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Level 1

10 points

I changed my iCloud account email, and now am locked out from making changes to my iPhone and iPad

Hello,

I changed the primary email for my Apple ID/iCloud account. That was the easy part. Thinking I could then just delete and re-add my iCloud account to each, my iPhone and iPad accounts, I've run into a few problems.

First, when trying to delete my iCloud account, I'm prompted to turn off "find my iphone" property. I can only do this by providing the password to my now non-existent iCloud account. It keeps asking for the password to the email that I had changed. I can't restore it from a back-up as it puts me in the same place. I've even tried just wiping the device...but even then I'm prompted for the Apple ID password that is associated with the email that I changed in my iCloud account.

I'm stuck is some sort of circular logic **** and I can't find an exit point. Any ideas?

thanks!

Posted on Jul 8, 2014 8:29 PM

Best reply

gail from maine

Level 9

52,575 points

Posted on Jul 8, 2014 8:36 PM

Hi JustAGuyInNC,

Follow these steps to remove the old iCloud accounts from your devices:

1. Go to Manage Your Apple ID and sign on with your current Apple ID and password. EDIT the Apple 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 and scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on Delete Account. When asked for a password, type in your current Apple/iCloud ID password. Follow the rest of the prompts to delete the account. Repeat on all devices as needed.

3. Go back to Manage your Apple ID and sign on with the old Apple/iCloud ID and the current password. EDIT your Apple ID back to the new email address. You may have to verify it again.

4. Go back to Settings>iCloud and sign on with your new ID and password. Repeat on all affected devices.

NOTE: If you are at a different point (like at the restore screen, you would still do all of the steps, but to get your device going again, you would type in the current password on the restore screen after completing step 1.

Cheers,

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19 replies

stephycn

Level 1

8 points

Apr 11, 2016 8:00 PM in response to gail from maine

hey! i have almost the same problem, my mac asked me for my iCloud password and i wrote it down but then it said it wasn't correct, so I tried again a lot. then i decided to change my password and i did, it entered normally to my iCloud online but it still doesn't connect to my iCloud on my macbook nor my iphone. then I go to iCloud id settings and i tried answering my security questions but I don't remember the answers because I made this account five years ago and then I click on the rescue email but it just says p.....@hotmail.com and I have no idea what email that is, so now i don't know my rescue email neither the answers to my security questions so I am literally blocked out of my iCloud and can't do anything about it, and this dots after the p... on that rescue email don't help me either because i have no idea who that rescue email is being sent to.... i need help.

Apr 11, 2016 8:43 PM in response to stephycn

Contact Apple Support to have your Security Questions reset:

ACCOUNT SECURITY SUPPORT

The email is masked for privacy reasons. In theory, you set up the rescue email address, so you should recognize it. If you don't then you will need help from Apple Support.

Best of luck,

Jun 7, 2016 11:51 PM in response to gail from maine

Hello, i was wondering what to do in the situation where it says that this email address is already in use with another account. Any advice would be great thank you.

Jun 8, 2016 6:50 PM in response to Newdallasltd

It means that the ID you are trying to use to set up a new Apple ID with, or to change your existing Apple ID to, is either:

1. Already an Apple ID in and of itself - you can check this by going to FORGOT APPLE ID, type in the ID in question, and see if it returns as a valid Apple ID. If it does, it already is linked as the primary Apple ID to an Apple account

2. The other possibility is that the ID you are wanting to use has been set up as a Rescue or Alias email address on one of your other active Apple ID accounts. You would need to go to: Apple - My Apple ID, sign on with any of your known Apple IDs, and see if you can see the address you want to use as being assigned as a Rescue or Alias email address on one of those other accounts. If it is, you can remove it, and after 24 hours, you should be able to use it to set up a new ID.

Cheers,

I changed my iCloud account email, and now am locked out from making changes to my iPhone and iPad