to the support article Change your Apple Account primary email address - Apple Support :
- If you don’t have an iPhone or iPad, the support article says to, “go to https://appleid.apple.com and sign in. Then follow the onscreen instructions to change the email address associated with your Apple ID.”
- For general information, and other issues such as changes or addresses not being accepted.
- Note a recent change to the article where you can now change the email address without having to have access to your old email account.
Transfer fitness data to another from an Apple Account to other.
