Q: The Apple ID showing on the ICloud settings page is wrong and shows my old email address which does not exist as an Apple ID

Welcome to the Apple community.

If you are unable to remember your password, security questions, don’t have access to your rescue address or are unable to reset your password for whatever reason, your only option is to contact Apple ID Support, upon speaking to an operator you should explain that your problem is related to your Apple ID, this way you will not be charged for assistance, even if you don’t have an AppleCare plan.

You will need to show patience with the procedure and be prepared to demonstrate without question that the account belongs to you. Don’t expect access to be restored immediately and if you aren’t the owner of the Apple ID registered to the device the account won’t be reset.

I don't think you understand the problem.  The person knows their Apple ID but because it has changed, the correct ID is not showing in iCloud.  If there was a way for them to enter the correct ID and Password all would be fine.  I have the exact situation.  All I wanted to do was change my email because I closed the old email account.  Apple then changed my ID.  Unfortunately this change was not global and I have had to change it myself in various places.  But iCloud automatically loads my old ID with no opportunity for me to change or enter the correct ID.  So how do we get this changed?

If the ID is reported to not be a valid ID they need to contact Apple. I understand their problem completely, thank you. If you have a different problem start your own thread.

I may have left some information out.  Apple ID I believe has been changed in iCloud thus can not sign in with old ID.  The problem seems to be on the iPhone itself in that it load the old ID without the ability to modify it.  So the end result is iPhone won't allow anything but the old ID which is invalid.  I hope that clarifies things.

Use these steps to change your Apple ID temporarily:

1. Sign in to your Apple ID account page.
2. Click Edit in the Account section, then click Change Email Address.
3. Change your Apple ID to the email address that iCloud is asking you to sign in with.
4. Sign out of your account page.

Then sign out of iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

1. Tap Settings > iCloud on your iOS device.
2. Scroll down and tap Sign Out, then tap Sign Out to confirm. If you're using iOS 7 or earlier, tap Delete Account, then tap Delete to confirm.
3. Tap Keep on My [Device] or Delete from My [Device], and enter the password for your Apple ID. Your data remains in iCloud, and it will be updated on your device when you sign in to iCloud again.
4. If you're signed in on more than one device with this Apple ID, repeat steps 1-3 on each device.
5. Go to your Apple ID account page, and sign in again.
6. Change your Apple ID to the email address that you want to use. You'll need to verify the email address.
7. Tap Settings > iCloud on your iOS device, and sign in with your new Apple ID.

If these steps don’t work, change your Apple ID temporarily again. Then sign back in to your Apple ID account page to make sure that your Apple ID was changed.

I'm having the exact issue as tsfromok. Started after I changed my Apple id. I-phone keeps asking for password associated with old id. Not sure how to correct.....

I have been mystified for 6 months about the glitch that keeps me out of my cloud. No real person could answer my questions or give me a solution...bingo!  You did it!  thanks so much.  I followed all of your steps and now have access to my cloud and will be able to get that new phone and transfer my info from old phone.  you made my day. 

how can it possibly work when you have to change your apple id email to the email address that icloud is asking for (which is a non existent/deleted email account) after which a confirmation email is sent to the deleted account?

you can not access a deleted/non existent account to see the confirmation email...

I thought I had this problem. I tried to update apps and it asked me for the password to an old email address which I no longer had access to. After months of wondering why I couldn't ever access App Store, I phoned Apple support and they explained that the apps which I had already downloaded would always ask for the email address I used to get them. The simplest thing was to delete them and re-download them.

My problem is on my iphone.  When I sign in using the old email address, as this answer suggests, it wants to send access info to THAT email address.... which does me no good because the reason I want to change it is because I don't HAVE that email account anymore.... Since I'm doing all this while I'm already logged in with my current AppleID & security questions answered, why is this so difficult?

There is a contact link.

Apple ID Support

Apple ID Support (2)

This doesn't work if it is no longer an active email address.  It was asking for a verification code that was emailed to me.  I can no longer access the old address.

This does not work. When I try to edit my apple id to the old email address it tries to send a verification code to the old email address that does not exist???

So frustrating.