Big Mike

Q: How to remove an invalid Apple ID?

My daughter-in-law once signed into her App Store account on my iMac. Now when I go to the App Store I get a sign-in screen filled in with her ID which I can not erase or overwrite. If I log in to her account and sign out and then log in to my account, I can use the store but the problem comes back the next time I use the store. How do I fix this?

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), 21.5 display; 2013 manufacture

Posted on Apr 17, 2015 11:35 AM

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Q: How to remove an invalid Apple ID?

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  • by Dah•veed,

    Dah•veed Dah•veed Apr 17, 2015 11:49 AM in response to Big Mike
    Level 7 (34,837 points)
    Mac App Store
    Apr 17, 2015 11:49 AM in response to Big Mike

    Delete any apps that she bought.

  • by Big Mike,

    Big Mike Big Mike Apr 17, 2015 12:13 PM in response to Dah•veed
    Level 1 (59 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 17, 2015 12:13 PM in response to Dah•veed

    She does not remember so how do I find out?

  • by Dah•veed,

    Dah•veed Dah•veed Apr 17, 2015 12:32 PM in response to Big Mike
    Level 7 (34,837 points)
    Mac App Store
    Apr 17, 2015 12:32 PM in response to Big Mike

    You would need to compare the apps in your Purchases list, with the Mac App Store licensed apps installed on the Mac. The odd ones out are hers.

     

    Mac App Store apps have a folder in their app bundle named _MASReceipt. A powerful search app, such as FindAnyFile, should be able to come up with a list of apps with that folder.

  • by CroMagnum,

    CroMagnum CroMagnum Apr 17, 2015 12:50 PM in response to Big Mike
    Level 1 (79 points)
    iLife
    Apr 17, 2015 12:50 PM in response to Big Mike

    What does it say for account under “STORE” in the menu bar in appstore?

    What are you actually seeing - that you cannot get to your account?

    Is hers still logged in, or are you merely seeing her apple id defaulting in the log-in sccreen?

    All you may need to do - is log off her account and enter yours.


    For individual apps:

    "Get Info" on the app will tell you the purchasing account.

     

    (Right click on an app in the list) > it will give a pop up pane with “Details - Artwork - File."

    Click on the FILE button.

     

    MOST LIKELY:

    Go to iTunes and make sure it points to your account. If the iTunes account says something else - change it there.

    Then go to the appstore & see what you get.


     


  • by Dah•veed,

    Dah•veed Dah•veed Apr 17, 2015 1:00 PM in response to CroMagnum
    Level 7 (34,837 points)
    Mac App Store
    Apr 17, 2015 1:00 PM in response to CroMagnum

    For individual apps:

    "Get Info" on the app will tell you the purchasing account.

     

    (Right click on an app in the list) > it will give a pop up pane with “Details - Artwork - File."

    Click on the FILE button.

    You will need to explain that in much more detail. Get Info from where? What list?

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Apr 18, 2015 10:05 AM in response to Big Mike
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Apr 18, 2015 10:05 AM in response to Big Mike

    App Store products can only be updated by signing in to the store with the same Apple ID that was originally used to download them. You can't update anything, including your own purchases, as long as there are pending updates linked to the other ID.

    If you can't sign in with the other ID, you have to delete all the apps that are linked to it. If you don't know which apps those are, see below.

    1. Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:

    kMDItemAppStoreHasReceipt=1

    Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

    2. In the Finder, press command-F to open a search window, or select

              File Find

    from the menu bar. In the search window, select

              Search: This Mac

    from the row of tokens below the toolbar. Below that is a popup menu of search criteria, initially showing Kind. From that menu, select

              Other...

    A sheet will drop down. In that sheet, select

              Raw Query

    as the criterion, then click OK or press return.

    Now there will be a text box to the right of the menu of search criteria. That's where you enter the raw search query. Click in that box and paste the text you copied earlier by pressing command-V.

    3. The search window will now show all the App Store products that are installed. Compare those search results with the list of your purchases from the App Store. To see the complete list, you may need to unhide hidden purchases. If any apps were download from the App Store using other Apple ID accounts that you control, sign in to the store under each of those ID's and check the purchases.

    4. At least one of the apps in the Spotlight search results is not among your purchases in the App Store. Delete each such item by following the instructions in the Apple Support article linked above.

    5. Quit and relaunch the App Store.

    If you find these instructions confusing, ask for an alternative method.

  • by CroMagnum,

    CroMagnum CroMagnum Apr 20, 2015 11:15 AM in response to Dah•veed
    Level 1 (79 points)
    iLife
    Apr 20, 2015 11:15 AM in response to Dah•veed

    This is old news. Linc already posted a more thorough & cleaner answer.
    Nice search to save.


    Ultimately, the question is about getting the correct user id by default, not about getting rid of the apps so much. Which sounds like a log out of her ID & re-log-in to correct user id is required.

     

    Finding the daughter-ordered apps should be available if he logs in AS his daughter in the appstore, correct? Or have her do it. Should indicate downloads & date.

     

    I’ve never experienced a problem being unable to update an application because there were some downloaded under another user name.

     

    Where I was referring: iTunes
    What I was going for: Depends upon what type of apps are under discussion, if they are full OS X applications or iPad/iPhone apps. Perhaps I presumed they were iOS apps. (Is every application now an “app"?)