Reset iPhone account. How to completely delete Apple ID and iCloud without recovery

In this article, I will talk about all the ways to delete your Apple ID account from your iPhone and Apple services.

This article is suitable for all iPhone Xs/Xr/X/8/7/6/5 and Plus models running iOS 12. Older versions may have different or missing menu items and hardware support listed in the article.

Removing iPhone data from iCloud servers

To log out of the iCloud service via iPhone, follow these instructions:

Removing an Apple ID account

Method 1. Through the gadget settings

Method 2. Through resetting settings and content

Method 3. Through the iTunes application

Replacing email

You can replace your current e-mail if it is not possible to completely delete your iPhone account. This will allow you to link another account to your own e-mail. The action can be performed in the following ways:

Via iTunes.
Through the office website.

However, you should have access to the new email. If previously it was possible to indicate even a non-existent address, now confirmation is required from the post office.

Activation Lock service

This method is suitable in a situation where you have previously connected the Find my iPhone option to your iPhone.

All actions are performed on a Windows or Mac computer:

Via the official website

To through the office. Apple website change email, follow the instructions:

Go to the Apple website, scroll down the page until “Manage your Apple ID” is displayed.
Follow the link, enter the data, and log in to the resource. Then we answer 2 security questions specified during registration.
Click on the “Edit” icon next to your information.
Select “Change Apple ID” and enter a new e-mail. We answer the specified control questions. If you have forgotten these questions, click “Reset”.
Then open the confirmation letter that was sent by e-mail.

Now your account is no longer tied to mail. You can register a new Apple ID account.

Changing account

It is much easier to change an account on an iPhone than to completely delete it. You don’t need a computer for this; all actions will be performed directly in the gadget.

First, go into the gadget settings.
In iOS 11, simply click on the first line where your first and last name is written. If you are working with earlier versions, then you need to select “iTunes store, App Store”.
In iOS 11, scroll to the bottom of the page, where we click “Exit”. In previous versions, click on Apple ID and log out.
After logging out of your account, you can connect a new one. The account changes in just a couple of minutes. This is the fastest and easiest method for deleting an iPhone account.

Through support

To delete your Apple ID account, you can write a letter to technical support asking to delete your account. To do this, you need to go to the website https://www.apple.com/feedback/ and fill out all the fields:

All information must be written in English only; we fill out all fields.
Email Address – indicate the email address of the account that needs to be deleted.
Subject – describe the goal: “Deleting an Apple ID account.”
Comment – we describe in more detail the reason why you want to get rid of your account.
After filling out all the fields, you need to click on the “Submit Suggestion” button.

The practice of using Apple products has shown that complete deletion of an Apple services account will never be necessary. However, many users ask this question, so it’s worth considering it in detail. This article will tell you how to remove your Apple ID, unlink your current email from your account, and much more.

Article structure:

Existing methods for completely deleting an Apple ID account;
Changing data using Apple ID account settings;
How to delete an account using Apple technical support;
Standard request template for technical support to delete an Apple ID account.

Perhaps the only possible reason that could serve as an impetus for deleting your Apple ID account is using your current email account to register a new account. If you need to do just this, then there is no point in completely deleting your account, because in your account settings you can always change your email address, which is also your Apple ID login. The address that is subsequently released can be used to register a new account.

If you still need to completely delete your existing Apple account, you can use the following two methods.

Ways to completely delete an Apple account

change your credentials on the account management page;
Contact technical support and ask to delete your Apple account.

To delete your Apple ID account, you will need:

a computer running Mac OS or Windows. You can also use any iOS device;
connection to the Internet.

Changing user information in Apple Account Settings

So, you can take the easier route and simply change the personal data that was entered during registration. You can change it completely arbitrarily: for example, you can change the user’s birthday, address, and something else. When using this method, the account is not deleted.

On your personal computer, you should launch the iTunes software, go to the application store and click the “Login” button.

Now you need to enter your username and password.

You will be logged into your account.

