My iPhone 7 has associated the Apple ID with an old email address that no longer exists and that is not one of the email addresses found with my Apple Id. Thus my iPhone keeps prompting me to enter the password but I can't. How do I fix this?

Question

Level 1

8 points

My iPhone 7 has associated the Apple ID with an old email address that no longer exists and that is not one of the email addresses found with my Apple Id. Thus my iPhone keeps prompting me to enter the password but I can't. How do I fix this?

My iPhone 7 has associated the Apple ID with an old email address that no longer exists and that is not one of the email addresses found with my Apple Id account. Thus my iPhone keeps prompting me to enter the password but I can't.

I tried logging in to my Apple Id at "appleid.apple.com" so I could temporarily add this old email address as the primary email address, and then set its password so I could then change the Apple Id on my iPhone 7. But it turns out that when I entered this email address the web user interface sends a code to this address and then requires me to get the code from this nonexistent email address in order to complete the process. Obviously I can't get the code since the email address doesn't exist. So how do I fix this?

iPhone 7, iOS 11.1.2

Posted on Dec 10, 2017 8:03 PM

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Answer 1

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,537 points

Dec 11, 2017 8:43 AM in response to Kirk314

Sounds to me like you created a completely new Apple ID when you got the new phone.

If that's the case, the old Apple ID still exists. The fact that the email account you used to set it up doesn't exist any more doesn't really enter into it except that you now can't manually re-set the password.

You'll have to contact Apple directly. You will NOT be able to merge the contents of the two accounts.

Contact Apple for help with Apple ID account security - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Kirk314 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 11, 2017 8:39 AM in response to liv0123

No, not at all. I left a job and they then deleted my email account that had been associated with my Apple Id. In the meantime I upgraded my iPhone 4 to an iPhone 7. I'm guessing that in the process of upgrading from an iPhone 4 to an iPhone 7 that the email address for my previous job was then deleted from my Apple Id account, and thus I couldn't make it the primary and reset its password.

I tried my usual passwords with my iPhone 7's current Apple Id but none of them worked and thus resetting my password through my iPhone doesn't work because it requires me to login to an email account that no longer exists.

But no, this phone was bought from Verizon as an upgrade from an iPhone 4 - it was not bought from another person. The staff at the Verizon store also tried to resolve this problem but they weren't able to figure it out.

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Answer 3

Dec 11, 2017 8:49 AM in response to Kirk314

Have to agree with Tim.

Seems like you left the old Apple ID that used your old work email, and created a new one. However the fact an email stops existing has no bearing on the functionality of the Apple ID it is associated with.

If you created a new Apple ID, and never updated the old one, it should still be working and using whatever password you were using with it at the time.

All content downloaded with an Apple ID is permanently tied to that Apple ID, and in the case of Apps will require it to update always.

If you don't remember the password for that Apple ID, then you will need to contact iTunes Account Security, and see if they can help you reset it.

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Answer 4

Kirk314 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 11, 2017 10:12 AM in response to Phil0124

Looks like I will need to contact iTunes Account Security. I tried to login to appleid.apple.com using the email address that's associated with the Apple Id on my iPhone and it says that it is not an Apple Id.

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Answer 5

liv0123

Level 4

2,877 points

Dec 10, 2017 9:56 PM in response to Kirk314

Hi kirk,

Did you buy this phone from another person then, since you have no association to the Apple ID?

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