Deleting an iCloud account that doesn't exist

Once again. YOU SHOULD NOT need password to delete account. To make changes like turning something off yes you do. So from that point on you will:

Hard reset your phone by pressing two buttons home and power at the same time until apple shows up on the screen.

As soon as phone starts go to settings- icloud and scroll down. Press one button and one button only - Delete account.

If you can't do that, you will have to restore - you better do that cause anybody can. (Enough motivation?)

I figured it out!
I was having the exact same problem, and googling it led me to this.

I just updated to iOS7.

iCloud popped up as signed in with my old iTunes account, which I don't have access to, and it prompted me for an password which I entered and it said incorrect, yadda yadda.

What I did was click "facetime" and it also gave me old email. Deleted it, entered my new itunes account, and then went back to icloud, and tried to delete and it worked. Finally got to enter my new email account.

I have no idea why this worked but it did, a nice little weird solution.

I'm having a similar issue right now and I'm about to pull out my hair. I've talked to two Apple support guys, neither of which have helped me AT ALL. They only told me to do what I have already done, so I'm not sure how well they listened to me, but they certainly didn't help me (no offense, Apple support).

I have done the "Erase All" option. When I go through the first steps - choosing language, country, wi-fi network, etc., it gets to a screen where it asks whether you want to restore from icloud, restore from itunes, or set your phone up as a new device. I have tried all three. But I want to restore from iCloud with my current Apple ID, not my old one that apparently doesn't exist anymore (so stop asking for it!).

So.. when I restore from iCloud, it lets me type in my current iCloud Apple ID... great, right?! However, once it gets to the menu (all of my stuff shows up, great again!) and I go into Settings > iCloud. it shows my OLD freakin' Apple ID and it asks for my password (which doesn't work). Why is it defaulting to my old, non-existent Apple ID even though I set it up to restore from my current one?! 😠 Same problem you're having. And yes, it still says the same thing at the bottom - that I can't delete this iCloud account because my iphone is being restored. But I can't figure out what the heck is still downloading - by now I have deleted all my apps, my music is all there and fully downloaded... so it must be my pictures. None of my pictures are showing up in my album even though it says that 652 pictures are downloading (it has been two days and not one picture has 'downloaded'). So if it's my pictures that are the problem, fine, although I'm not sure how to get around that. I have read about 73 other threads related to that issue with no resolution thus far. So basically I'm stuck.

I am tempted to hit the Stop Restore button, but I don't want to lose those 652 pictures that are supposedly "downloading." I don't know if I'll lose them, but I'm too scared to find out.

I just don't know what to do. And the nearest Apple store to me is 150+ miles away 😢

In closing, I think we're just screwed 😟 Not even Apple support knew that was even possible.

You can set up your iPhone 5 as a "new device" instead of restoring it to the iCloud and choosing an old backup. It will literally set it up as a clean device with no photos or apps on it, and then you can choose to back it up to the iCloud or iTunes and type in your current/new ID and just start from scratch. But for me, with the exception of the photostream (last 30 days of pics), music, maybe calendar?, and contacts, none of my apps or my camera roll were there.

I actually had to purchase an additional 10 GB ($20) in order to have it backup to iCloud because I didn't have enough storage (I have an iPad, my iPhone 5, and my iPhone 4S which took up all 5 free GBs).

I am just sad that I KNOW my 652 photos are floating around out there somewhere, but unless I can somehow get past that old ID that doesn't exist anymore, I don't think I'll ever actually get them back. 😟

I am also experiencing the same problem on my phone but had a question that went along with what is being discussed here. I am planning to upgrade to a new iphone soon and wanted to know that if when I got my new phone though it would be my old phonenumber would I be able to enter my current (updated) icould id or would the old id automatically pop up on the phone?

I didn't actually open FaceTime, I just opened the FaceTime settings in the settings app. Deleted the iCloud email associated with it. Entered in my new email. Then clicked the iCloud settings and was able to delete the email without being prompted for a password.

Weirdest loophole ever, and I stumbled on it purely by chance but for some reason it works.

I'm so glad I didn't have to restore my ipad!