By the way, you won’t be able to attach a non-existent mailbox to your account, because to confirm the changes you will need to follow the link that will be sent to the new mailbox.

The same operation can be done through the website. Just go to the following address: http://appleid.apple.com/ru/. On the site you will need to enter your login and password. After completing the described actions, you will be able to forget about your Apple account forever.

How to remove Apple ID when using technical support?

The second method is a little longer, but it is much more civilized, because it is thanks to it that the account is permanently deleted, so it will not be possible to restore it.

To do this, you will need absolutely any device that is capable of accessing the Internet, and you need to go to: http://apple.com/support/feedback/. Initially, you need to fill in the required minimum information (the required fields are marked “required”). After entering the information, click the “Submit Offer” button.

To send a letter to the support service, you must comply with the following requirements:

Data in the fields should be filled in English only;
The “email address” field should be filled in with the address to which the account is registered;
in the “Subject” field you should write something similar to the following: “I want to delete my Apple ID”, which in Russian translates as “I want to delete my Apple account”;
The “Comment” field is filled in with the reason why you want to delete your Apple ID account.

If your knowledge of English is not fully enough to write a request to the support service, then no one forbids you to use any of the online translators that exist in nature.

Let's look at a possible example of a letter to Apple technical support:

“Good afternoon, dear Apple company!
I've been using an Apple ID account (you should include your email address here) for quite some time, but for certain personal reasons I no longer need it. I no longer need to use services that require me to sign in with my Apple ID. I understand that all the money that I spent on the purchase of various programs, films, musical compositions and games is non-refundable, and I will not receive any monetary compensation. Please delete my Apple ID permanently."

Now we pass this text through the most easily accessible translator - Google Translate.

The result is the following text:

“Good afternoon, the company Apple!
For a long time I use the account Apple ID (here we should point your e-mail address), but for some personal reasons, I no longer need it. I no longer need to use services that require login using Apple ID. I realize that all the money that I had spent on the purchase of various programs, movies, music and games are non-refundable, and I do not receive any monetary compensation. Please delete my Apple ID can not be restored.”

Don’t worry that there may be errors in the translation of the text, because support is well aware that not all people know English well. Apple employees are guaranteed to understand the essence of your request.

Now all you have to do is wait for the support service to respond. Sometimes you have to wait several days, and sometimes several weeks. As soon as the request is considered, an email will be sent to the address, which will contain a link that you should follow to confirm the deletion of your account. After clicking on it, your Apple account will be deleted without the possibility of recovery.

So, deleting an Apple ID is not always as easy as it might seem at first glance. By the way, the support service has every right to refuse your request. It is much easier to use the first method and change your credentials.

Apple devices are not cheap, even, let’s say, in “worn” condition. That’s why many people, having decided to purchase a new smartphone or tablet, sell their previous gadget, and one of the main questions that comes to Apple owners when selling is what to do with Apple ID (Apple ID, Apple ID)? Should it be removed, and if so, how?

In this article, we will tell you how to delete an Apple ID on an iPhone, how to unlink a personal identifier from an i-smartphone, and what consequences a new user faces if the previous one does not delete his account from the iPhone. Let us immediately note that the instructions below are also suitable for other mobile iOS devices - iPad and iPod.

In general, when selling an iOS device, it is absolutely not necessary to delete your Apple ID account; it is only necessary and sufficient to unlink the account from the gadget being sold. However, if you want to start a new life with a new Apple, which you plan to buy after selling your old gadget, or if you are no longer going to use iOS devices at all, but want, for example, to switch to Android - in short, if you no longer need your Apple ID, you can, of course, delete it and we will be happy to tell you how to complete this procedure.

However, we must warn you - even if you are sure that you will never need your account again, you still don’t have to delete it, because, as they say, it doesn’t ask for milk. Moreover, you should think twice about deleting the entry if you purchased some paid applications and content. All purchased utilities are assigned to the Apple ID from which they were purchased, which means that if you delete your account, all purchases will be lost.

Not convinced that it’s better to leave your Apple ID? Well, then we’ll tell you how this account is deleted.

Support

The only correct answer to the question of how to remove an Apple ID sounds like this: contact Apple support. Only the company itself can decide to permanently and permanently delete your account for logging into the App Store, iCloud, iTunes Store and other Apple-branded services.

However, don’t worry, there is nothing complicated in such an application - many guide articles that you will find on the Internet will ask you to write an application in English, send it and wait for a response for several days, but these are already outdated instructions, today Apple has excellent Russian-speaking support service, which, one might say, will do everything for you, you just need to order a call on the relevant topic, for this

In the first case, you provide your first name, last name, email, Apple ID and phone number, click continue and wait for the call - it usually arrives within 5 minutes. In the second case, you, again, fill out all the information about yourself, but call yourself at a convenient time and report that you submitted an application, the specialist will already prepare a solution. Apple's Russian-language support phone number is 8-800-333-5173.

Personal Apple ID management account

As we said above, you can permanently and irrevocably delete an account only through Apple support, but there is another tricky way to get rid of an ID - let’s say, freeze it. You can perform this procedure yourself without contacting support, and here's how to do it:

Now the e-mail previously linked to the Apple ID is free. By the way, it is worth noting that previously, when changing an email address, it was possible to specify even a non-existent mailbox, but recently the rules have changed. At the moment, you can only assign an account to an existing email, so if you don’t have a backup mailbox, you’ll have to create one for the sake of it, but it will take 5 minutes.

How to unlink Apple ID?

However, do not forget that if you don’t want to bother with creating a new mailbox or contacting support, but you want to sell a gadget, you can simply unlink your old Apple ID, especially since it’s very easy to do:

That's all! Detachment completed!

What happens if you don’t unlink your Apple ID before selling?

Despite the fact that it is very simple to unlink an Apple ID, many people do not carry out this procedure before selling their device, not out of laziness, of course, but out of ignorance - users simply do not realize how important it is to perform this procedure and now we will tell you why.

Let us immediately note that from the “iTunes Store, App Store” section, leaving before the sale is generally not so important (if you do not see the problem that the new owner will recognize your email, which at the same time is the Apple ID login and is written in the section). Why isn't this important? Yes, because, as you remember, an identifier password is not required to exit this menu, which means that a new user will be able to exit it independently.

But this trick won’t work with the iCloud menu; you won’t be able to do anything without knowing the password. It won’t work and it won’t work, many people think, having found the ID of the previous owner in the cloud storage menu, just think, I won’t have access to the “cloud” - I’ll store backups on my computer! However, the inability to perform a backup in iCloud is not the only and not the main problem that awaits a new user if the previous one has not unlinked.

Activation Lock

The fact is that when you register an Apple ID in the “iCloud” section, the “Find iPhone” option is automatically turned on (and when unlinked, it turns off). And if this option is enabled, then every time after restoring/updating an iOS device (as well as some other procedures), the user is required to have an Apple ID password to activate the gadget - this feature is called activation lock.

Why is this necessary? This is how Apple implemented anti-theft protection - look, someone steals an iPhone, tries to erase data from it (using the recovery procedure or the corresponding menu item in the device settings) in order to make it clean and sell it, and runs into activation lock. How to get around it? No way!

If the theft is not targeted and the thief does not know the Apple ID password, he will not be able to bypass the lock. And although today there are a lot of videos on Youtube and organizations that offer to bypass the blocking for the nth amount of money, you should not delude yourself, most of the videos only have beautiful and promising names, but in fact they do not solve the problem, and the organizations were created by scammers. Some hackers sometimes manage, of course, to log into the system without entering a password, but its functions are greatly limited.

As you can see, the anti-theft system works great and discourages any desire to steal, thanks, Apple, but you probably already guessed that the owner of an iOS device whose previous user has not signed out of iCloud may find himself in the same situation as a thief, for example, when he simply decides to update a gadget.

How to access the device?

