If I've lost access to my Apple ID, are there downsides to creating a new ID?

I have an Apple ID that I can not longer access, so I wonder is it better to create a new one?

Let's say I've purchased apps and other products using my old Apple ID, some of which are still on my PC, but are linked to my Apple ID. Can I still retrieve those if I create a new ID, or should I purchase the content again?

Solution 1:

Unfortunately, app, iBooks, music and other similar purchases are very much tied to a particular Apple ID, and it is not currently (and has never been in the past) possible to merge accounts.

Are you aware you can request a new password or change the email and/or the Apple ID now if it's only access to the email that you have lost?

Your proposal to start new and buy is obviously doable if you don't mind losing the history and all use of the past purchases.

Should you ever recover / remember / reset the past account, you would then have two accounts to enter to get both sets of content loaded. So, you can have up to 5 accounts on each iOS device, but it's a bit of a pain to keep both passwords, switch back and forth and remember which account should buy new content. (You can remove payment from the one you don't want to buy to mitigate that one confusion). I would strongly recommend you keep working with Apple support to get your old account password reset and then change the email to match your current email / password rather than starting new.

You can also read up on how some other people solved this issue:

• How can I change a defunct Apple ID email address?
• How do I unlock my iTunes account when my old e-mail is unavailable?

Solution 2:

Have you read the Apple FAQ about Apple ID here?

There is various information on how to retrieve access to an ID, could be a good place to start rather than abandoning the ID as previous purchases will be linked to that ID.

As covered in the FAQ, since you have never been able to merge Apple ID - it's probably worth the effort to contact Apple to get the original account unlocked / password reset.

Q: I have multiple Apple IDs. Is there a way for me to merge them into a single Apple ID?

Apple IDs cannot be merged. You should use your preferred Apple ID from now on, but you can still access your purchased items such as music, movies, or software using your other Apple IDs.