How to change the email address linked to your Apple ID

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  • Reply 21 of 36
    Mikes65 said:
    A few years ago I changed my email on my apple id and after I did that some of my songs and apps are still asking for the old email address and won't work even though it is the same apple account. Any ideas on how to resolve that without re-purchasing the apps and songs? The Apple ID should be the key, a behind the scenes account number that never changes with the email just being an identifier. Simple database stuff. 
    That's how I set my accounts up.

    One Apple ID for Content ( Apps, iTunes , Books ) and 
    One Apple ID for Contacts, Email, Calendar etc.

    Now, I can limit access to Content separately from my Email etc. 

    Works great. Event better the Email Account I used for the Content is defunct and I switched the Email Address years ago but it still retains the Apple ID as the old Email Address which makes it one step harder for people to access my purchased content.
  • Reply 22 of 36
    Any idea why an iCloud.com email address can't be used as an Apple ID? I ditched my long time internet providers' email and now I'm stuck with an old yahoo email as my Apple ID.
    X2... me too ... stuck with an old yahoo email as my id.. How can i change it to a user id name... and at the same time not have my whole apple ecosys collapse on me? Appleindider...Josh... Jeff... anyone .... any ideas ?
  • Reply 23 of 36
    MplsP said:
    Now if they would just provide a mechanism to merge Apple IDs. I unwittingly created 2 years ago, now I'm forever locked into having one account for iTunes and another for iCloud. 
    Ridiculous..isnt it... and we are talking about the highest tech company in the world. ..or are we?
  • Reply 24 of 36
    tdeprenda said:
    For some reason, when your original Apple ID is a .mac or .me address, you can't change your Apple ID or email. I clicked the edit button as suggested but I can't change my email. I would love to get rid of the .mac and .me addresses and just use the .icloud address but it won't allow me too. Any suggestions?
    If your apple ID ends with @me.com or @mac.com then you can actually just use [email protected] with email, icloud and apple id. (If two-factor authentication doesn't seem to work, then ask the site to send you a verification text message.) The system will still report that your apple id is the old address, but apple treats them the same. A feature that I'd really love is the ability to merge two apple ids. I had set up an iTunes Music Store account so long ago which was distinct from my @mac.com email.
    edited February 2017 watto_cobra
  • Reply 25 of 36
    Can you use the Apple ID email address also as an email address where to send iTunes and App Store receipts to? I need to keep one email address alive on a non-iCloud service, just for that...
  • Reply 26 of 36
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    This is an improvement!
    This happened a few years back but:   I care for a friend's electronic gear and every two years her husband switched between Verizon cable and Comcast and changed her email address in the process.   So, she was stuck with using an email address that no longer existed as her Apple ID.   When I contacted Apple on how to change it, I was told you couldn't.

    I don't know when they added the ability to change it, but it was a good change.   Now, if they could just stop using email addresses as IDs!   Why?  An ID is an ID.   It doesn't need an @ sign!
    I believe it's for two reasons:

    - to ensure you know where any help emails are going to go
    - to enable you to have a personal, memorable ID. 

    On #2, "[email protected]" is a nice username and easy to remember. But "jsmith62b" (or some derivative to ensure uniqueness) is not. Multiply that by every site you use and it becomes a nitemare.
    Huh?
    ... Sorry, Apple is a hold out requiring an email address instead of an ID.   I have no problem remembering my ID.  I think it's safe to assume that most people don't make up stupid, hard to remember IDs.
    Huh what? Like I said, knowing your own email as the user ID is stone simple. 

    That's great for you. But with most common name combos being taken, people need to come up with something (first initial, last name, partial digits of birth year, plus anything else needed for uniqueness are all commonly used). And clearly people forget them as even as been said on this thread when somebody inadvertently created themselves two IDs. My senior friends sure as hell can't remember what usernames they were able to come up with on various systems -- but they can remember their email address which is static to them.

