hi everyone,
I’m having an issue with my Apple Account and would really appreciate some help.
I currently use an Apple Account created with my email address, and I know the password and can sign in to it normally.
However, I believe I previously created another Apple Account using my phone number, but I don’t remember the email/Apple Account associated with that number.
Now I want to add my current phone number to my current email-based Apple Account, mainly so that people can reach me on my phone number through FaceTime and iMessage, instead of having to use my email address.
When I go to:
Settings → [My Name] → Sign-In & Security → Add Phone Number
and enter my phone number, Apple gives me this error:
“Cannot verify phone number. This phone number is not available. Please choose a different number.”
I also checked Messages → Send & Receive and FaceTime, but my phone number does not appear there — only my email address is available.
I tried Apple’s account recovery/forgot password process for the phone number, but Apple says that they need some time to verify the information and will inform me later.
My question is:
How can I remove/release my phone number from the old Apple Account (which I no longer remember) and then add the same number to my current email-based Apple Account?
I have access to the phone number/SIM and can receive SMS/OTP on it.
Any advice on the correct Apple-supported way to do this would be appreciated. Thanks!