[BUG] Paid subscriber logged out on web and desktop for nearly 2 weeks - mobile session on iOS remains authenticated. FIN AI will not escalate to human support.

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Summary

I am a paid Claude subscriber locked out of claude.ai (web) and Claude
Desktop for nearly two weeks. The mobile app remains authenticated on the
same account.

The trigger was a sequence of profile changes I performed in the Claude
web UI, which the interface permitted but which appear to have left my
account in a corrupted / orphaned state:

1. Upgraded subscription from Pro to Max
2. Changed country in profile from Switzerland to United Arab Emirates
3. Changed the email address associated with the account

Per the Anthropic support article "How do I change the email address
associated with my account?"
(https://support.anthropic.com/en/articles/8452276), email change is
explicitly NOT supported and the documented recovery path is to cancel,
unlink phone number, delete the old account, and create a new one.

However, the in-product UI permitted me to initiate an email change
anyway. The result is that the account is now in a broken state:

• Logging in with the OLD email address: treated as a new account,

prompted to create / onboard

• Logging in with the NEW email address: prompted to verify, but the

verification email has never arrived

• The paid Max subscription is stranded — I cannot reach either

account state to access it

• Mobile app on phone (iOS) continues to work normally on the original

account, confirming the subscription is active server-side

This is related but not identical to the auth-routing failures
documented in #57164, #60022, #36797, #39788. Those are OAuth / magic-
link backend mismatches. My case is account-state corruption from an
in-product operation (email change) that the UI permits but the
backend does not actually support — compounded by simultaneous country
change and plan upgrade.

See also: anthropics/skills Discussion #1144, where multiple users
have argued that Claude accounts are permanently locked to their
initial registration email and that this needs a supported in-product
flow.

Steps to reproduce (suspected)

1. Existing Pro subscriber, account in good standing
2. Initiate upgrade to Max via Settings → Billing
3. Change country in profile during the same session
4. Change email address in profile during the same session
5. Log out (or get logged out)
6. Attempt to log back in via web or desktop on either email

Expected: account remains accessible under one of the email addresses,
with subscription intact.

Actual: both email addresses behave as new / unverified accounts; paid
subscription becomes unreachable from web and desktop; mobile session
remains authenticated.

What I have already tried

• Fin AI Support: multiple conversations, Conversation ID(s):

[paste your IDs]. Explicitly requested human / Product Support
escalation several times; no hand-off occurred. The "Wait for the
team" option referenced in Anthropic's "How to get support" article
did not appear in my conversation.

• Email(s) to [support@anthropic.com](mailto:support@anthropic.com): sent on [date(s)], reference /

ticket number(s): [paste your numbers]. No human response received.

• "Contact Sales" form on anthropic.com: submitted, no response or

acknowledgement.

• Verified subscription is active via mobile app, which remains logged

in to the original account.

• Standard troubleshooting on web/desktop: cleared cookies and cache,

tried multiple browsers ([list which]), tried Claude Desktop on
[macOS / Windows — fill in].

• Have not deleted any account, as the support-article recovery path

requires Support assistance which has not been forthcoming, and
deletion is permanent.

Account details

• Original account email: jeff@jeffross.me
• New email address attempted: accounting@jeffross.me
• Plan: Pro (attempted to upgrade from Pro to Max during the incident)
• Country change: Switzerland → United Arab Emirates
• Approximate date of the incident: 11. Mai 2026
• Current region: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• Mobile (iOS) app: still authenticated to original account, subscription

visible and active

Request

Engineering escalation to:

1. Restore my account's authentication on claude.ai web and Claude

Desktop under one resolvable email address, with paid Pro or Max
subscription intact.

1. Investigate why the in-product email-change UI is exposed when the

backend does not support email changes, given that this is the root
cause of the lockout.

1. As a process improvement: ensure that simultaneous profile changes

(email + country + plan tier) trigger a guard or at minimum a
warning, rather than silently corrupting the account state.

This is business-impacting — I am a paying subscriber unable to access
the product I am paying for, with no working support escalation
channel through FIN AI Agent or email.

Environment

• OS (web/desktop, affected): 2 machines - macOS version 14.8.3 and Windows 11 version 25H2
• Browser(s) tried: [Chrome, Brace, Safari.
• Claude Desktop version: most recent available for those 2 OS above
• Mobile app (working): iOS 18.6.2

What Should Happen?

The Claude web UI should not permit an email change operation when
the backend does not support email changes. At minimum, one of the
following should occur:

1. The email address field in profile settings should be read-only,

with a link to the support article explaining the cancel-and-
recreate process.

1. If the field remains editable, attempting to save a new email

should display a clear warning that email changes are not
supported and will result in account lockout, requiring explicit
user confirmation before proceeding.

1. Simultaneous profile changes (email + country + plan tier upgrade)

should trigger an additional guard, as this combination appears
to corrupt account state.

For my specific case: my paid Max subscription, conversation history,
projects, and account access should be restored under one resolvable
email address — either the original or the attempted new one —
without requiring me to delete the account and lose data, given that
the lockout was caused by a UI-permitted operation rather than user
error. I am fine with keeping the original one, to make things easier.

Claude Code-specific fields are marked N/A. This issue is filed on this repo per the precedent in #57164 and #60022, where backend account/auth issues required engineering escalation because Fin AI Support could not resolve them.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to reproduce (suspected)

1. Existing Pro subscriber, account in good standing
2. Initiate upgrade to Max via Settings → Billing
3. Change country in profile during the same session
4. Change email address in profile during the same session
5. Log out (or get logged out)
6. Attempt to log back in via web or desktop on either email

Expected: account remains accessible under one of the email addresses,
with subscription intact.

Actual: both email addresses behave as new / unverified accounts; paid
subscription becomes unreachable from web and desktop; mobile session
remains authenticated.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

N/A Not a Claude Code user yet

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

_No response_