cannot add a second icloud mail account

Ok, well I called Apple support again on Friday on this time got a senior advisor who actually understood what I was trying to do and what wasn’t working. He escalated the issue as adding a second account is clearly something that was supported up until the newest iOS/iPadOS and is no longer working.

But…he DID provide a workaround that got it working for me.

When you go to set up the secondary iCloud account in the Mail settings, choose “Other” instead of the iCloud option. You’ll need to set up the mail servers manually.

instructions here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201320

Make sure you choose IMAP.

Mail servers for iCloud,

incoming mail server: imap.mail.me.com

outgoing mail server: smtp.mail.me.com

For both, you’ll input the server addresses in the ‘Host Name’ field for each.

Under username for each mail server, enter your iCloud name without the ‘@icloud.com’.

Now, here’s the trick, under ‘Password’, entering you iCloud password here WILL NOT WORK. You need to create an App Specific password under setting in you AppleID.

Use a web browser and log into you secondary account’s AppleID. (AppleID.Apple.com)

Under settings there, create an App Specific password. It will auto generate. Make sure you copy this password somewhere as once you leave the screen you won’t be able to see it again.

Now, once you have that new App Specific password, go back to Mail settings and use the App specific password for both the incoming and outgoing mail servers.

And that should do it. Worked for me.

The support agent escalated this issue to engineering and I have a case I can check to see if it’s been updated with a resolution. Hopefully, Apple fixes this bug in an upcoming iOS update and we won’t have to jump through hoops to add a second iCloud account in Mail after that.

Alright folks, I think I figured it out :)

Thanks to skuijper above, I also went to one of the other devices where the secondary account was already added. In that, I only used it for contacts (all other toggles disabled). So no icloud storage or mail either on this account on any device.

When tapping into it to check the settings on that other device, I had to re-authenticate and do 2FA (ok, no biggie). But then I got the prompts to review and accept the new iCloud terms of service. After accepting, I didn't do anything else (again, didn't turn on Mail, or set up icloud storage, or anything). I just popped over to the new phone with the issue we are all having, and was finally able to add the secondary account without issue.

So, to summarize- I'm assuming that if you have not yet accepted the latest iCloud terms of service on that secondary account anywhere, the bug here is that iOS is unable to pop up that prompt when trying to add the account on a device that already has a primary icloud account. So, it just fails as if you had "rejected" the new ToS.

As an aside, iOS 15 seems to be treating this secondary iCloud account a little bit more like the primary one now, as evidenced by the fact that you get a totally different view than before when you tap into it from the accounts pane. Previously it was just four toggles and a warning that since it was a secondary account it didn't support certain things, and now in 15.x, it looks almost like the iCloud account page you get on your primary one- you get your picture, what other devices the account is logged into, etc. Not sure if this new treatment of secondary accounts contributes to the aforementioned issue, but at least it looks like we have a workaround of sorts now.

I had the same issue and managed to get it working. I have no idea why, but it might help people if I explain the steps I took.

My secondary account did not have an icloud email address connected. For some reason these accounts seem to be treated differently.

For example: I also wanted to upgrade my storage for this account, and I was unable to do so -- Until I added the iCloud email address.

You can do this by using your mac -> settings -> Internet Accounts -> select your secondary account -> tick mail -> choose an iCloud email address.

After this I was able to upgrade my storage plan. Because it felt like I triggered something, I decided to try adding my secondary account to my iPhone (on iOS 15) again. Now it worked...

I understand some of you might have already had an iCloud email account, so maybe it was the storage upgrade that triggered something.

jsndrht1,

Got it. Are you able to sign into that iCloud account on the iCloud website using the same credentials?

If your password isn't working, you may need to reset it. Check out how to do so here: If you forgot your Apple ID password.

Hope that helps!

jsndrht1,

Have you confirmed that it is a different Apple ID than what is signed in under Settings > Your Name? You may need to reach out to the Apple ID team at Apple Support for further assistance. Depending on your region, you may be able to reach them here: Get Support.

Have a good one!

Yeah, I’m having the exact same problem as jsndrht1. Also iOS 15.0.1, and this is something I have always been able to do in the past. It is a completely different iCloud account than the already-logged-in (and “main”) iCloud account, and after entering in password and submitting, it just stays at the same page and no error is shown.

We completely understand that a secondary iCloud account on the same iOS device has limitations (cannot do photos, iMessage, etc etc) but I need to be able to sync a secondary set of contacts only available on this secondary iCloud account. And again, this definitely worked in the past- there is even an Apple support page out there that explains the limitations and how to add the second account to iOS.

I’m having the exact same issue adding a second iCloud email to my iPhone 13 Pro running 15.0.1. Updated to 15.0.2, still no luck. Restored phone. Still not working. Also, same issue on my iPad Pro running latest iPadOS. Was on the phone with Apple Support for hours today. Spoke to several people. Last person told me it wasn’t possible to do this, which we all know is untrue as this has always worked. For me, it’s been working for 16 years.

I definitely feel that this is an iOS15, iPadOS bug.

We upgraded our iPhones and I have tried everything to get my second iCloud account working - with no luck. We have a second iCloud account to deal strictly with office email messages. I am lost without them -- and have temporarily shifted to a gmail account - but I dont want to loose access to 10 years worth of messages on my phone. Apple really needs to get this bug fixed. The second iCloud account works fine on the computers - just this new iPhone.

I am having the same problem. It won't allow the second icloud mail account to be added to MAIL. I have tried everything suggested here. iPhone 13 Pro.

The same thing happened to me. Definitly feels like a iOS/iPadOS 15 bug.

IF we are doing anything wrong to begin with. Adding an account should never fail without an error.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities jsndrht1,

We can definitely understand wanting to add another iCloud account to received mail. Are you following the steps here: Add an email account to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to add it? What happens when you try? Do you get any type of error message?

Has the iPhone need restarted since noticing this?

Restart your iPhone

Let us know!

Same issue here. I’ve always been able to add another iCloud email to my phone and now I can’t.