My old Apple ID is popping up (and it won't let me change it). Help?

Update: Apple support told me to "Skip this step". The way he put it, asking about the previous ID is "a test". Skip it, let it restore, and anything that still asks after the restore was truly purchased under a totally separate account.

Of course, I find this totally counterintuitive - if it doesn't actually need the old ID, why ask for it and then error out? It's only going to make people freak out. But hey, at least it worked. Hope this helps anyone else with similar problems.

It needs the old ID if you want to download whatever media you have in your backup that was purchased by that old ID. By skipping, you basically are saying to the process that you do not want to download that media at this point. If you find that after you finish the update the pop-up comes back and continues to pop-up then, then try going to Settings>your name>iCloud>iCloud Backup, and see if you have an option to Stop Restore. If you do, click on that, because the pop-ups at that point are because the backup is continue to try to download that media.

Cheers,

GB

nzlpilot wrote:

Hi

Are you seriously suggesting that when you change email providers and that when an old email is used as your appleID that it remains associated forever with purchases even though you own them?

I am trying to update to an iphone 8 but the backup restore fails because of old purchases under the old and deleted ID. It is so frustrating as Apple doesn't recognise the old ID anymore but you infer that apple actually does associate it forever. So now in limbo as no password can be used and have to setup manually (and old account that is not there now locked due to multiple password attempts). Suggests Apple have a serious flaw in their approach to appleID when emails are used!

That isn't what I'm suggesting at all. If you read my post carefully, I explained the outcome of the two different ways that people deal with a new email address:

1. Some of them just set up a brand new Apple Account with that new ID. If they do this, then yes, the apps purchased under the other Apple account with your old ID will still be tied to that old ID. If that is the case, then the person has to remember what the password for that old ID is, or they have to reset it: If you forgot your Apple ID password - Apple Support

2. The rest of the people, who understand how to change your Apple ID, simply go into the current Apple Account (the one with the ID they want to change), then they change the Apple ID to the new email address. Before they do this, they should sign out of iCloud on any device where it is signed on. For these people, once they have signed out the old ID and signed in the new one, then it's the same account, so the purchases are still associated to that Account which now has the updated ID.

So, no, the old email does not stay attached to the purchases, the thing that stays attached is the Apple Account. You can change the Apple Account email address 50 times, and the purchases would still be linked to that Apple Account, and will be fully accessible via whatever Apple ID you are using for that account at the time.

Cheers,

GB

I'm sorry, but I do not understand the issue, then. Are you saying that you are getting a pop-up asking for the password to an old email address that was originally used for the Apple account that you are using now? That the one you have signed into the iTunes & App Store is the same Apple account that used to have the old email address?

Because if that is the case, then you are going to want to contact Apple Support for help: iTunes Support WorldWide

Did you try the using the applicable steps in this support article using the old email address: If you forgot your Apple ID password - Apple Support

Whether the email address itself still exists or not, if you used it for your Apple ID and made purchases with it, it is still an Apple account. Based on what you have stated, it does not sound like you actually changed your Apple ID via an EDIT, but rather set up a new Apple account when you made your final change from Android to an iPhone 6. Is it remotely possible that when you set up the new ID, you set it up as a new Apple account?

I too, have been in the software business since 1981, and I know how Apple IDs and iTunes updates and downloads work, so there either is a disconnect in what you think happened vs. what actually happened, or there is an issue that you need to talk to iTunes Support about.

What happens when you go follow the instructions in the "forgot Apple ID password" steps using the old email address?

And when you are restoring the backup, even if it does have some items that were purchased with under a different Apple account, that should not cause your restore to fail. I have items on my iOS device that were purchased with an old Apple account of mine, as well as ones that were purchased with my husband's Apple account. Sometimes I don't feel like looking up the passwords for those two accounts, so I cancel the download of the items from those accounts. It doesn't cause the restore to fail. It just doesn't download those items.

Can you provide more detail about how, exactly, you are doing setting up the new device from the Restore, and what, exactly is happening? What is the issue you are encountering - what do you see when it happens? And what indicates to you that the restore has failed?

Cheers,

GB

Cheers,

GB

We do not need you to publicly announce your Apple ID (whether you use it currently now or not). I will ask the hosts to edit it.

As this thread has explained multiple times, if you are being asked for an old Apple ID when trying to update apps, that is because the apps were purchased by that other Apple ID, and will be owed forever by that Apple ID.

You will need to either remember the password to the old ID so that you can update the apps using that old password, or you are going to have to delete the apps, and re-purchase, or re-download them if they were free while your current Apple ID is signed into iTunes.

Cheers,

GB

Hi

Are you seriously suggesting that when you change email providers and that when an old email is used as your appleID that it remains associated forever with purchases even though you own them?

I am trying to update to an iphone 8 but the backup restore fails because of old purchases under the old and deleted ID. It is so frustrating as Apple doesn't recognise the old ID anymore but you infer that apple actually does associate it forever. So now in limbo as no password can be used and have to setup manually (and old account that is not there now locked due to multiple password attempts). Suggests Apple have a serious flaw in their approach to appleID when emails are used!

Hi Gail

After 40 years in the industry I have a fair idea on IT, programming and changing emails (I had an email address around 1989) so I know that if I created second account that would remain; so yes I did do #2.... I had an ipad2 and upgraded to an iPad Air 2 and then moved from Android to iPhone 6s. It was around this time that I changed to a new email and yes I found out the hard way about signing out of iCloud from every device. But managed to change the email properly and it is no longer a valid ID. So I stand by my original comment that there must still be artefacts of the old email address/ID still hanging around and unable to find a way to get them as the old ID is invalid.

I will need to seek another way but then hoping that may be it will just die as it was only iBooks and music so not a serious issue just more annoying!