The only advantage of the new owner is that he can safely try to contact the previous owner and ask him to help in the current situation - either provide the password, or enter it himself during a personal meeting. Unfortunately, not all buyers save sellers’ contacts, but here’s one good hint - you know the seller’s email - after all, the Apple ID login and the email to which it is linked are equivalent concepts! Of course, it’s not a fact that a person uses this box, but at least there is some hope.

If the person who sold you the device could not be found, but the seller, along with the gadget, gave you a box from it and/or a receipt from its purchase in the store, you have another hope. You can contact Apple support - you already know how to do this and ask them for help with unlocking. If you can prove that the device belongs to you, as a rule, this requires some data indicated on the receipt and box, then it will definitely be unlocked for you.

What should you do if you haven’t found the person who sold the device and Apple support couldn’t verify that the device belongs to you? Unfortunately, the chances of a successful resolution of the case are not so great. You, in essence, find yourself in the position of a thief and all you can do is contact dubious organizations and watch dubious videos in the hope that you will find a panacea. Here we can only wish you good luck.

Let's summarize

So, now you know how to delete an account, how to freeze it and unlink it from a specific device. Let us remind you that when selling, it is not necessary to delete your account - you can easily use the old Apple ID on the new Apple. But! Unbinding is simply necessary! Otherwise, the new owner will face serious trouble.

Important tip! If you purchase a used iPhone or other Apple mobile gadget, be sure to check whether the owner has logged out of his account, or even better, ask for a purchase receipt and a box - this way you will protect yourself from purchasing a stolen device and will have a very useful one in your hands trump.

At the moment, iCloud is one of the popular and most important Apple services. The Cupertino team was the first to show how a cloud service should work, what necessary functionality it should have, and this set the vector for the entire cloud sphere. Everyone has learned to use iCloud, but few know how to properly change or completely remove iCloud from their iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.

In practice, deleting an iCloud account takes only a few seconds. It is only important to follow the following path: Settings -> iCloud -> Delete account -> Delete. And it seems like the job is done, but you need to understand that each device stores a lot of information that is synchronized with iCloud.

What data needs to be saved before deleting iCloud

1. Pictures from photo stream. To make it clear, every photo that ends up in the gadget’s library is first copied to the photo stream. Therefore, if your photo stream contains photos from other devices (for example, saved on a MacBook), they must be transferred to your gadget’s library, otherwise they will be lost. Before you decide to delete your account, it is important to clarify this point: it is better to check several times than to regret later.

2. When you delete or change your iCloud account, all documents will be erased from the device. We are talking about iWork applications. Therefore, if you need these documents, it is better to send them by email to iTunes or copy them in any other way. Also get ready to say goodbye to your game saves - they are stored in iCloud and will be deleted along with your account.

Other data: contacts, videos, SMS messages will remain unharmed. After deleting an account, information about calendars, contacts, reminders, etc. is not lost forever: you can go to the Internet version of iCloud.com and get everything you need there. But all information will be erased from your gadget in order to create a clean iCloud account with new information. If you suddenly decide to restore your old account, all the information will return to its place.

Also interesting:

iPhone is the brainchild of Apple, which has won the hearts of many users. These devices are in great demand. They have enormous capabilities and a reliable protection system. Because of all this, some users are wondering how to delete an account on an iPhone. This is due to the fact that the Apple ID (profile) is registered to a specific email. And often subscribers want to free up an address for a new profile. The iPhone also has several different programs that use one or another account. When completely replacing a gadget and abandoning Apple products, it is recommended to get rid of profiles. But how to do that? What will help bring your idea to life?

Freeing up mail for a new Apple ID

It's actually not that difficult. The main thing is to take into account some of the nuances and features of the process. How to delete an account on iPhone? More precisely, free up email for the new Apple ID?

There are only two ways to do this. Namely:

via iTunes;
using the official Apple website.

There is nothing difficult or special about the procedures. Even a novice user will be able to free up mail for a new account!

Via Apple page

Unlinking your Apple ID from your existing mail is only possible if you have a free mailbox. Therefore, setting up an iPhone can be difficult if you do not take this feature into account. So what should you do when you release your email?

