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

Hi Apple Family,

I agree this is a total CF. Like many have noted, I first started with Apple ID linked to gmail then later moved to MobileMe. This is so frustrating because: (1) we cannot merge Apple IDs, or (2) at the very least, be able to “un-verify” a primary email address, then associate it with another Apple ID. Because of this, my first Apple ID (with over a gig of music purchases) has a non-working email address listed as “primary.”

OK FOLKS I HAVE HAD THIS ISSUE AND FINALLY AFTER DAYS OF RESEARCH FIGURED IT OUT. IF YOU EVER HAD AN OLD ITUNES OR IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN AND YOU HAVE ATTACHED YOUR EMAIL TO THEIR ACCOUNT AT ANYTIME THEN THAT IS WHERE THE EMAIL IS ASSOCIATED WITH ANOTHER APPLE ID. I SUGGEST YOU CHECK TO SEE IF YOU HAVE OLD ACCOUNTS OR IF YOU HAVE ASSOCIATED YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WITH A FAMILY MEMBERS ACCOUNT. GOOD LUCK TO ALL.

Andrew, the difference is you has the foo@exmaple.com actually in use with another Apple-ID - I and as I understand it the others as well don't have it used anywhere and actually cannot use it anywhere else as the mac.com/me.com adresses are per definition an Apple ID in themselves.

Anyway, thanks for trying!

Hello, I'm new to forum but would like to share how I solved the problem. before I explain my situation. I have the ID danilo@tvbuteco.com.br primary email danilo@tvbuteco.com.br - when Apple asked me to check my email I had no access to this e-mail account and put innocence My MobileMe account as an alternative e-mail for that account. then I was like this: main account danilo@tvbuteco.com.br primary email danilo@tvbuteco.com.br unverified and verified alternate email lombardi81@me.com ok. now with the ios 5 icloud and migrated my account lombardi81@me.com MobileMe to icloud and started to have problems because I could not check e-mail lombardi81@me.com because it was associated with the account danilo@tvbuteco.com what I did? simple. I created an email in gmail. failapple@gmail.comdanilo@tvbuteco.com.br then I got the account and deleted the alternate email lombardi81@me.com normal until then. I tried to show the account lombardi81@me.com this email and he said that this email was associated with another ID. well, after deleting the alternate email account danilo@tvbuteco.com I saved and I log off. Yogis danilo@tvbuteco.com.br again in the same account and saw that really was not on most e-mail lombardi81@me.com what I did there? I changed the ID to danilo@tvbuteco.com.brfailapple@gnail.com after doing this I accessed gmail, I got the email confirmation of the apple and confirmed that account. ready. Yogis in there when I lombardi81@me.com account the primary email that was confirnado with another account that no longer existed, appeared as confirmed! Bazinga! this is a way to trick the apple. what I think happened is that by changing my id after deleting the alternate email he lost the reference and went on to release the e-mail to confirm again. Now the IMessage usso find friends and quietly in the iphone and the iphone with the account lombardi81@me.com I have helped you with this trick. hug danilo

Same problem... Spent hour chatting with support last night. They said that even tho i deleted an old email address from another iTunes account and then tried to add that one as my new alt email for my new apple ID / icould account, that they could still see it attached to the old itunes account... i asked if they could just wipe it from their end and i was told they could not do that. i asked for a supervisor to help me and when i was on hold i diconnected and have yet had the energy to try to get back through again. very very annoying. i need that old email address on my new apple ID for facetime, etc as well. untimately they are our email address and we should be able to do with them what we want and attach the to what we want... especially when it appears we have the option of deleting them from old IDs.... ugh!!!

Folks, things are happening behind the scenes I think.

I tried yet again to add an email for facetime and imessage (basically associate it with my mobile me Apple ID after I deleted the addy off my old iTunes store Apple ID), and it worked this time!!!

For the past 24 hours, it has been saying it was already in use, even after I deleted it using appleid.apple.com.

However, the address that was already verified on that account, my .mac address changed from verified, to not verified....and it's saying I can't use that address for iMessage, even though I have been using it for the last 24 hours!!!!!

I think this post can probably help everyone http://www.macstories.net/stories/ios-5-icloud-tips-sharing-an-apple-id-with-you r-family/ . The important thing I realized is that you can have different Apple IDs for different purposes within iOS5. I was previously getting the same error message when trying to add my iTunes ID to the Store section of the Settings. I finally resolved it by signing out of the old ID that I don't want to use under the Store settings. It then asked if I wanted to use the existing ID. I checked yes, entered my iTunes AppleID and everything worked fine.

Hope that helps.

I and so many of us are having the same problem. I spoke to Apple Care and they are aware of the situation. I was told that Apple is working on a fix for this but it might take a while so check within 2 days or so.

Hope that helps..

Sorry but you can't expect a dude at the genius bar to understand the back end issues apple is having with authentication, which is what is going on and has been discussed at great lengths even in this thread. What he means by magically fix itself overnight is that the Apple employees are working to resolve it but like everyone else, probably won't know it's fixed till its fixed

All you have to do is go on settings, click on either FaceTime or iMessage, whichever one your are having problems with. Click where it says "apple id", then click logout and log in with the email that you want to use. And after following all of the steps, you should be done.

I think the solution for completely remove old email from an apple ID is to make sure it is removed from iMessage and FaceTime. Log into iMessage and FaceTime on your device with the apple ID that the email still linked to, remove that email, sign out and in to verify. At this time the email should be freed to use on a new apple ID.

How do I change my iMessage Apple ID?

That's where I was. They are refreshing. Hold tight, they will free it up. I've been flipping out since the switch.

Exactly the same problem here. I now at least understand the problem which I guess is most peoples issues. My email: abc@gmail is associated with MobileMe and all my purchases on the Apple Store. This has now been migrated to the ICloud. As nobody told me I was going to have a problem, I blindly continued to use abc@gmail for my purchases including ITunes Match. I then migrated all my music to the ICloud which wouldn't work on my IPhone. I needed to use my MobileMe Apple id which is abc@me.com and the related email address with the same name. Somewhere on an Mobileme help page I final found the problem: "Note: If one of your assigned email-only accounts has migrated to iCloud, the email-only account can’t be deleted." Hence the reason it is alread verfied and blocked. 😠 Apple state the problem and provide neither any sensible advice, nor a workaround, nor a solution. In the meantime I have asked Apple support to transfer all my purchases to abc@me.com😟

hmmm, yeah, i currently have a similar problem. i created an Apple ID back awhile ago on my PC, for itunes, and now when i've got a Mac, when i try to login in with my previous old ID, it logs in but tells me my email's already in use and been verified?

Having the same kind of problem. After waiting 4 days for a responce from Apple, they told me to do exactly what I had already told them I had tried to do in my email along with the negative results. I replied but now I'm waiting again.

In the mean time, I am unable to purchase or update anything with my Apple ID.