"Email address is already verified for another Apple ID" Problem

I got this fixed today using iTunes Store Support Express Lane (https://expresslane.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.do?PRKEYS=PF4). Had an online chat session with a rep who got it fixed for me. Took about 10 to 15 minutes. It needed their intervention as it's not something that one can currently do oneself (deleting a previously verified email from an Apple ID does not disassociate it from that Apple ID which is the root of all the frustration).

I just spoke to Apple, and they were able to solve my problem.

Here's how it played out. In the beginning, prior to mobile me, etc., etc., I set up my Apple ID as follows:

Original Apple ID: andrew

E-mail address: foo@example.com

I then created a New Apple ID after signing up for iOS 5: foo@example.com as the Apple ID

This led to a problem where no verification e-mail was being to sent to foo@example.com

What I did was as follows:

Logged in as foo@example.com

Changed the e-mail address for foo@example.com to qwerty@example.com

Received verification e-mail at qwerty@example.com

From the verification e-mail, logged in using qwerty@example.com as the Apple ID (not foo@example.com).

After that step, I was able to free up foo@example.com

Then...I signed into appleid.apple.com as andrew and have foo@example.com and andrew as the same thing (they give you an option to do this) when you login as bar).

Here's how I solved this problem:

I had two Apple IDs, one was firstlast@mac.com and the other was flast@gmail.com. I was primarily using flast@gmail.com (for purchases, etc.), but I could never verify the email address associated with it because Apple claimed it was already associated with another Apple ID, but I had no other IDs, or so I thought. I was able to change the primary email address and ID to f.last@gmail.com (which will go to the same inbox), but I couldn't add flast@gmail.com back. Again, Apple claimed that email was already associated with another ID.

When I went through the "Not sure if you have an Apple ID?" process using flast@gmail.com, Apple emailed me a reset password link for a completely different ID of [firstlast], which I don't remember signing up for, but which was apparently associated with flast@gmail.com (either I signed up for it and don't remember or Apple at some point split my ID into two). I logged into that ID, changed the email to f_last@gmail.com, then logged into my f.last@gmail.com account and successfully changed it back to flast@gmail.com and verified it.

Here's how you might be able to fix your problem:

1. Go through the "Not sure if you have an Apple ID?" (at http://appleid.apple.com) process using the email you want to verify
2. You'll get an email asking you to reset your password; follow the directions to reset your password
3. You'll get an email confirming the password reset, and it will state:

   The password for your Apple ID [yourID] has been successfully reset

4. Log into http://appleid.apple.com using the ID you see in the email using the new password you just set and change the email associated with that ID

5. Sign out and log into the account with the email address you want to verify and verify it

Good luck and God speed.

PS - once you set your alias for the support community, you can't change it, so chose wisely.

- fjklafdsla

1. Figure out what Apple IDs you have.

2. Remove the emails you want to use from each of them. (Just make a temporary one if you have to)

3. Change them one by one back to what you want them to be.

Apple my be in the process of refreshing them on their end, so it may not work right away.

I basically used my MobileMe email with my original Apple ID, which messed it up, because I changed it and it still was registered with it. I removed the emails from both my original Apple ID and my iCloud account, then re-added the ones I wanted to use with each. You CANNOT use the same email with both at this point, though I imagine it may be something we can do in the future.

The result?

I have and original Apple ID with a username and password of name@gmail.com, and an iCloud account with a username and password of name@me.com.

I simply switch everything over to the iCloud, with hopes we can merge in the future.

I hope that answers questions.

I was able to restore access to my iTunes account in a very round about way. There apparently is something broke on the back end of the Apple authentication engine.

I changed my Apple ID to another email address that I have and is working. I then was able to verify the address and log into Apple to manage my account. I manage my own domain and email server so I have some flexability in solving the issue. I created a new email account apple@<domainname.com> and then registered that account with Apple ID and verified the account. Once I was able to verify the email account I was able to change the primary account name to the apple@<domainname.com>. I need to update my Apple devices with the new iTunes account but this was the quickest way to resolve my issue.

When i did try to verify the orignal account (5 years old) I got a message that is it associated with another apple ID. This is probably true because I have used mobileme and now iCloud which would have my Apple primary email / id associated to it. I was not sure how to remove that association.

It appears that may with the introduction of iCloud that a dark cloud is passing overhead. It is very clear that from all the posts that something is broken on the backend. I love the Apple products but when it comes to getting real time on the phone support forget it.

Apple Support hopefully you are reading the posts and now have a clue on where to look to fix this.

I had the same problem &amp; called the 1 800 number, a long wait but good service and it is all fixed for me now. The service guy said they are crazy busy since the iOS 5 came out, but normally an Apple Rep would be on this discussion advising on solutions. Save yourself the stress and just phone them. He waited on the phone with me until the fix was complete and I tried logging in and downloading an update to an app to make sure the apple Id's were sorted.

I posted earlier that I called Apple and they fixed it manually... Good service just a long wait on hold. You can find your country's number on the apple web site support page under Contact Us

I went to the support page on the web site and picked my country from the list and dialed that number. The option I chose was iPad even though that wasnt the issue, but none of the options seemed to be correct. I was still able to get the help i needed from a great guy from Atlanta, Georgia. :) hope this helps.

I'm in the same boat. Before I became a .mac subscriber, I had an iTunes account. It's just an account name, not an email address. This iTunes account is considered an Apple ID.

Later I became a .mac subscriber. Apparently this is also an Apple ID, though I never used it as such, only to sync contacts, bookmarks, etc.

Eventually .mac became MobileMe, so Apple ID xyz@mac.com and xyz.me.com are essentially the same ID, plus I have my iTunes account. All is well.

