You open your favorite game after using “Sign in with Apple” — and hours of progress are gone. No levels, no characters, no saves. Before you panic: your progress almost certainly still exists. It just lives under a different account identity than the one you just signed in with. Here’s why it happens and exactly how to get your saves back.
Step 1: Understand what “Sign in with Apple” actually did
When you sign in to a game with your Apple ID, the game creates (or looks up) an account tied to the identifier Apple handed it. Apple offers two email options at sign-in, and which one you picked decides everything:
- Share My Email: the game receives your real Apple ID email.
- Hide My Email: Apple generates a random private relay address and hands that to the game instead.
Apple Support explains how Sign in with Apple privacy options work. If you originally registered your game account with your real email and later signed in with a hidden relay address, the game sees a brand-new stranger — with a brand-new, empty profile. Your old saves are still attached to the original account.
Step 2: Sign back in using your original email
The most common fix is simple: log out of the game, then sign in the same way you did when you first created your progress. If your old account was registered with your real email, tap Share My Email this time — not Hide My Email — so the game can match you to the account that holds your saves.
Step 3: Check the game’s own account-linking screen
Many games have an in-game settings page — under Settings, Account, or Profile — where you can link accounts manually. Look for an option like “Link Apple ID”, “Connect account”, or “Transfer progress”. Sign in with the original email there and the game will re-attach your old saves. 9to5Mac regularly covers how major games handle Apple ID sign-in, and their reporting confirms this email mismatch is the number-one cause of “lost” progress.
Step 4: Stop the problem from repeating
Prevention beats recovery:
- Always use the same email choice for Sign in with Apple in a given game — either always Share or always Hide.
- Where the game offers its own account system (a developer login, Game Center, or a social login), bind your game to it in addition to Apple ID. That gives you a second way back in.
- Note down which Apple ID and which email option you used for important game accounts.
Keeping one consistent identity matters across your devices too — our guide on setting up message sync between iPhone and Mac shows how Apple ties everything to one account, and knowing which built-in iPhone apps you can delete helps you clean up storage without touching the apps that hold your game data.
If it still doesn’t work
If neither email variant recovers your saves, contact the game’s support team and tell them every email address you may have used. Developers can often find orphaned accounts on their backend and merge them manually — but only if you can prove the accounts are yours. Check the game’s own support pages for its exact account-recovery flow rather than assuming one universal fix.
FAQ
Did Hide My Email delete my game progress?
No. Your old saves are still attached to your original account. The private relay address simply created a second, empty account — sign back in with the original email and your progress returns.
Can I switch a game from a relay address to my real email?
It depends on the game. Some let you change the linked email in account settings; others don’t. Check the game’s support pages or ask its support team before assuming either way.
Conclusion
Lost game saves after Sign in with Apple are almost always an email-mismatch problem, not deleted data. Match the email the game knows, use the in-game linking options, and keep your sign-in method consistent going forward — your progress was there all along.
[…] Game Center setup guide walks through achievements, friends, and multiplayer, while our fix for game saves that disappear when you sign in with Apple can rescue a frustrating progress […]