How to permanently remove expired email addresses from Mac, iPad, and iPhone?

Question

Level 1

23 points

How to permanently remove expired email addresses from Mac, iPad, and iPhone?

I'm using an M1 Mac mini, iPad 5 and iPhone 8 and the problem I have affects all of them. In November 2022 Virgin Media without notice or explanation ended my @virgin.net email account and as a consequence I lost all my email addresses which I had accumulated over years. I could get no response from Virgin after my query into what had happened to my inbox with all the information contained therein. This has caused enormous problems in communicating with friends, relatives and businesses. In addition to all the inconvenience I have experienced a further problem has persisted to the present day: the automatic use of my expired Virgin email address whenever I want to create login details for other websites. For instance, when I tried to share a You Tube video with a friend, I was immediately taken to Virgin, and told to sign in or create an account. The other day when I was trying to open an account with a financial services company, the Virgin email address was loaded automatically as part of my new log in details. At further inconvenience to myself,I have been able to get around this problem by using a Gmail address instead. This defunct Virgin email address appears to be buried deep somewhere in the Mac system and I haven't been able to remove it. My query therefore is "DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO REMOVE OLD EMAIL ADDRESSES WHICH NO LONGER WORK FROM THE SYSTEM WHICH KEEPS USING THEM" I would be extremely grateful to anyone who can help me

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: GETTING RID OF UNWANTED EMAIL ADDRESSES

Mac mini, macOS 26.2

Posted on Jan 25, 2026 1:41 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 25, 2026 9:55 AM in response to CONFUSEDOAP

It sounds like you may still have information for that account in several places but that your primary issue may be that your Virgin account is still set as your Apple Account primary email address. Try these things:

First, Change your Apple Account primary email address - Apple Support. Then, it may not be necessary but I would wait 5 minutes and then power off and back on all of your devices.
Once back in your Mac, open the Messages app, then click the Messages menu > Settings > iMessage. If you still see your Virgin address listed under "you can be reached at", uncheck it. Also make sure that the "Start new conversations from setting" is set correctly.
Next, click System Settings > Internet Accounts > click the reference to your Virgin account > click "Delete Account..." and confirm.
Then, open the Contacts app and find any contacts for yourself. View and edit each to remove any reference of that old Virgin account.

I would repeat all of these steps except for (1) on all of your Apple devices and hopefully this will eliminate the references of that old account.

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Answer 2

Jan 28, 2026 5:07 AM in response to CONFUSEDOAP

the pesky @virgin.net still crops up whenever I'm asked to use my email address as part of my login credentials. In fact, when I first tried to log in to the Apple Support Forum, it automatically inserted my @virgin.net email address which it hasn't done before for this website.

What you describe here is likely caused by either your browser's password storing feature or the Passwords app. One of those two is likely storing and filling passwords for you. Every browser is different in where those settings are. What browser were you using when that email auto-filled (i.e. Safari, Firefox, Chrome, etc.)?

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Answer 3

Allan Jones

Level 9

79,676 points

Jan 25, 2026 9:53 AM in response to CONFUSEDOAP

Is this an issue with the Apple Mail app or some other way of accessing and managing emails?

This worked when my old email service went dark. If Apple Mail, this may help. In Mail, select the "Windows" menu and choose "Previous recipients." USe its search pane to see if your old email shows in the list displayed. If it shows your previous address, use the "Remove from List" option.

If you are using another mail client, like MS Outlook or Thunderbird, you need to contact them for advice.

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Answer 4

CONFUSEDOAP Author

Level 1

23 points

Jan 28, 2026 12:11 AM in response to FishingAddict

Thanks for your help but I've tried everything you suggest and the pesky @virgin.net still crops up whenever I'm asked to use my email address as part of my login credentials. In fact, when I first tried to log in to the Apple Support Forum, it automatically inserted my @virgin.net email address which it hasn't done before for this website. In trying to sort this out, I've inadvertently encountered another another problem, that of passwords, which is another mega problem in connection with which I'll have to raise another request with the Apple Support Forum.

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