If you have a current iCloud ID that is a newer version of the old ID (and not an entirely new ID), go to https://appleid.apple.com, click Manage my Apple ID and sign in with your current iCloud ID. Click edit next to the primary email account, change it back to your old email address and save the change. Then edit the name of the account to change it back to your old email address. You can now use your current password to turn off Find My iPhone and delete the old account. Then go back to https://appleid.apple.com and change your primary email address and iCloud ID name back to the way it was.

If the old ID is not an older version of your current iCloud ID, you'll have to contact Apple for assistance resetting the password, either by going to https://expresslane.apple.com, then click More Products and Services>Apple ID>Other Apple ID Topics>Lost or forgotten Apple ID password, or by contacting the Apple account security team: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5699.

If the old ID that is showing is simply an old version of your current Apple ID, do the following:

1. Go to Manage your Apple ID, sign on with your current ID and password, and then EDIT the Apple ID to the old email address. This is temporary. Do NOT verify it, do NOT change the password: Apple - My Apple ID

2. Go to Settings>iCloud on your device and scroll to the bottom of the screen to Sign Out/Delete your iCloud account. Type in your current password when prompted, and then follow the prompts to complete the sign out

3. Go back to Manage your Apple ID, sign on with the old ID and current password, then EDIT the Apple ID back to your current email address. You may need to verify it again

4. Go back to Settings>iCloud and sign on with your current Apple ID

Cheers,

GB

If the old ID that is showing is simply an old version of your current Apple ID, do the following:

1. Go to Manage your Apple ID, sign on with your current ID and password, and then EDIT the Apple ID to the old email address. This is temporary. Do NOT verify it, do NOT change the password: Apple - My Apple ID

2. Go to Settings>iCloud on your device and scroll to the bottom of the screen to Sign Out/Delete your iCloud account. Type in yourcurrent password when prompted, and then follow the prompts to complete the sign out

3. Go back to Manage your Apple ID, sign on with the old ID and current password, then EDIT the Apple ID back to your current email address. You may need to verify it again

4. Go back to Settings>iCloud and sign on with your current Apple ID

Cheers,

GB

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Verified solution ✅

common mistake, apple id exists. Account exists, email address may be gone, renamed or stayed the same and new account created, but account/appleid lock does exist.

If you know what account that is you can as worst case scenario go to icloud.com sign in to your account and disable activation lock using instructions here

Turn off Find My iPhone Activation Lock - Apple Support

if the phone is online you can use same process to erase device before turning the lock off, but if not

you would have to restore in recovery more.

If you can't update or restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

What do you mean by you do not have access to the old ID? Have you tried changing the password via Apple - My Apple ID? Is this a totally different Apple ID than the one you are using now, or is it an earlier email address that you used to use for your current Apple account?

Cheers,

GB

I still need to know the answers to:

Is this a totally different Apple ID than the one you are using now, or is it an earlier email address that you used to use for your current Apple account?

If it is a totally different Apple ID than the one you are currently using (rather than an old version of the one you are using), then you need to go to: Apple - My Apple ID and change the password. Whether you have access to the email address is not relevant. It is still an Apple ID. You need to change the password on that Apple ID so you can sign it off.

If you don't know the answers to the Security Questions for that Apple ID, then contact Apple Support to have them reset:

ACCOUNT SECURITY CONTACT

Cheers,

GB

Good evening,

There is some discussion here - http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/210728/unable-to-sign-out-of-icloud-lin ked-to-old-email-that-no-longer-exists

and here - https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-delete-an-Apple-ID-from-my-phone-that-doesn’t-exi st

and also check this one - Deleting an iCloud account that doesn't exist.

While it may look strange, different people stated, that different methods worked for them.

So just try to find your own.

Hope you will.

Best regards.

IT WORKED!

The email on mine was incorrectly typed and never verified. Find My iPhone was on so I could not delete the account.

To Fix:

1. went to game center and put in the incorrect email and clicked forgot my pw
2. clicked use security questions, thankfully they were correct
3. reset the invalid apple id password
4. back to iCloud to delete the bad Id, had to do it twice because it took once to turn off find my iPhone and once to delete the iCloud account
5. went back to set up iCloud used the correct email and pw and all is good.

This was noted in one of the posts but from the computer and I did not have access to the computer.