How To Change Your Email On Apple Id

Your Apple ID is your gateway to all of Apple'south deject services: iTunes, Apple Music, and iCloud. But what near your bodily username? It'south commonly an email address: Ofttimes, it'south an @icloud, @me, or @mac accost — but you might also have signed up with your third-party email account, similar @gmail.com.

If you desire to modify the e-mail accost associated with your Apple ID, you can practice so from a web browser. For the about part, it's simple. Unfortunately, in that location are times when changing your Apple ID doesn't work right: You may be told by Apple tree that the e-mail address you lot want to use is already an Apple tree ID, or you might not even be able to change your email accost.

Never fright: We'll walk you through the steps of changing the email address associated with your Apple ID and help troubleshoot some common problems.

Note: If you forgot your Apple tree ID, you can recover it without having to change your email accost.

A few things to sympathise before you start
How to modify the email address associated with your Apple ID
What to do if your email address is already existence used with an Apple ID
What to do if you don't come across the option to change your email address
What to do if you entered the incorrect email address when you created an Apple ID

A few things to understand before you beginning

Your Apple ID is an email accost, like [proper noun]@gmail.com or [name]@yahoo.com, but the password is non necessarily the aforementioned. Your email password is probably something unlike than your Apple tree ID password, unless you lot used the aforementioned countersign for both accounts. (Spoiler: You shouldn't accept, but some people do.)

Because your Apple ID is as well an email address, yous'll demand access to said e-mail address for the purposes of verifying the change. Make certain you know your electronic mail business relationship'due south password before you make any changes.

When you create a new Apple tree ID, Apple also creates an @icloud.com email address for you. This email address is linked to your Apple ID and can't exist unlinked or used as a new electronic mail address for a dissimilar Apple ID without some major AppleCare hassle.

Apple tree also suggests that you lot sign out of your Apple tree ID from all your devices before changing your email accost: This is mostly so you won't be caught off guard when your erstwhile Apple ID no longer works. You will as well take to manually sign out of iTunes and the App Shop.

How to sign out your Apple ID on iPhone and iPad

How to change the e-mail accost associated with your Apple ID

If y'all want to change the email address that you use for your Apple ID, and yous know your current Apple ID and password, you can change it from whatever web browser.

Navigate to appleid.apple.com from a spider web browser on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or PC.
Enter your Apple ID and Password.
Click or tap the pointer to log in.
Verify your identity with two-factor authentication if it's enabled.
In the Account section, click or tap Edit next to "Reachable At."
Click or tap Change Apple tree ID under your Apple tree ID.
Enter the new email address.
Click or tap Continue.

A verification code will be sent to the new e-mail address.
Open the email from Apple.
Click or tap on the Verify e-mail accost link in the email.
Enter the verification code at appleid.apple.com.
Click or tap Verify.
Click or tap Done when finished.

In a perfect world, these are the but steps y'all'd demand to modify the email address associated with your Apple ID. Merely, problems arise. If you observe yourself coming across issues trying to set a new Apple ID email address, read on.

What to practise if your electronic mail address is already being used with an Apple ID

If you see a warning that the email address you are trying to change to is already being used, information technology'due south because another Apple ID is already attached to this business relationship. Even if y'all don't retrieve creating an account with it or you lot didn't create it yourself, it's definitely already being used. At present, let's fix it.

You'll need admission to three e-mail accounts for this process.

The email account associated with your active Apple ID.
The email account associated with the Apple ID you lot want to change your agile Apple ID to (you don't demand to know any Apple tree ID password, merely you lot will need to know the email countersign).
A tertiary e-mail account that can exist used as a throw-away email (one that has not already been used equally an Apple tree ID). You can create ane before starting, or employ an older e-mail address that y'all don't apply anymore (but know the password for).

Step one: Get the password for the Apple ID associated with the email you lot want to change to

In society to become rid of the Apple ID that's currently bogarting the e-mail address yous want to utilise, you'll have to be able to access it. You tin ask Apple to reset the password for the Apple ID associated with it.

Navigate to iforgot.apple tree.com from whatever web browser.
Enter the email accost you desire to switch your agile Apple business relationship to (the ane y'all can't currently change considering it'due south already beingness used).
Click or tap Continue.
Select I demand to reset my password.
Click or tap Go along.
Select Get an email.
Click or tap Keep.
Open the electronic mail you receive from Apple.
Click or tap Reset at present.
Enter a new countersign.
Reenter the new password.
Click or tap Reset Password.

At present yous know the password for the Apple tree ID that you don't remember creating and don't want to use anyway, and so you can access information technology to make changes to it.

Step two: Change the email associated with the inactive Apple tree ID

Everything you did in Step 1 was then you lot tin can disassociate that e-mail address from the inactive Apple ID. Now that yous have access to information technology, yous can modify the email address associated with it to something you don't care about. This is where you tin can apply an former email address or a brand new one that you lot've just created for the sole purposes of using it for the inactive Apple ID.

Follow the steps for changing the email accost associated with your Apple tree ID and use the Apple ID email address and countersign from Step one above. Change the e-mail associated with that business relationship to the throw-away email accost.

Step three: Go back and change your active Apple ID e-mail

Now that the email address you want to use for your active Apple ID is freed up, you can brand the changes. Follow the steps for changing the email address associated with your Apple tree ID. This time, when you enter the new email accost, you'll actually exist able to apply the 1 y'all want.

What to practise if you lot don't see the option to change your email address

If the email address associated with your Apple ID is an @me.com, @Mac.com, or @icloud.com accost, yous tin can only change your Apple tree ID to some other @icloud.com accost that's already been associated with your account. If y'all want to change it to a different third-party provider, you're out of luck: The merely option you accept in that arena is to first over with a make new Apple tree ID. Unfortunately, this means losing all the content you have associated with your current Apple ID.

From Apple's Support Document:

If your email address ends with @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com, you can't change your Apple tree ID to a third-party email address. You too won't see Change Apple ID on your account page or the pick to delete your e-mail on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod bear upon with iOS x.3 or subsequently.

If yous fall into this camp and want to employ a new 3rd-party email accost as your Apple ID, yous might think well-nigh downloading as much content every bit possible onto your devices or into another deject-based service ( like photos, contacts, iCloud Drive documents, content not purchased on iTunes, etc.), and then starting over from scratch with your preferred email account.

Be warned: If you practise that, you'll lose all of your iTunes purchases, including movies, music, iBooks, and apps beyond all of your devices. And so, make certain it'south worth the loss.

Encounter how to download Photos onto your iPhone
Meet how to transfer contacts, calendars, and reminders to your iPhone or iPad past logging out of iCloud
See how to create a new Apple tree ID on your iPhone or iPad

What to exercise if you entered the wrong email address when you created an Apple tree ID

If you accidentally used the wrong email address to create an Apple ID (for case, you used .com instead of .net), you can ready the error only by changing the electronic mail address associated with your Apple tree ID.

Follow the steps for changing the email address associated with your Apple ID but utilise the incorrect email address to sign in. Once you've inverse the email address, y'all'll be right as rain.

Any questions?

Do yous take any more questions well-nigh changing the email address associated with your Apple ID? You can ever check out Apple'due south cognition base document on the subject, postal service them in the comments below, or visit our iMore forums. If you're having a particular issue, our reader community tin can probably help you out.

Updated March 2019: Updated for ios 12 and macOS Mojave.

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