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I had a Mobile Me account which expired before iCloud was announced. I want to migrate this account to iCloud rather than signing up for a new iCloud account with a different email address. Is this possible? If so, how?

When I try to login at www.iCloud.com with my old Mobile Me ID I get the error below:

iCloud.com screenshot

If I click 'Get Started' I'm redirected to www.me.com to login to my old account where I get the message below:

me.com screenshot

When I click on 'Learn More' I get directed to a support page which just says I can migrate from Mobile Me by visiting www.me.com/move but this just gives me the same result as above.

Has anyone managed to move an expired Mobile Me account to iCloud? If so, how did you do it?

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Have you verified your account and password are still OK at appleid.apple.com - that site is very, very busy at the moment. You could simply be seeing a timeout in the authentication system. – bmike♦ Oct 12 '11 at 19:37
Yes it authenticates me, if I put an incorrect password in it tells me the password is wrong but if I put the correct password it gives me the 'subscription has ended' message – conorgriffin Oct 12 '11 at 19:42
You might indeed be locked out. Best to open a ticket with iCloud support - they may be swamped and it might take a week or two till they'll address releasing those expired names. As long as you retain the correct info at appleid - it won't get reused since you could use it for store billing purposes. I have 4 MobileMe accounts that can't migrate now - it times out, so you might just be getting a wrong error about a temporary fault. – bmike♦ Oct 12 '11 at 21:35

4 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

This article from Apple Support answers some commonly-asked questions related to the Mobile Me to iCloud transition. This article from Apple Support explains how to move to iCloud. From this article we read the following:

Inactive and expired MobileMe accounts do not need to move to iCloud. Simply use your inactive or expired account to sign up for an iCloud account and follow the onscreen instructions

This article lists some additional troubleshooting issues with accounts and iCloud. It is important to note that the number one troubleshooting issue mentioned is iCloud outages. As it has been mentioned on this thread, iCloud is being hit pretty hard today on its official launch day. From the article:

Check System Status to make sure there are no outages or scheduled maintenances currently affecting your iCloud account. System Status is displayed at the iCloud Support web site.

The "Lean More" link on the original question (above) is the same link as the first one I include on this answer. If some of these links are not working in your area, it may be a matter of waiting for the pages to propagate across Apple's worldwide servers (and their backbone providers). The links work within the US. It also worth mentioning that more articles are literally being made available by the hour. In other words, There is a chance the some of these links will not work immediately for you, but they eventually should. Hope this helps.

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I get a message stating that they can't find the article you've linked to. I'll update the question with a screenshot. If you have access to it maybe you can include some excerpts from it in your answer which would be better than just a link. – conorgriffin Oct 12 '11 at 20:34
I am not sure why the original link I posted is not working for you, I verified that it works by clicking on it directly on the post itself. I have included additional articles and a quote that directly answers your situation. Hope this helps. – Christian Correa Oct 12 '11 at 20:56
I've upvoted your answer because it is helpful but I'm still unable to upgrade from my Mobile Me account. It may be an oversight by Apple which will be resolved in the coming hours or days, if that's the case I'll accept it then. Until then I'm open to other solutions. Thanks – conorgriffin Oct 12 '11 at 21:15
Also, that link is now working so I'll amend the question again. – conorgriffin Oct 12 '11 at 21:15
up vote 1 down vote

I could not migrate via the web site either, but I managed to do it once I got 10.7.2 installed on my Mac. I then used my expired MobileMe account as the Apple ID to log into iCloud with (from within the Mac dialog that showed up on first boot after the update). It was then reactivated and migrated to iCloud automatically. I expect it would work the same way from iOS 5.

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up vote 0 down vote

It's been a nightmare for me too... but suddenly while reading an article. Just follow these steps: 1. Go to System Preferences 2. Launch MobileMe preferences pane 3. Sign out of your MobileMe account 4. Leave the pane 5. Launch iCloud pane..

Now you can sign in with your 'expired' MobileMe account and use your cool @me.com email for free via iCloud!

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up vote 0 down vote

Although I was unable to revive an old, very old, almost forgotten, @me.com on my MacBook, I was able to do it on my iPhone. Even though it already had a different iCloud address etc. set up. After I turned mail on, it asked me if I wanted to create a new @iCloud email address too.

Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars>Add Account...>iCloud

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