reitermoritz

Q: Why can't I use my iCloud email address as my Apple ID

When I want to enter my iCloud email address (like foo@icloud.com) as my Apple ID, the system at appleid.apple.com tells me that I can't use an email address with a domain owned by Apple as my Apple ID which I find odd enough. I tried to create a new Apple ID through appleid.apple.com just to see what happens and even then it says that you cannot use an email address with an Apple domain.

 

It becomes even more odd when you consider that, if I'm not wrong, you can very well create a new Apple ID and use a new @icloud.com email address if you do it with an iPhone.

 

I can use my iCloud address as the primary email address of my Apple ID account so it's not a huge problem, but it still annoys me a little bit that the name of my Apple ID has to continue being my obsolete Gmail address.

 

Does anyone have more information on this?

Posted on Oct 15, 2012 8:48 AM

Close

Q: Why can't I use my iCloud email address as my Apple ID

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 20 of 21 last Next
  • by gail from maine,

    gail from maine gail from maine Mar 30, 2016 9:55 AM in response to vibrodelic
    Level 7 (25,645 points)
    iCloud
    Mar 30, 2016 9:55 AM in response to vibrodelic

    Maybe you can explain what it is you are wanting to do, exactly? If you have an old email address that you no longer want to use for your Apple ID, there is nothing preventing you from changing that to another email address (as long as it is not an Apple-domain email address like @me, @mac, @iCloud - which are already Apple IDs in and of themselves).

     

    So, what is it that you want to do?

     

    And please stop typing in all caps. It is considered yelling, and it is rude.

     

    And the last thing you want to do is to set up a brand new Apple ID, since all of your purchases under the existing ID will remain with that existing ID.....

     

    Cheers,

     

    GB

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Mar 30, 2016 10:16 AM in response to gail from maine
    Level 9 (77,879 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 30, 2016 10:16 AM in response to gail from maine

    gail from maine wrote:

     

    Maybe you can explain what it is you are wanting to do, exactly? If you have an old email address that you no longer want to use for your Apple ID, there is nothing preventing you from changing that to another email address (as long as it is not an Apple-domain email address like @me, @mac, @iCloud - which are already Apple IDs in and of themselves).

    I'm afraid that's exactly what they want to do - people who have a non-Apple address as their ID, and want to change it to their @icloud.com address so that the login is the same as the email address they use, are incensed because they can't do this. As we know this is Apple's decision, though we don't know whether it's a technical issue which prevents it being possible; it' also may not be a good idea because if you don't have a contact address which isn't the same as your @icloud.com address serious problems can ensue. However attempts to explain this are consistently met with abuse  (as if we had any control over it) and I doubt it's worth getting involved in the discussion and trying to explain this (again).

  • by Samarthnyc,

    Samarthnyc Samarthnyc May 6, 2016 7:57 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 6, 2016 7:57 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Looks like we have a solution finally - Change your Apple ID - Apple Support

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 May 6, 2016 8:05 AM in response to Samarthnyc
    Level 9 (77,879 points)
    iTunes
    May 6, 2016 8:05 AM in response to Samarthnyc

    Unfortunately not - I quote from that page:

     

    You can change your Apple ID to any other email address you control, as long as it's not already in use as an Apple ID. If your email address ends with @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com, you might not be able to change your Apple ID. You also won't see Change Email Address on your account page.


    For 'might not' I think you can safely read 'will not'.

  • by G.Madigan,

    G.Madigan G.Madigan May 6, 2016 8:26 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Desktops
    May 6, 2016 8:26 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    I'm sure that is a nice solution to a problem somewhere, but it does not address the original issue.

    Being a Mac user since Performa days, I have 3 different Apple email logons, each one has authorized a wide variety of apps and music. All the original posters and relies, have the same issue. It is very common for me to encounter "wrong password" errors on my Mac that can be resolved only by entering an old account and password.

     

    When I was unable to use FaceTime or Messenger a year ago, the Apple tech (escalated to manager) in phone support, after making me add. delete and update all sorts of files including El Capitan itself, creating a new email address, and accessing my computer remotely, he couldn't find a solution and said it was in their server and was probably caused by the different accounts under my name and there was no known solution and he'd contact me. He never called back and not even wrote.

     

    The issue of Apple's inability to combine accounts (reason is "security") is an old one and a tiring one. If the reason is security, there should still be a way to have a live person verify the caller and combine them from Apple's side.