    As with most things Apple, it's about keeping it the most simple for the most people.
    Great Rationalization!   Good Job!
  • Reply 27 of 36
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    cpsro said:
    MplsP said:
    Now if they would just provide a mechanism to merge Apple IDs. I unwittingly created 2 years ago, now I'm forever locked into having one account for iTunes and another for iCloud. 
    Wouldn't that be nice?  Share your Individual Apple Music membership with a spouse (cheaper than the Family membership) and keep your bookmarks private.
    It may be cheaper but it is better to have separate accounts in my view. Under the family plan you can share all your music but still keep it separate. Well worth the extra few bucks - unless you have the exact same taste in music, of course :)
  • Reply 28 of 36
    aruhlig said:
    Can you merge Apple IDs using this or any other technique?
    Boy, I wish that was an option. 
    tallest skil
  • Reply 29 of 36
    This is an improvement!
    This happened a few years back but:   I care for a friend's electronic gear and every two years her husband switched between Verizon cable and Comcast and changed her email address in the process.   So, she was stuck with using an email address that no longer existed as her Apple ID.   When I contacted Apple on how to change it, I was told you couldn't.

    I don't know when they added the ability to change it, but it was a good change.   Now, if they could just stop using email addresses as IDs!   Why?  An ID is an ID.   It doesn't need an @ sign!
    Back in the old days, an AppleID was just that - you're right. I have one from back then.
    But not now. New AppleIDs must be email addresses.
  • Reply 30 of 36
    MplsP said:
    Now if they would just provide a mechanism to merge Apple IDs. I unwittingly created 2 years ago, now I'm forever locked into having one account for iTunes and another for iCloud. 
    "Family Sharing" is your friend. Start a "family" and have your other ID join it. Problem solved.
  • Reply 31 of 36
    aruhlig said:
    Can you merge Apple IDs using this or any other technique?
    You can't merge. But you can get quite close by using "Family Sharing".
  • Reply 32 of 36
    tdeprenda said:
    For some reason, when your original Apple ID is a .mac or .me address, you can't change your Apple ID or email. I clicked the edit button as suggested but I can't change my email. I would love to get rid of the .mac and .me addresses and just use the .icloud address but it won't allow me too. Any suggestions?
    If your AppleID is .mac/.me/.icloud then you can't change to use a different email. That's true.

    But you don't have to get rid of anything. There's only one real address and all email goes to it. It doesn't matter whether it's addressed to .mac, .me or .icloud - it all winds up in your single mail account.
  • Reply 33 of 36
    Any idea why an iCloud.com email address can't be used as an Apple ID? I ditched my long time internet providers' email and now I'm stuck with an old yahoo email as my Apple ID.
    1. Create a new AppleID and make sure to create the iCloud address along with it. 
    2. Set up Family Sharing from your new ID
    3. Have your old ID joint the family
    4. Enjoy refreshing adult beverage of your choice
  • Reply 34 of 36
    pepe779 said:
    There's one more important catch behind this and I had to learn it the hard way when I tried to change my Apple ID (and then had to revert back because of this). ALL in-app purchases you have ever made in any of your apps will be invalidated. You'll only be able to re-download apps that you paid for upfront (purchased for the full price directly from the App Store). Unfortunately the majority of apps that my family uses are free to download and you have to unlock their full content from within each app, but those types of purchases are forever linked to the Apple ID they were purchased with, so once you change it you have to re-purchase everything again. This is probably the most nonsense policy Apple ever implemented (or failed to fix for that matter) and there's no way around this whatsoever.
    The "way around" is family sharing. Check it out.
  • Reply 35 of 36
    Aras_PAras_P Posts: 1unconfirmed, member
    What they need to do is allow you to pick a username to use instead of an email address. This would help keep your email address hidden.
  • Reply 36 of 36
    Hi everyone, i don't think this process is totally glitch free. My wife's apple id was a gmail email address , so before she decided to close her gmail account in favour of yahoo she followed the above guidlines to change this address and associate it for her apple id a few years ago. Only problem is that the apps and music she purchased with the old email address have it hidden within the .ipa of the app her old apple id details. She has recently purchased an iphone SE and a new ipad air, but when she tries to restore devices from an icloud backup she gets restore failed because it keeps displaying an annoying screen asking her to insert her password for her OLD email address, obviously the old email / apple id user name no longer exists, so doesn't except her password and hence won't let her restore with these apps or music. My wife  purchased me some items i think gifted under her old details and the same happens for me.. it asks me for the password for her old apple id and because it no longer exists it continues to fail. If anyone has anyway around this obvious apple problem, i would love to find out.. thank you for any help in advance.
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