icloud is using my old email address which no longer exists and I can't change it nor delete the i cloud account

Are you referring to the iCloud login in Settings/iCloud/Account panel?

If so then you should delete this account using the red Delete Account button at the bottom of the Account panel, then readd your iCloud account using your new Apple ID (email address) and password. You are supposed to logout/disconnect all your devices from iCloud (i.e. delete your iCloud account info on all your devices using this panel) before you change your Apple ID via the web site.

Yes, the terminology is confusing; in this context "Delete Account" means disconnect the device from iCloud and delete all iCloud data from the device. It doesn't mean delete the account from iCloud itself. Your data is still there in iCloud under whatever your new Apple ID is, you just have to reconnect the iPad to iCloud using your new Apple ID when you've finished changing it on the Apple ID website.

Do you mean this defunct email address is the Apple ID for your account or is it just a secondary email address for your account?

When you say "I can't change nor delete the account" what do you mean exactly? What have you tried and what was the result?

You can certainly change your Apple ID to another email address (unless the current one is an Apple iCloud.com or me.com address, then you're stuck with it) via the Apple ID web interface, but you cannot delete an existing account.

If you wish to change your Apple ID email address then you must ensure you are no longer logged into any Apple service using that ID on any device first -- logout of iCloud, iTunes Store, App Store, etc. on all your devices -- PCs, Macs, iPhones, iPads, the lot. Then go into the Apple ID web site and make the change to your Apple ID, then login to all your services again using the new ID on each device.

I don't understand. If you changed your Apple ID from your previous email address to a new one why would the password change? All you change is the Apple ID -- from email-old to email-new -- the account and it's password remain the same.

Nothing changes except the Apple ID, which used to be the old email address and is now the new email address. You then login with the new email address (Apple ID) and the old password. (Overwrite the old email address with the new one if it fills that field in automatically with the old email address. The old email address is no longer a valid Apple ID and attempting to login using it will fail.) Do not set a new password for the account.

I'm having the exact same problem. I changed my primary email address on my iCloud account to a more recent one, but now iCloud is asking me to sign in with my old email address as the account ID. I put in my password and it says it is incorrect. I try to reset the password and it will not send an authentication email. Purchasing things on iTunes and the App store is fine, my new email address comes as the Apple ID on these, it's just iCloud thats the problem.

were you able to solve this problem? I can't seem to find an answer anywhere...I have the exact same issue...changed my email for icloud and didn't log out with my devices and now it's asking for old email but won't accept old password...

Has anybody found a fix for this I'm still trying to resolve it?

I also have the same problem and I think my have to do with new functionality in later versions of IOS.

I had a comast.net email address. Once I dumped comcast, they took my email address with them.

My comcast email was my apple ID.

I was able to change all of my devices to my new ID, except for my IPhone 5 which had the latest and greatest SW.

When I try to change the IPhone5's email ID for Icloud, I first need to delete the old account.

When I go to delete it, it says, "Enter your Apple ID password for "xxx@comcast.net" to turn off Find My Iphone.

Well, that account no longer exist, and there is no way to log in. Kind of a catch 22 here. In earlier versions of IOS, I think they let you delete your icloud account regardless whether you had Find my Iphone turned on or not.

Is there a work around for this?

I am having the exact same problem. Though as soon as I turn on the ipad the icloud login comes up right away & atm I can't use my ipad at all as it wont recognise the password & I have tried to reset it to no avail.

What on earth are we meant to do?

me too! anyone figure this out? I tried calling apple but they want the security questions which, in my brilliance i have forgotten 😝

Hi mwm424,

If the "old" address that iCloud has is the address your current Apple ID used to be then do the following to remove the old iCloud account:

1. Go to Manage your Apple ID, sign in with your current ID and password and then Edit that ID back 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, scroll to the bottom and click on the Delete Account button. Use your current Apple ID password when prompted. Follow the remaining prompts to delete the iCloud account

3. Go back to Manage your Apple ID, sign on with your changed ID and your current password, and then change your ID back to the current ID. You may need to verify it.

4. Go back to Settings>iCloud and sign onto iCloud with your current ID and password

Cheers,

GB

unfortunately, i deleted the old account. Then, i opened a new account and tried to sign in on the phone only to discover I can't type in the new account.

essentially i used to have the acount XXXX@gmail.com as my email and apple id. Then my account was hacked so i deleted both accounts (gmail and apple). THEN, i opened a new one (YYYY@gmail.com), only to discover I could not remove the old one.

Try the same steps. If the old Apple ID was removed, you should be able to make use that old address, and just do the same steps. If it is still out there with that email address, you won't be able to. So, in that case, you will need Apple to reactivate it and to reset your security questions so you can update the password for it and then sign off of iCloud.

Cheers,

GB

This worked perfectly!! Thank you!