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Can't change my Apple ID

How do you change your Apple ID when Apple won't let you?


I only have one email address that I currently use. I can't change my Apple ID from a very old @Yahoo address I no longer use… to a @gmail.


I get the following error messages:


"Invalid email" message: "This email address is not available. Choose a different address".


"Choose Different Email Address" - "Your new Apple ID cannot be the same as your notification email address. Choose a different email address."


I don't have a different address, and would prefer not to have to create a new email account from scratch just as a workaround. Has anyone else encountered this problem?


Please help!



Posted on Dec 28, 2021 11:00 AM

Reply
4 replies

Dec 31, 2021 1:18 PM in response to dopodo

Have you logged into your Apple ID to see if the address shows under Reachable At, as a Rescue email address, or as a Notification email address? If it is listed, you can remove/replace the email address.


Apple ID - Manage  


Apple hasn’t published any guidance for using an address again. Normally, if your e-mail address was associated with an ID in any way, for example as a Notification email address or a Rescue e-mail address, then it can't be reused as an  Apple ID email address for approximately one year. I have also seen posts that stated Apple told them there was a 30 day waiting period before the address could be used again. You will need to get another e-mail address from somewhere like AOL or Yahoo to use as your Apple ID or you can try waiting 30 days to see if that works.



Jan 1, 2022 12:04 PM in response to Eric Root

Hi Eric,

I think you are right about the root of the problem: Apple doesn't allow you to re-use a notification email address as an Apple ID. It also doesn't allow re-use of a previously-used email address. So if you change your mind about how you prefer to be contacted, you are out of luck.


Also: there appears to be no provision for consolidating duplicate Apple IDs.


I had at some point rather recently made a purchase in store (I think it was an iPhone) and they set up a new Apple ID for me at that time using my current preferred email. But I already had an older Apple ID (@yahoo account) email which I no longer used, but was associated with my previous Apple purchases. This older Apple ID had my purchase history, family sharing and credit card preferences saved.


Once I found there were two accounts, I simply wanted to change the old account to the newer email, but was unable to do so because Apple has no way of saying "We noticed you have two accounts. Would you like to combine them?" And they don't allow the use of a previously-used email.


The whole process was made more difficult because they don't just come out and say "There's already an Apple ID associated with that email". Instead you just get a vague error message. So I didn't understand why it wasn't working initially.


I'm not sure why they can't just alert you to the problem, authenticate your identity using challenge questions and 2-factor authentication, and then allow you to consolidate your accounts to contact you however you prefer. Especially when creating a new account is so easy. I don't understand the penalty for using a previously-used address. I'm surely not the first person to change their primary email address. I also didn't understand the consequences of setting up and Apple ID in-store when making that purchase.


I ended up creating a new, Apple-specific Gmail account as a workaround. It's an all-new address, but it defeats the whole purpose of trying to change my preferred email address in the first place: to have any important messages from Apple delivered to my primary email inbox - and to avoid them going to an address I no longer use.





Jan 1, 2022 12:09 PM in response to Jack-19

Hi Jack,

I did go through all the prescribed steps, but was unable to change my preferred email address in the end because it had been used already. There is no way to use a previously-used Apple ID (even if inadvertently created), and no way to consolidate Apple ID accounts. Still open to any solution outside of creating a new email account (which is the route I have taken for now).


Thanks for the reply!

Can't change my Apple ID

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