Transfer iCloud+ and Apple TV to new Apple ID

I currently have two Apple Accounts, one tied to my work email and one I created using a Gmail email, not work-related. I have recently retired and will be using my Gmail Apple Account exclusively. I have downloaded my pictures and contacts and will upload those to my Gmail Apple Account.

My question concerns my iCloud+ storage. Is there a way to transfer iCloud+ from one Apple Account to another Apple Account? I don't want to lose the data that is currently stored. We also have some Apple TVs that are tied to the work email Apple Account that I need to move to the Gmail Apple Account.


Thank you for any help.

HomePod mini, 18

Posted on Nov 18, 2025 4:51 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 18, 2025 7:12 PM

You cannot transfer those subscriptions to another account. You should eventually cancel the subscriptions on the work account and start them fresh on the personal account but this will not transfer the content.


For the AppleTV subscription I suspect that anything such as playlists (I do not have Apple TV) cannot be transferred. You will start fresh.


For iCloud you also cannot directly transfer things in-situ in iCloud. What you can do is slightly complicated but basically you sign into an iPad, iPhone or computer with the old account, then once it has updated with the iCloud content you sign out of the old account while telling it to keep the data on the device. You then sign into the device with your new account and sign into iCloud. This will result in the data on the device which comes from the old account then copying to your personal account's iCloud.


Here's a slightly longer version of this, but I can picture some issues arising that we may need to deal with on a case by case basis such as what happens if your iCloud data exceeds the capacity of your device.


- 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

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). 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. Manage your photo and video storage - Apple Support 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



If another Apple account is signed in you may need to enter the password for that account to sign out of that account first.


Click on this link to learn how to 'Sign in with your Apple ID' --> https://support.apple.com/HT204053




2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 18, 2025 7:12 PM in response to robsimonton

You cannot transfer those subscriptions to another account. You should eventually cancel the subscriptions on the work account and start them fresh on the personal account but this will not transfer the content.


For the AppleTV subscription I suspect that anything such as playlists (I do not have Apple TV) cannot be transferred. You will start fresh.


For iCloud you also cannot directly transfer things in-situ in iCloud. What you can do is slightly complicated but basically you sign into an iPad, iPhone or computer with the old account, then once it has updated with the iCloud content you sign out of the old account while telling it to keep the data on the device. You then sign into the device with your new account and sign into iCloud. This will result in the data on the device which comes from the old account then copying to your personal account's iCloud.


Here's a slightly longer version of this, but I can picture some issues arising that we may need to deal with on a case by case basis such as what happens if your iCloud data exceeds the capacity of your device.


- 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

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). 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. Manage your photo and video storage - Apple Support 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



If another Apple account is signed in you may need to enter the password for that account to sign out of that account first.


Click on this link to learn how to 'Sign in with your Apple ID' --> https://support.apple.com/HT204053




Transfer iCloud+ and Apple TV to new Apple ID

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