Transfer Apple subscriptions to new Apple ID and delete old account

Okay, the basic answers are maybe you can migrate and maybe you can delete (and if you do then please read the article because if you do not do things carefully you may be buying a new iPhone and computer). Click on the colored text below and read what you can do.

- Purchases can be migrated from a secondary to a primary Apple Account to consolidate them. (This feature isn’t available to users in India.) —> Migrate purchases from one Apple Account to another Apple Account - Apple Support

- Learn about what purchases and associated content can be migrated between two accounts. —> About migrating Apple Account purchases between accounts - Apple Support

Carefully and thoroughly read this support article about what happens and how to delete an Apple Account—> How to delete your Apple Account - Apple Support

and what happens when you delete an Apple Account. For example:

"Make sure that you sign out of all your devices to avoid issues with apps that use your Apple Account or iCloud. After your account is deleted, you can’t sign out of iCloud or turn off Find My iPhone Activation Lock on your devices. If you forget to sign out, you might not be able to use your device when your account is deleted."

Of course that is assuming you still have full access to the account. If you do not then the account is no longer yours and you cannot delete it.

Thanks Carol B. :-) Actually this standard post of mine is more suited to this situation.

Apple has no formal entire account merging or transferring process. The things below will help you in doing ongoing or one-time transfer of as much as possible from one account to the other. In February, 2025 Apple started allowing purchases to be migrated to a different account. This is not available in all countries. If you do wish to migrate purchases, Apple has several lengthy and detailed articles about doing this, including limitations:

- Purchases can be migrated from a secondary to a primary Apple Account to consolidate them. (This feature isn’t available to users in India.) —> Migrate purchases from one Apple Account to another Apple Account - Apple Support

- Learn about what purchases and associated content can be migrated between two accounts. —> About migrating Apple Account purchases between accounts - Apple Support

If you cannot migrate your purchases, or wish to share already purchased items, look into using Family Sharing to continue to be able to use items purchased with one Apple account with other Apple accounts, and for some data sharing features.

- Family Sharing - How Family Sharing works - Apple Support

- Set up Family Sharing - How to set up Family Sharing on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac - Apple Support

You can use various iCloud sharing features for some ongoing data sharing.

Share folders with iCloud Drive --> Share files and folders in iCloud Drive on iCloud.com - Apple Support

Read How to use Shared Albums in Photos on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Vision Pro - Apple Support about how to share photos.

Sharing music playlists —> How to share an Apple Music playlist on your iPhone - Apple Support

While Apple’s purchase migration documents say you cannot transfer iCloud data, you can probably still do that as a separate process. The next section may sound tricky but it lets you merge some things on a device where you have already signed in with an old account but want to use a new account and incorporate data that is already on the device from the old account. Incidentally, the data will then propagate to other devices using iCloud with that new account. (I haven't tried this with a computer but it may also work with a computer account signed into an old account.)

If you have signed into the first Apple account on a mobile device (but maybe also on a computer?) then fortunately when you sign out of that account it asks you if you wish to retain the data from the old account on your device (toggle the ones you want to on What happens after you choose Sign Out But Don't Erase - Apple Support ). If you keep data on the device then when you sign in with the other account it will merge this data with the account signing into the device. You can later delete individual items from the old account that you do not want. Similar information can be found in this post: I have 2 apple IDs i want to merge them h… - Apple Community , and a step-by-step in this User Tip: How to “unshare” an Apple ID - Apple Community . Note that only content physically present on the device such as contacts, photos and videos will be retained. Meta data such as a game play scores that are tied to a specific account or are only on a vendor's Apple Account-specific database remotely will not be retained. Also turn off storage optimization before doing this. With Optimize Storage, smaller, space-saving photos and videos are kept on your device while all of your original, full-resolution versions are stored in iCloud. Make sure photo optimization is turned off so the full quality versions from the old account are actually on the device before merging the content into your new account. https://support.apple.com/HT205703 You can turn optimization back on again once you are fully using your new account on the device.

It used to be that apps would remain on a device and would work for a while, you would not be able to update them or redownload them unless you bought them again with the new account or download them with the new account using Family Sharing. If you use purchase migration feature this may help with this now.

Sign out of iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac --> https://support.apple.com/HT208242

If this involves a device changing ownership, the person should also change the ID set in Find My. https://support.apple.com/guide/icloud/remove-devices-and-items-from-find-my-mmdc23b125f6/icloud

3 things to note:

1. You cannot migrate subscriptons. full stop. You can migrate purchases but not subscriptions.
2. You will need to cancel your subscriptions on your old account and manually start them on your new account. This can lead to data loss on certain subscriptions including Apple Music and iCloud.
3. Changing to a different Apple Id is not going to magically remove the beta version from ypour iPhone. Those are 2 separate and unrelated things. You are of course free to remove the beta software and return your iPhone to a non-beta version without changing your Apple Account at all.
4. click here ➜ Unenroll Your Devices - Apple Beta

Pleas take a look at the instructions from one of the Apple expert volunteers.

Change Apple ID and transfer subscription… - Apple Community

@Phil0124

I have already unrolled from the Beta program and restored my phone to the original version.

I figured migrating my subscription isn’t allowed because I’ve re-read these articles and it’s not mentioned anywhere in them, so thank you for that! I appreciate your clear, straight forward response.

gingermama07 wrote:

lol this didn’t answer any of the questions I asked and somehow you have a level 10 scale.

This is uncalled for. You may not realize that you are addressing other Apple users here ... people who are volunteering their time to try to help other Apple users. We are trying our best. You are not talking to Apple employees here. You would be better off contacting Apple directly if you cannot get the assistance you need here. Good luck.

gingermama07 wrote:

@Phil0124

I have already unrolled from the Beta program and restored my phone to the original version.

In which case, whatever issues the beta was causing would have stopped the moment you return to the regular versaion. Getting a new Apple Account will not chnge the way devices work. Why do you feel you need a completely new Apple Account then?

I figured migrating my subscription isn’t allowed because I’ve re-read these articles and it’s not mentioned anywhere in them, so thank you for that! I appreciate your clear, straight forward response.

You're welcome.

You cannot migrate subscriptons. full stop. You can migrate purchases but not subscriptions.

Odd what you say, the article About migrating Apple Account purchases between accounts - Apple Support says:

"Subscriptions you’re currently subscribed to on your secondary Apple Account migrate to your primary Apple Account. Learn how to cancel subscriptions that you don’t want."

Limnos wrote:

You cannot migrate subscriptons. full stop. You can migrate purchases but not subscriptions.

Odd what you say, the article About migrating Apple Account purchases between accounts - Apple Support says:

"Subscriptions you’re currently subscribed to on your secondary Apple Account migrate to your primary Apple Account. Learn how to cancel subscriptions that you don’t want."

Ha, totally missed. I stand corrected.

Phil0124 wrote:

Limnos wrote:

You cannot migrate subscriptons. full stop. You can migrate purchases but not subscriptions.

Odd what you say, the article About migrating Apple Account purchases between accounts - Apple Support says:

"Subscriptions you’re currently subscribed to on your secondary Apple Account migrate to your primary Apple Account. Learn how to cancel subscriptions that you don’t want."

Ha, totally missed. I stand corrected.

:-)

lol this didn’t answer any of the questions I asked and somehow you have a level 10 scale.

Thanks for stepping in, Linmos.