You need to follow a few instructions. It looks something like this:

Register an email account on any service. It is to this that the existing profile will be attached.
Log in to the Apple ID portal with your previous data.
Write in the search bar and search for Apple ID.
Select the "Data Management" menu item.
Click on the Apple ID e-mail button.
Find and click on Apple ID account Page.
Click on the "Change" button. This function is located on the right side of the screen.
Select the menu item "Change email address".
Enter your previously registered email address for your profile. After completing the steps, you must click on “Continue”.
Answer security questions. This is a required item. You can refuse this procedure, but only if you have your Apple ID password. Then select the “Reset Security Questions” item.
Enter the verification code. The secret combination will be sent to a new email.
Confirm actions.

This is where all the manipulations end. From now on, it’s clear how to change your account on an iPhone. But this is only one of the options for the development of events. There is another method.

iTunes Settings

We are talking about working with the iTunes service. The process as a whole resembles the previous algorithm of actions. To implement it, you need a new e-mail.

Detaching a profile occurs as follows:

Register a new email. The one to which you plan to link the account.
Open iTunes.
Visit the "Account" item. Select "Login...".
Enter your Apple ID details.
Go to the menu item "Account" - "View".
Click on the "Edit" button on applied.apple.com.
Mark your country of residence and re-enter your login information.
Next, it is proposed to act in exactly the same way as in the previous case. The algorithm of actions is repeated from step No. 7.

From now on, it’s clear how to change your account on an iPhone. Freeing up your email isn't that hard! Just a few minutes is enough - and the job is done.

Support

What to do if you want to finally get rid of your Apple ID? Today, it is possible to bring your idea to life with a 100% guarantee using just one method. More precisely, through the support service. Only this scenario contributes to the final and irrevocable deletion of the profile.

In reality, performing such an operation is not difficult. How to delete an account on an iPhone if you forgot your password or when your profile is no longer needed?

The following instructions will help:

Visit Apple's home page. Select the Support-Contact Support menu there.
Fill out the form provided. All actions are carried out exclusively in English. Be sure to fill in the fields marked Required.
In the Comments field, you must describe the situation why you plan to stop using the profile.
Click on Submit.

Now you need to wait some time. Typically, processing a request requires a 15-day waiting period. After this, a link will be sent to the previously specified email address that will allow you to completely delete your Apple ID. To activate it, you just need to visit the specified page.

Shift without PC

From now on it is clear how to delete a blocked account on an iPhone. Changing the profile in all of the above methods is carried out using a computer. But you can do without it.

You just need to follow a few instructions. Setting up an iPhone itself does not require any special knowledge from the user. Simple enough:

Turn on the device and go to the "Settings" section.
Click on the "iTunes Store, App Store" button.
Click on the Apple ID button.
Select the "Exit" option.
The login menu will appear. In the appropriate fields, enter new data to connect to your profile.

All work with changing the account is completed. In reality, everything is simpler than it seems. And if the user is wondering how to delete an account on an iPhone or establish a connection to another profile on the device, he will be able to do this in just a few minutes!

Getting rid of iCloud

Many people use a service called iCloud. It is extremely convenient. Especially for restoring erased information. But sometimes it is necessary to get rid of the corresponding profile.

This is easier to do than it might seem. How to delete an account? You don’t need to install third-party programs and applications on your iPhone; you don’t even need a computer. It is proposed to work exclusively on the device itself.

The algorithm for removing iCloud comes down to the following steps:

Turn on your smartphone/tablet.
Go to "Settings" - "iCloud".
Find the "Delete account" option at the bottom of the menu.
Click on the appropriate button. In the next window, confirm your actions.
iPhone will clarify what to do with the data in Safari. Select the option that suits the user. You can either leave the iCloud-related information or delete it.
Enter the password for your iCloud profile.
Select the menu item "Turn off".

You can assume that the account has been deleted. Nothing difficult, special or incomprehensible. From now on it is clear how to delete an account on an iPhone. All instructions given are 100% valid.