Restore iPhone backup after Apple ID change

Question

Restore iPhone backup after Apple ID change

Hi everyone!

I am currently having a lot of trouble trying to restore my iPhone from an iCloud backup.

Until a couple of months ago, my Apple ID was m***@gmail.com. Then, back in September, I created a new email address, e***@gmail.com and changed my Apple ID to this new address. I logged out from the old Apple ID and re-logged in to all services (iCloud, iMessage, App Store...) both on my iPhone and on my Mac, and everything went just fine: I was able to download new apps on my phone, iCloud backups and services worked regularly, etc.

However, a couple of hours ago I had to restore my iPhone. When presented with the initial configuration dialogs, I logged in with my new Apple ID (i.e. e***@gmail.com) and chose to restore the phone from an iCloud backup – which I even made sure to execute manually right before initiating the restore process. The problem is that, after choosing which backup to restore from, iOS asks me to log in to my App Store-related Apple ID m***@gmail.com in order to re-download the apps I had installed! In other words, in order to restore my backup I am forced to log in to an Apple ID which no longer exists (it's one of those dialogs where you can only enter the password, while the Apple ID is hardcoded)! Entering the current password doesn't work, nor does trying with the old one; refusing to log in results in the restoring process being aborted; I can't even temporarily re-change my Apple ID to m***@gmail.com (which is an e-mail address I still control and use for other purposes) because it is recognized as an already-existing Apple ID!

Long story short, I seem to find myself in a dead end and that I won't be able to restore my phone from my backup. Has anybody ever encountered the same problem?

Thanks in advance!

iPhone 5s, iOS 9.1

Posted on Nov 9, 2015 10:40 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

andusbeckus

Level 1

13 points

Sep 2, 2016 5:21 AM in response to thequanticlad

Had the same problem recently and found a way around it.

When you get to the step where it asks you for your password for your old apple ID just press skip this step and continue with the restore from backup.

Upon restarting enter your info as normal (your new apple ID and password) and your phone should restore back to the way it was with all your apps.

Reply

Answer 2

razmee209

Level 10

191,862 points

Nov 9, 2015 10:45 AM in response to thequanticlad

Sorry apps aren't part of the icloud or iTunes backup.

Your being ask to enter the old apple id, so your apps will restore back to your phone.

iCloud: iCloud storage and backup overview

Frequently asked questions about Apple ID - Apple Support

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Answer 3

Nov 9, 2015 10:49 AM in response to razmee209

I know, but the old Apple ID doesn't exist anymore (e*** is not a brand new ID, it's just the old one with the email address changed!) and it doesn't allow me to proceed with the restore unless I log in to it! I know it makes no sense...

Let me add that, if I configure the iPhone as a new iPhone (pretty much all I can do right now) and log in to the App Store with the new Apple ID m***@gmail.com, I can successfully (as expected) re-download all of my apps, even those I originally bought with the old account! So it really seems like some little reference to the old account remained buried somewhere in Apple's servers or in my backup, and is now preventing me from restoring my data.

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Answer 4

razmee209

Level 10

191,862 points

Nov 9, 2015 10:52 AM in response to thequanticlad

So you either log into that old id to restore, or you keep the phone as is -.

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Answer 5

Nov 10, 2015 10:25 AM in response to thequanticlad

In the end, since pretty much everything on my phone was backed up on third-party services as well (e.g. Carousel for photos, iCloud Drive for 1Password and Whatsapp backups...), I gave up and patiently reset my iPhone as a new device and re-downloaded everything manually.

However, this is a problem Apple needs to address. To be even clearer, I'm attaching screenshots of what happened if I tried to restore my iCloud backup.

Besides, the question remains: when I buy a new iPhone – which will happen, sooner or later – will I be going through all of this again? Or is everything cool, now that my iPhone is set with the new Apple ID and there is no chance for it to even have a clue that a previous Apple ID existed?

a) Signing in with my new Apple ID: