ICloud account associated with obsolete, unrecoverable email address

Read through this article to find if your device has an activation lock.

http://www.macworld.com/article/2048739/get-to-know-ios-7-activation-lock.html

If this is what you have - the news is bad:

http://www.cultofmac.com/246755/why-ios-7s-activation-lock-is-a-disaster-waiting -to-happen/

Someone else reported a similar problem and stated that this Apple KB article TS5223 - Asked for password with previous Apple ID fixed the problem.

I just went through this and while my solution won't help everyone out there, I can provide some context which may help some, so here goes:

• In 2012 we moved from the USA to Canada. As such we changed ISP's.
• Naturally we ceased to use the emails from the old ISP's.
• Thankfully the provider was AT&T + because they outsource their email to Yahoo, the accounts were never deleted even though our internet account was.
• It is now 2 years later and the account log in still works, but no matter, I started with the same problem Frnc had and here is what I observed in figuring it out.

In my case, I managed to get my iPad's iCloud AppleID working again. I about had an aneurysm with the back and forth between the different services, but got it done. Lesson #1 for everyone with an Apple ID: make sure you have a back up email account associated with your AppleID, preferably from a service provider which is free and will never be lost (i.e. gmail, hotmail, etc.). Also make sure you have updated your security questions and know what they are. Write all of this down in a place where you know to find it and keep it up to date (I use notes). When disaster strikes, you need alternatives and organization is your friend.

However, even sorting out the AppleID tied to a no-longer used email didn't solve the whole problem. Here's why + what I observed:

• iPhones and iPad's have multiple "windows" running even though their UI doesn't really feel like it. To see what i mean, double tap your home button: now you'll see all the "windows" or whatever Apple calls them that are open.
• And this is what the problem is... some of those apps may have been created from multiple different accounts in iTunes. When you go to log out or change your iCloud account (Settings > iCloud) it appears that the utility can't shut down any apps running that were "purchased" using other iTunes accounts
• Yes you can use multiple iTunes accounts to download apps on a device that your family shares. And this happens frequently in the real world because otherwise every time anyone wants to download an app they'd have to use someone else's AppleID... which is another horror story due to their password restrictions (no repeats in 12 months, no special characters, has to have a letter and a #... for the love of God, I can spend money on my credit card online easier than this). My poor wife has a book of passwords she's kept for all of her services over the years... we laugh about it all the time. 100's and we never know which ones to use since half the time she is forced to reset them and doesn't have her book with her.
• Anyway, I digress... the iCloud interface under Settings > iCloud just returns a non-descriptive error of the problem. Either it will say your email and password is incorrect or it will give you an authentication error.
• To get past that, hit cancel, then double tap the home key. Close your open windows by swiping every open one up.
• Then go back to Settings > iCloud again and try what you know to be your functioning AppleID and password
• Now you only have to deal with "Find My iPad/iPhone" if you have that service. I believe this service has a crosslinking problem with AppleID's. Here's why I think that... My wife set up the iPad using our USA ISP when she got it years ago. She recently got a new iPhone and set it up with a new AppleID (becasue the old one was inaccessible). However, she's used the new one's email address as secondary to the other's AppleID. And here's why I think there is both a bug in the iCloud logout service compounded by an incorrect / inexact error message... in the sequence of logging out of the iPad's iCloud, the last step the device will do is to log out of the Find My iPad/iPhone app. I got an error message again saying "unable to log in" or "incorrect password" for the old AppleID being the address shown. However, when I entered the password for the new AppleID (which was the backup email address for the old AppleID), poof... it accepted it and finished the logout sequence.

I'd like the half day of my life back, but I again have control of my iPad, iCloud, iPhone, and iLife. And yes, I used my own AppleID which is on an email account which will never die.

As for the unable to access the original email problem, try to go to the provider and recreate or reactivate the email account.

Then you can use the AppleID's password reset to have it send an email to the (now restored) account.

Depending on the provider's and their restrictions, you may to contact them and get their help, but that should work. In essence that's what I did by regaining access to an old email address.

OOff topic, but there ie a lifesaver app I use to remember all my logins and passwords called "Dashlane"! It will even fill out your name and address on many web forms for you, and, although less often, your user IDS and Passwords as well!!!