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 May 6, 2016 8:44 AM in response to G.Madigan
    Level 9 (77,879 points)
    iTunes
    May 6, 2016 8:44 AM in response to G.Madigan

    The inability to merge different accounts containing purchased material, particularly movies, isn't so much security or an Apple decision but a limitation imposed by the owners of the content. They don't want people being able to transfer ownership of items from one account to another for fairly obvious reasons, and merging would come to the same thing. The main complaint in this thread - the inability to change an existing non-Apple email address being used as an ID to the account's @icloud.com address - isn't really related to your point at all. Your inability to use Facetime or Messenger sounds more like a technical problem at Apple's end rather than anything to do with multiple logins; but as far as purchased movies etc. are concerned any purchases remain tied to the account which made them (that account can change its logon ID and remain the same account) and that situation is most unlikely ever to change.

  • by Samarthnyc,

    Samarthnyc Samarthnyc May 6, 2016 9:05 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 6, 2016 9:05 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    You're right. I just got off the phone with apple care.

     

    He even tried to walk me through the process to see if it works. We went to the appleid.com page and to the part where it says "change email id", but, when I try to change the email id from my gmail.com to iCloud.com, a pop up says, you cannot have iCloud.com as your apple id. And the apple technician says "it is what it is. Once you set up an ID, you're stuck with it forever." I didn't know whether to get mad at him or just laugh at the absurdity.

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 May 6, 2016 9:07 AM in response to Samarthnyc
    Level 9 (77,879 points)
    iTunes
    May 6, 2016 9:07 AM in response to Samarthnyc

    Well, you're not stuck with it exactly, you can of course change it to another non-Apple address.

  • by gail from maine,

    gail from maine gail from maine May 6, 2016 1:37 PM in response to Samarthnyc
    Level 7 (25,645 points)
    iCloud
    May 6, 2016 1:37 PM in response to Samarthnyc

    The reason you cannot make an Apple Domain into a Primary email address on an existing Apple account is because the iCloud.com (or me.com, or Mac.com) is already an Apple ID. Go to: Apple - My Apple ID and sign in with your iCloud ID and password. You will see that it goes to its own Apple account.

     

    Cheers,

     

    GB

  • by KeyMs92,

    KeyMs92 KeyMs92 May 24, 2016 2:58 PM in response to gail from maine
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 24, 2016 2:58 PM in response to gail from maine

    It's not so much the reason as the actual problem. An email address should never be the actual account - or presented as such - but rather the account should be an independent entity that can be linked to any email address. However, I'm pretty sure Apple agrees with this, and doesn't consider the current situation ideal. One figures that Apple wants people to be immersed in the Apple ecosystem, and making it impossible for people to ditch Gmail for iCloud is probably not something Apple wants. But as mentioned earlier, there are backend issues that are apparently very hard to fix.

     

    In any case, I'll just be checking this thread every once in a while and hope it'll be fixed eventually.

  • by gail from maine,

    gail from maine gail from maine May 24, 2016 5:23 PM in response to KeyMs92
    Level 7 (25,645 points)
    iCloud
    May 24, 2016 5:23 PM in response to KeyMs92

    After 14 years, it is doubtful....

     

    GB

  • by HR,

    HR HR Jun 29, 2016 12:39 AM in response to Imp68
    Level 2 (439 points)
    Jun 29, 2016 12:39 AM in response to Imp68

    This unfortunately is not the case. If there is a problem with your iCloud account, Apple will send an email to the email used for the account id. To clear up the issue, Apple will send a verification code to that email address as well.

     

    Just happened to my wife and I. For an unknown reason there was an issue with our iCloud account. An email was sent to our dormant Apple ID email address which we never saw. After 2 days I set up the old account and found the initial email in there. After responding, a verification code was sent to that address to allow us to sign into iCloud again.

     

    This is a continuation of a really poor implementation by Apple. Irrespective of that, you need to use a non-iCloud email address that you will hold onto and maintain.

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Jun 29, 2016 12:51 AM in response to HR
    Level 9 (77,879 points)
    iTunes
    Jun 29, 2016 12:51 AM in response to HR

    If your Apple ID is also your @icloud.com address then you can specify a contact address to be used in the sort of situation you describe.

  • by steve2604,

    steve2604 steve2604 Jun 30, 2016 2:41 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 30, 2016 2:41 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Amazing that this is unresolved after four years. What a mess. All I wanted was to be able to abandon an address without creating yet another level of complexity an security exposure. Wish I'd stayed with MS when I retired instead of joining the family's connection to Apple.
  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Jun 30, 2016 2:51 PM in response to steve2604
    Level 9 (77,879 points)
    iTunes
    Jun 30, 2016 2:51 PM in response to steve2604

    Oh, yes, Windows would have been a lot simpler

    laugh.gif

first Previous Page 20 of 21 last Next