Cheers

Jonathon

I am having the same issue as OP. I just got an iPhone X and am trying to restore a backup from a 6 Plus.

About a month or so ago, I edited my Apple ID to point to a different email address. The old email still exists, but I plan to close it soon and am slowly migrating services away from it. I also still have the 6 Plus from which the backup was taken.

When trying to restore my backup, I get a message that says "This iCloud backup includes purchases from the App Store that were made with a different Apple ID. Enter the Apple ID password for <insert old ID here> to restore these purchases." When I enter the password, it says "Verification Failed. Your Apple ID or password is incorrect." At this point, my options are "Forgot password?" or "Skip This Step". I have not selected the forgot password option because I haven't forgotten the password. If I select skip, it says "Are you sure? You must sign in to restore purchased content for this account." I have not proceeded beyond this, because I'm afraid of losing all my purchases, all of which were made prior to the ID change.

Here are some stone cold facts related to this. Please do not ask me if I am sure about any of this - I assure you, I am 100000% positive that all of the following are true:

1) I did NOT create a new Apple ID. I modified an existing Apple ID.

2) I am absolutely positive that I am entering the password correctly.

3) When I edited the ID, I didn't even change the password. So, the new ID and old ID have the same password.

4) The 6 Plus has not been asking me for any passwords for the old ID when updating apps, the way it would if they were purchased under a wholly separate ID.

5) I signed out of the old ID and into the new ID on the 6 Plus immediately after making the ID edit, and the iCloud backup I am trying to restore was created long after that.

6) Just to be sure, I deleted my existing backup from the 6 Plus and uploaded a completely fresh backup from the 6 Plus before posting this, to make sure that the entire backup was created after the ID change.

7) Once more for posterity, I did NOT create a new ID, it was an edit of an existing ID, and I am beyond positive that I am entering the correct password.

So... help? Thanks!

Every time I try to update my apps I tunes sends me my old Apple ID and I have not had that in a long time My Apple I d is *****@yahoo.com

<Email Edited by Host>

Hi! this is happening for me on my mac when I am being prompted to install App Store updates - any recommendations???

Metaligoat wrote:

I am having the same issue as OP. I just got an iPhone X and am trying to restore a backup from a 6 Plus.

About a month or so ago, I edited my Apple ID to point to a different email address. The old email still exists, but I plan to close it soon and am slowly migrating services away from it. I also still have the 6 Plus from which the backup was taken.

When trying to restore my backup, I get a message that says "This iCloud backup includes purchases from the App Store that were made with a different Apple ID. Enter the Apple ID password for <insert old ID here> to restore these purchases." When I enter the password, it says "Verification Failed. Your Apple ID or password is incorrect." At this point, my options are "Forgot password?" or "Skip This Step". I have not selected the forgot password option because I haven't forgotten the password. If I select skip, it says "Are you sure? You must sign in to restore purchased content for this account." I have not proceeded beyond this, because I'm afraid of losing all my purchases, all of which were made prior to the ID change.

Here are some stone cold facts related to this. Please do not ask me if I am sure about any of this - I assure you, I am 100000% positive that all of the following are true:

1) I did NOT create a new Apple ID. I modified an existing Apple ID.

2) I am absolutely positive that I am entering the password correctly.

3) When I edited the ID, I didn't even change the password. So, the new ID and old ID have the same password.

4) The 6 Plus has not been asking me for any passwords for the old ID when updating apps, the way it would if they were purchased under a wholly separate ID.

5) I signed out of the old ID and into the new ID on the 6 Plus immediately after making the ID edit, and the iCloud backup I am trying to restore was created long after that.

6) Just to be sure, I deleted my existing backup from the 6 Plus and uploaded a completely fresh backup from the 6 Plus before posting this, to make sure that the entire backup was created after the ID change.

7) Once more for posterity, I did NOT create a new ID, it was an edit of an existing ID, and I am beyond positive that I am entering the correct password.

So... help? Thanks!

You need to go ahead and skip the step so you can finish your backup. Once the restore is complete and the backup is finished, you can see if you are missing any media. If you are, you can re-download it by going to Purchases in either your App Store or your iTunes Store on your device.

Best of luck,

GB

Did you set up a brand new Apple ID for your new email address, or did you EDIT the existing Apple ID and simply update the old Apple ID email address with the new one?

If you created a brand new ID, then it is asking for the password for the old ID in order to download the apps purchased with that old ID.

Whether the email is valid anymore or not, the Apple ID would remain in place, and you can go to: Apple - My Apple ID. If you cannot remember the answers to the Security Questions for that Apple ID, then you can contact Apple Support to get them reset:

ACCOUNT SECURITY SUPPORT

If you simply updated the old email address on the one Apple account and changed it to the new address via the EDIT button, then we would need to know exactly what you are seeing on the screen when this request displays.

Cheers,

GB

Yeah - so, the request to enter that old Apple ID and password implies that it is a separate ID altogether. If you have computer available, go to this website, and type in your First and Last name and the old Apple ID email address that is showing up. If it comes back and says "Apple ID Found" showing that old email address as the Apple ID, then that means it is a separate ID, and you will have to supply the passcode to that ID in order to get the purchases downloaded.

If it comes up with the new ID as your Apple ID, then post back and we will do some more troubleshooting.

Cheers,

GB

Hi Gail

I am having the same problem. ICloud.com is showing my correct Itunes username and password. However, my phone will not access ICloud, even though I just backed it up from ITunes. My phone continues to show my old username, and even when I enter the old password it does not associate it. Therefore, i cannot access ICloud from my phone. I am going to upgrade to the new Iphone 6s plus today, and I want to make sure all my data and info is saved. Can you help me figure out what is going on?