Then FaceTime comes along. It asks for me to put in my Apple ID and I put in my original Apple ID/iTunes account. It asks me what email addresses I want to be contacted by. I put my MobileMe address as one of them. Unbeknownst to me, it was linking those email addresses (verifying them) to my old Apple ID.

Then today iOS 5 comes out. I move my Mobileme account to iCloud, no problem. Setup my Mobileme address as iCloud on my devices, but go back and change the Store account to use the old original Apple ID.

All is well, until I decide to activate iMessage. Here is where I made a mistake, not really my fault, but I chose to use my iCloud/MobileMe account instead of my original/old iTunes/Apple ID. So then when it asks what email address I want to be contacted at, I try to put in my MobileMe, but it says that it's already in use. I'm like ***?????

So I go to appleid.apple.com and pull up my old iTunes/Apple ID account. Sure enough, the mobileme email address is listed as a verified email.

So I figure, hey, I'll just delete it here, then it should let me add it back to the mobileme based Apple ID for which it's named.

Nope, no dice. Still says it's in use. Even though it's not. Now I can't even add it BACK to where it was before, on the old iTunes Apple ID. It says it's in use on another account.

I think I can say that that right there is a bug. If I remove it off an account, it should then be available to add to another account. But that's not happening, now it's in limbo, seemingly never able to be used again.

I did read in another thread, that someone was able to get help from MobileMe support. They were able to free up the email address to be used again as a verified address for an Apple ID, but it took like 3 weeks to get resolved.

This is a total cluster f---.

I'm in IT, at least I can kinda figure out what's going on here......I feel sorry for all the customers out there pulling their hair out over this.

If Apple would just let me transfer my iTunes purchased to my MobileMe account, that would fix this. But at least fix your system of deleting verified emails from Apple iD's.......

Like many here, the problem I had on 10/12 was that I could not verify the xxx@me.com email address for my xxx@me.com Apple ID. I believe the reason is that my old Apple ID called simply xxx, which had xxx@me.com as the primary and verified email address, did not "unverify" xxx@me.com when I removed this email address from xxx Apple ID and replaced it was xxx@hotmail.com.

I did the chat support and the person could not help me but claimed to "report the issue to a senior advisor". I lost hope.

On 10/13 I went into "manage Apple ID" and logged into the broken xxx@me.com Apple ID and noticed that the xxx@me.com was now verified and apps like Find My Friends started working! Somebody fixed it behind the scenes, becuase I never tried to verify again, it was verified magically.

It may be conincidence, but another thing I did was to rename my old xxx Apple ID to match the primary email address for that Apple ID, which is xxx@hotmail.com. I've seen several apps and webpage advise that my Apple ID should be the same as my primary email. It's possible that when I made this change it fixed my xxx@me.com problem.

Hope that helps!

Hi,

So apple does have instructions on their support page for the problem and it was kinda simple to follow. Click on their link: http://support.apple.com/kb/HE68

Follow the second bullet point (dropdown)

How to edit or change your Apple ID and primary email address

Then enjoy your new apple id without interference from your old verified email address connected to your other apple id

Cheers!

I just got an email from a MobileMe senior advisor saying that:

"This was due to a temporary iCloud service issue, and we have made an attempt to repair your account. xxx@me.com should now be set as the primary email address on your account now, so you should be able to use all of the iCloud an iOS services now."

And it's true, it's all fixed for me. Given the personal attention my issue raised, this experience has left me liking Apple more, not less. Way to go Apple.

The number is different in each country here is the link to the list of numbers http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57 pick the number you need from there

Help! I'm having a similar problem with a slight twist.

Pre-iOS5/iCloud I had 2 Apple IDs. The one I was using on my iPhone 4 & iPad was my gmail address. The other was a (now dormant) MobileMe Apple ID dating back to my first iPhone 3G and the year I signed up for MobileMe - but I did not renew. Anyway, the primary email address on my MobileMe Apple ID was the *same* email address as my other Apple ID account. So that was a problem.

The problem stuck up it's ugly head when I upgraded to iOS5 and tried to get access to iCloud on my iPhone & iPad devices. I kept getting 'Account not verified' messages. So I logged onto AppleID.apple.com and asked it to resend the verify email. Never got it, after many, many retries. Checked my gmail spam, not there. Changed the primary email address on my MobileMe Apple ID account to an old hotmail account. The verify of my hotmail email address worked. But I still could not verify my gmail Apple ID account.

Finally I got frustrated and not finding any answers on the web, I changed the Apple ID on my gmail Apple ID account *from* my gmail address (which has a period in it) *to* my gmail address without the period. As far as email address goes, gmail considers this to be the same address. But Apple.com saw it as a different email address and I *did* receive a verify email. Great! I now was able connect to iCloud on both my iPhone and iPad.

Then the next problem hit! I can no longer update my prior App Store purchases! The App Store doesn't think I own them! This is *really* bad!!! I have considerable time and money invested in the apps I have on my iPhone and iPad. So I thought, "Forget iCloud, I just want to update my apps"! But AppleID.Apple.com *will not* allow me to change my Apple ID account Apple ID *back* to the gmail address format with the period in it. So I'm stuck.

Anyone know how to fix this? This is not like Apple to put out an apparently half-baked and/or buggy change like this. Apple where are you?!

So I finally figured out a solution, but this might not apply to anyone else.

Basically I had four Apple IDs in circulation. All of them associated with the same email address. The one I had been using for the past two years was never verified, but for some reason I was still able to use it. I guess maybe because one of the four was verified I was able to slip through the system?

So what I ended up doing was selecting the "Not sure if you have an Apple ID?" and it listed the accounts I had connected to the email. I changed my old ones to another email address, leaving just my current one. I clicked the "verify" option, email came a minute later and now everything is good.