how do i deactivate my account?

Welcome to the Apple community.

You cannot deactivate or delete your account, you can only sign out and stop using it.

*%#@!

Stopping use of the itunes account is not the same as delete an account. There are reasons why I might want to deleting my account.

1st, I may no long agree to their terms and conditions. By maintaining the account, I implicitly agree to their T/C.

2nd, I do not want them to use my information anymore. Certainly, I can't force them to delete it, but as long as the account is active, they must keep the record.

So the question stands, how do I delete my itunes account?

@getbentapple, if this is for a non-Apple / third party email address that's associated with your Apple ID for iTunes / App Store then I don't recommend that you delete/deactivate your account, as this would prevent you from being able to reauthorize your current/old devices and systems, should that ever be necessary, or authorize a new one, or retrieving/downloading previously purchased content, i.e. music, movies, ibooks, apps, etc. back to your computer or iOS devices. For example, if your system is repaired or replaced, you may not be able to reauthorize the computer to play your purchases after the repair. Also, you wouldn't be able to authorize computers that were not already authorized before you canceled the account. You may sign up for a new account in the future, but your new account will not play any of the songs or videos purchased with the canceled account (and you can't reactivate the canceled account). You should not cancel the account if you want to be sure you can continue to use your iTunes Store purchased content.

There are a couple of options that will allow you to retain full access to your past purchases while making your account dormant and preventing your account from being used to make additional purchases:

If you're using a non-Apple or third party email address such as Yahoo, Gmail, Live/Outlook, etc. then you can change your email address to another/anonymous email address that's not associated with your daily life. Then you can change your Full Name that's on file, your address, and remove your billing information from your account at any time so that it can't be used to make purchases. By doing this, you retain the ability to authorize old/current/new devices and systems to play the items you have purchased with the account, and you will still have the account open in case you decide to use it later. To change your email address, names, address and the billing information while keeping the account open, go to the Store menu in iTunes and choose View My Account. Log in, go to Payment Information, and in the credit card area choose the "none" option.

If you don't wish to follow the above steps, Apple, Inc. can disable your account, which will prevent it from being used to make purchases, but you will still be able to play the items you purchased with the account. You can also remove your billing information from the account if you wish.

If you would like Apple to disable (or cancel) the account, you'll want to send a message to the iTunes Music Store through the appropriate contact page at the URL below, by specifying that you would like your account to be disabled (or canceled). They should then respond with additional information some of which will probably be what I've provided above.

Contact iTunes Support by going to: http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/contact/ and choose Account Management > Managing or editing an Apple ID.

If this is about an iCloud account, then you cannot disable or delete it. Once an Apple ID exists Apple will absolutely not under any circumstances delete it or merge it with another Apple ID. Since iCloud accounts are affiliated with Apple IDs, once you create an iCloud account, that account cannot be removed or merged with a different iCloud account either. The only thing you can do is simply not use one of the Apple ID and/or iCloud accounts, after deleting/removing its content. You can delete the data associated with that account by logging into your iCloud account at https://www.iCloud.com.

I hope this helps. Let us know if you have any questions.

that is helpful info. are you an apple employee or just a forum member? that is, i don't know what you mean by "let us know if you have any question"

anyways, while one aspect of canceling the account is a matter of protecting personal data/ID, there is also the matter of a legal (or semi-legal or whatever) agreement that i entered into when i opened the itunes account. on signing up for the itunes account, i agreed to certain terms and conditions. i don't remeber the exact wording, but i assuming that as long as i maintain the account, i am bound by that agreement. of course, what does it mean to 'maintain the account' entail can be up in the air, but it is certainly within apples right to contend that as long as the account remains in the system, they can hold me to that T/C.

with all due respect for your "recommendation," it is MY judgement that MY interest is harmed by maintaining the agreement that i entered when i openned the account. i no long agree to it and I would like terminate that agreement. certainly, i would expect Apple to maintain its right to terminate furture support for products i may have purchaced in the past. but allowing me, nay insisting on me keeping an account active, if i no longer agree to their terms, is not really in their best interests. indeed, that is very much cult-like.

anyways, i will be in touch with cult-memb.. i mean customer service and let them know that i don't want to do business with Apple anymore. i don't care if my mac computer crumbles into dust in the process. i feel dirty enough as it is, in opening an account just to submit a question on this forum.

@getbentapple

That is helpful info. are you an apple employee or just a forum member? that is, i don't know what you mean by "let us know if you have any question

Glad to hear. I'm a forum/community member and not an Apple employee. By let us know I mean that you could post a follow up message without directing to me specifically that way others in my absence can also assist -- sorry if I cause any confusion.

i don't remeber the exact wording, but i assuming that as long as i maintain the account, i am bound by that agreement. of course, what does it mean to 'maintain the account' entail can be up in the air, but it is certainly within apples right to contend that as long as the account remains in the system, they can hold me to that T/C.

While I'm not a legal expert nor I pretend to be one, my suggestion would be to remove/delete any data or content that's associated with that account, as well as changing your full name that's attached to the account. And when you change the email address on file to some anonymous/obscure address, and leave it dormant, then I believe you will be disengaged from any terms and/or conditions which you through that particular account you had agreed to, at the time.

i will be in touch with cult-memb.. i mean customer service and let them know that i don't want to do business with Apple anymore. i don't care if my mac computer crumbles into dust in the process. i feel dirty enough as it is, in opening an account just to submit a question on this forum.

I hope that you get a satisfactory response form Apple's customer care, that addresses your concerns. Best of luck!

 Eurodance

I had already changed my name and email address, but the system does not let me change the CC number. It doesn't let me pick 'NONE', and I could not remove the CC # without entering another, valid CC number I tried a junk number, but it did not take. Urrrrg! I almost throw the mouse through my computer monitor. That whole process just made me feel trapped, like in quicksand. And the fact that there is not an easy, online way to delete account didn't help at all.

I know this is a bit off-topic now, but these days with private and law enforcement big data programs, Facebook profiling, etc, I'm getting very wary of companies that get a hold of my data in pertutuity. And on the surface, it may seem like changing the name and email in the account might make me disappear from the system, but I doubt it is that easy. Digital records don't disappear so easily. As long there is a 'live' record of an account, I would assume that they can trace it back to the origiaI data. I'm not sure deleting the account will fix that, but if I don't explicitly cancel the account, Apple is legally in their rights to do what ever they want with the data. And if a wolf is willing to chew his leg off to get out a trap, then surely I can live without my iTunes purchases.

Anyways, I did contact Apple customer care to cancel. I let the agent know how irrate I was about iTunes and the account issues. And desipte that fact that I replaced my account contact info with vuglar explitives, she handled my call like a professional, and took care of it quickly. That was good. To bad I had to bother her with something that Google and Facebook and Yahoo and Dropbox and Flickr lets me do online. And just so that whoever reads this doesn't think I'm a lunatic technophobe, my goal is not to disapper from the internet but rather to get control of my data.