deleting an apple id completely

if you ever used an @icloud.com email address on it, that goes too, and anything sent to it later just bounces. so change that address on anything important (bank, other accounts) before you start.

it's done through Apple's Data and Privacy page, sign in with the apple id and there's a request to delete your account. they verify it and it takes about a week. before you do it though: cancel any subscriptions, download anything you want from iCloud (photos especially), and sign out of the id on every device with Find My turned off. once it's deleted all purchases go with it and Apple can't bring it back. if you're not sure, there's a temporary deactivate option on the same page.