How can I create an Apple ID for my mom who doesn't have any email accounts?

This document explains how to create a new Apple ID (create an Apple Account) --> How to create a new Apple ID - Apple Support

There are plenty of services offering free email accounts and she will need her own. Just make sure you don't just hten forget the account because it is something you may need in the future for doing things such as changing passwords.

IdrisSeabright wrote:

If you somehow lose access to your Apple ID (e.g. your forgot the password), Apple needs some way to contact you. If your only email address is your @icloud.com email, that might be a problem.

Yes, that.

Hilal, it's the same reason why you don't want your iPhone to be your only trusted device. If you lose your phone, you need a trusted device to get into your account using other equipment, but of course you have lost your only trusted device, etc. Unfortunately I don't think Apple has prevented people from doing that, which keeps us busy on this forum I guess. :-( So speaking of that, seriously consider each of you becoming an account recovery contact --> Help a friend or family member as their account recovery contact - Apple Support

Hilal Malawi wrote:

Thanks Limnos, I am aware of this path. It just strikes me as odd that in order to create an Apple email account and ID, one has to go to another company first (often a competitor!) to create an email account with them.

If you somehow lose access to your Apple ID (e.g. your forgot the password), Apple needs some way to contact you. If your only email address is your @icloud.com email, that might be a problem.

Apple doesn't make any money from providing you with an email address and doesn't lose any if you also have one with someone else.

What you did in the past is not what is possible today. In particular in the past 3 years or so Apple stepped up security by requiring two factor authentication on all new accounts. You could have an older account that does not use it (but Apple suggests you change to using it). This is Apple safeguarding accounts. I have both Microsoft and Google accounts and their requirements in terms of two factor are not as stringent as Apple's. In other words, the security is less. It doesn't make any difference to me since the only thing I use those accounts for is email. People can have hundreds if not thousands of dollars invested in Apple hardware, software, media, and services so you want pretty stringent security. This has to downside though that a few users are not that careful and ultimately lose access to their accounts because they can't prove to Apple they are the acount owners. The bar works both ways.

Apple does have account recovery, but the bar to proving you are the owner can be high. It also takes several weeks. You can save yourself a lot of time and hassle by taking a few steps to make things easier.

You will definitely need an email address to create an iCloud account. I would recommend just creating a Google email.

You can create an Apple ID here: How to create a new Apple ID - Apple Support

I am totally up with you on this one. I guess Apple got its reasons.