How to change iCloud email address?

A quick summary:

This threat is about: "How to change iCloud email address?"

1. I understand that creating a new Apple-ID is NOT an answer to the question of this threat.
2. This threat is NOT about "Where do I find my iColud @me.com email address on my iPhone.
3. To this date, there is NO solution found. In other words: When using the same Apple-ID, NO ONE has been able to change his/her iCloud email address so far...

shamberfamblyUT wrote:

that is a dang good question, are we stuck with our iTunes / iCloud email? I hate how Facebook doesn't let you change your email EVER (at least as far as I can tell)

Also, I have 2 or 3 @me.com addresses, I need to merge them so i can access my purchased content from any account.

good luck

I don't know what answers have been previously given in this thread because obviously I'm not going to read through 450 of them to find out. But, as has probably already been stated:

1. You cannot change the primary @icloud.com address on an iCloud account.
2. If the ID itself is a non-Apple address you can change it; it it's an @icloud.com, @me.com or @mac.com address you can't
3. You can create up to three additional @icloud.com addresses as 'aliases' pre accounts but you cannot use them to log in.
4. If you have more than one actual Apple ID and thus different logins to different iTunes accounts you cannot merge them. Purchases remain permanently tied to the account which purchased them.

Worked for me! Thanks for the help setting up an alias in iCloud.

Create an email alias

1. Go to icloud.com/mail and sign in using your Apple ID (the one you use with iCloud).If you’re already using a different application on icloud.com, click the iCloud button to switch applications.
2. Choose Preferences from the Action pop-up menu at the top of the window.
3. Click Addresses.
4. Click "Add add an alias.”
5. Provide the requested information:
   • Alias: The text you provide becomes the email address (alias@me.com). An alias must contain between 3 and 20 characters.
   • Full Name: The name you provide appears in the From field of the recipient’s email.
   • Label Color: Messages appear in your Inbox with the colored label that you specify.
   • Description: iCloud Mail uses the description to color code messages sent to your account.
6. Click OK, and then click Done.

Jason Kim wrote:

Right or wrong, they do warn you pretty clearly when you first create the icloud.com email address.

Warnings are nice, but no amount of warning excuses bad design. Humans make mistakes, and in the land of data stored as electric charges on doped silicon something so simple should not be indelible. Ever. Please stop apologizing for whatever architect made this decision and the project manager who let him get away with it.

Again, I encourage everyone to gripe about this until Apple fixes it (or "adds the feature", if you chose to phrase it that way).

http://www.apple.com/feedback/icloud.html

Two side notes:

1. The warning only says it cannot be changed, but inability to modify does not mean inability to delete, especially in the context of data object permissions in computer operation.
2. It absolutely is possible to change the name of your home directory; it takes a few steps, but is totally doable.

Crazycat1 wrote:

Hi

Been reading through this thread. I have the same problem.

Actually, you are like 50% of the people on this thread and are confusing 2 different problems:

1. Changing the email address which is your Apple ID.
2. Changing the iCloud email address associated with your Apple ID.

Doing item 1 is possible and documented here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5621

Doing item 2 is not allowed (but it is technically possible) at this time by Apple due to poor architecture decisions made when they designed iCloud email.

For example, years ago, I created an Apple ID to use iTunes. This Apple ID is equal to my email address. Mine is bob@gmail.com' (ficticious). This year, when I signed up for iCloud, the setup procedure asked me to pick an iCloud email address to go with my Apple ID. I chose 'robert@icloud.com' (ficticious). Now, when I log into iCloud as 'bob@gmail.com' I can check my email sent to 'robert@icloud.com'. That iCloud email address is associated with my Apple ID. If I change my email address from 'bob@gmail.com' to 'bob@outlook.com', I can follow a procedure to change it (see above). If I want to change 'robert@icloud.com' to 'bob@icloud.com', Apple will not allow me to do that.

So if you are like me, and wish to do item 2, then please complain to Apple about this situation here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/icloud.html

This is doing my head in..

My gf's icloud was logged in on her work computer, then someone inadvertently setup the icloud email , not realising she was already logged in.

So now her icloud email is some strangers name...

We deleted the icloud account completely but the address was still there afterwards.

We've setup an alias,but ultimately want to delete the wrong address.

For a company as forward thinking as apple this is just stupid.

I was facing the same issue. I was able to resolve it by going to Settings > iCloud. At the very bottom, there is an option to 'Delete Account'. It sounds much more dire than it really is. It simply breaks the connection with your device and the iCloud set up for that email. Delete Account, then head back into Settings > iCloud. You will be prompted to enter new information, and your problem should be solved.

I unfortunately had a typo when entering my email address and after being unable to delete the account tried to register the typo account. Unfortunately the typo account is already assigned to someone. Now I have my iCloud account link to a mail account that is not mine and I have no way of changing these details. very frustrating. Any ideas how to change the email?

Matt's solution worked for me! I turned all the items (mail, contacts, bookmarks, etc) to off, then hit delete. It let me change the email. Now my brother and I won't have things sync together due to us both buying apps off my mom's iTunes account, hence it being the main thing.

I spent over a hour with apple support about this and they say there is nothing you can do. My wife in advartenly attached her email to my icloud and now it can't be changed. I asked support what would happen with a typo or if I just set it up with someone else's email and try claim no way to delete or fix it...too bad!

SOULUTION!!!!!......

To change your iCloud address, on your iPhone- you can go to Settings > iCloud > Then delete the account. Set up a new one under the iCloud option agian. There is an option to change the extention when creating the account username.

And that way you can also sign into itunes/app store with your @me account and wal la all your accounts and info is your @me account.

DON'T DO THIS guys - DON'T delete your iCloud email or anything like that as it may your stuff out of sync, or cause more issues as many pointed out here.

With iCloud mail you can create up to 3 aliases which become a fully functional email address.

Simply create the one you're missing and et voila!

To create an alias get to iCloud mail web interface and set it up in settings.

Hope this helps.

The solution 'set-up an email alias' and just use that is a brower/device solution, But... syncing with windows outlook (set-up sooo easy) i can now only send via primary email address/alias. Very frustrating.

Can't believe there is not a simple solution/edit for this!! I was checking availability for my kids and am now stuck with my duaghters name as a primary email!!

Right or wrong, they do warn you pretty clearly when you first create the icloud.com email address.

The next screen (not shown) confirms that the desired icloud.com address is available and again states that the icloud.com email address cannot be changed once it is created.

I guess it is like the name of your Mac OS X home directory, it is completely unchangeable once created. You can change your long user name for the account, but the actual directory tree won't ever be renamed from the original "short name" associated with the user account.