How to change iCloud email address?

iCloud forums are up now, with no less than 4 specific topics to choose from.

iCloud is out of beta, so unless you have specific developer related technical queries, please use the user-centric iCloud forums, thanks.

Ok, I read through all these pages of responses, and decided to try Matt's way from the original post. So, I was slightly confused, and i'm sure i'm not the only one, but this is exactly what I did to make it work: 1st off, my problem is that my iCloud ID shows an old email address that's not my current Apple ID, and it doesn't allow you to change it on the phone settings. So I went to settings on the phone, then clicked iCloud, then I turned off everything from Mail down to find my iPhone, but I left the Documents and Data on because when i went to turn it off, it said it would delete everything off iPhone, so i left it as it was. I then scrolled to the bottom, and hit the red Delete Account button, then it asks: Deleting will delete everything on iPhone, GO AHEAD AND HIT DELETE, then another prompt comes up that asks: Keep on iPhone, Delete everything, then you can chose keep on iPhone, after I did this, i went back into setting>iCloud, and my new Apple ID was correctly in place, so it worked!! now, this will only work if you have already gone on a computer, open iTunes, then go to settings then apple ID, make sure that your password is correct and that your Apple ID is correct. Then it is safe to delete and reinstall the iCloud on your phone, whatever Apple ID you have in itunes will show up in the iCloud after deleting and re-opening iCloud. Here's a direct link to Apple's website where you can change your apple ID: remember, do this first before deleting the iCloud account off of your phone: https://store.apple.com/us/account/setup

Matt's solution does work.

"You can delete the account, but when you try to log back in with your old Apple ID, it just brings that same mistyped email address back under the Advanced, then Mail settings of the iCloud Account."

That is the problem. You do not want to log back in with your old Apple ID or else you go back to step 1 of the puzzle.

1. First, change your Apple ID on this site for itunes/apple.

Here is the link to do so: http://support.apple.com/kb/HE40

2. Then, follow Matt Curtis' directions.

3. When you sign in, use the new email address that you changed on apple/itunes

[in step 1] to connect to iCloud.

-Do not use your previous email.

I have had this problem where I had my email on itunes/apple changed to my official email that I use for everything. Then I went to iCloud but it would lock and revert back to my old email address. I then followed Matt Curtis' directions and it seemed that because I had changed my Apple ID email, it all worked in one try after I signed in with my new official email linked to my old account.

Hope this helped 🙂

Message was edited by: Comp_CAC

I mistyped my icloud email and tried to change it to no avail.

I spent a few days researching, and an hour on the phone with apple support and here's what i found out:

- deleting the icloud association from the phone and signing up for icloud again ONLY works if you've never logged in or used the icloud account. If you catch the mistake before making a backup, you can reset it. If you make a backup or anything, it's linked to your appleid forever.

- there's no way to edit, change, or delete the icloud account linked to your appleid... yet. Go to http://www.apple.com/feedback/ and demand they create the ability to edit or re-associate iCloud accounts to appleIDs, and they might eventually do it. My tech support manager said they actually listen to the feedback.

Hope that helps.

Adding my two cents here (and trying not to explode because I'm absolutely seething at this issue - I mean - look - EIGHTEEN PAGES and counting!!)

Well, after looking around (THANK YOU GOOGLE!) I found http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5621?viewlocale=en_US. (I was going to embed this so it wouldn't look so ugly, but evidently Apple and Chrome don't play well together.)

This still doesn't solve my problem of getting rid of the ridiculous me.com and icloud.com email addresses, but at least it gives me a choice and changes the default. But it's still not working correctly.

I guess the days of Apple being the leader in intuitive app design are over??

John

Just to put my two cents in😉 The instructions from pinkteajiare correct,➕ but since ICloud is linked to Itunes you need to first change your I tunes e-mail like pieragermentioned.

My E-mail was hacked and I was without internet for a few years, I had to change my Apple ID (e-mail) once I did that I got everything switched in I tunes, The day after I changed my Itunes e-mail for some reason I cloud had still the old address set as default.(grayed out) I came in here today to find a fix and pinkteaji response (see below) was the answer. Now everything is working fine.🙂

pinkteaji

This worked for me. sign out of your apple id by going to settings, store, then sign out. Then, You go into settings and just delete your icloud account. You do this by going on settings, icloud, and scroll to bottom for delete account. Then you press the button that will let you keep your data inside your phone. Go to settings, store again and sign into it using your apple id (whichever you use) When you get back into icloud through settings, it should already have the apple id (the one you use/want to use) already done. if not, you can actually type it in now so its all good.

The problem started with me because I deleted my old email account and I started using my gmail account for it .I changed the email through the website but it never transferred over to my iphone. It did for my itunes and stuff but not for my icloud for some reason. Then my phone screen broke and i had to ge ta completely different phone and i tried syncing but couldn't So i had to mnaually go to itunes and put everything back into my phone that was last saved in my computer and then do VOT8783's solution.

it works peeps, so try it 🙂 at least it worked for me anyway

PLEASE, READ CAREFULLY!

If you want to change the name of your main iCloud email - name@icloud.com - you CAN'T do that!

THE SOLUTION - create an aliase (http://support.apple.com/kb/ph2622). It is a secondary email, which you can set up to be used as a primary one (instead of the email you misspelled or do not want any more) - you can deactivate the usage of your main email and write from the aliase. This is the only way to create the email you want with the same Apple ID.

If you want to change the main email - you can do this ONLY by signing with diffrent Apple ID. You actually will need to use two Apple IDs at the same time - the main Apple ID for iTunes, and another one only for your iCloud email.

Please, do not forget to LIKE this and to click that the problem is solved!!!

The fact that their initial iCloud email address setup is so indeliable is absolutely bonkers. We're talking about bits in a database. One of the main reasons computers were invented is for more flexible manipulation of data. I highly encourage everyone to submit feedback to Apple to change this ridiculous constraint.

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

Seriously, what if you've been up for 22 hours coding when you make these decisions. So you're stuck with a crazy iCloud email address that rest of your life? People need to understand how completely out-of-bounds and antiquated this is and demand a fix.

Peter_725 wrote:

PLEASE, READ CAREFULLY!

If you want to change the name of your main iCloud email - name@icloud.com - you CAN'T do that!

THE SOLUTION - create an aliase (http://support.apple.com/kb/ph2622). It is a secondary email, which you can set up to be used as a primary one (instead of the email you misspelled or do not want any more) - you can deactivate the usage of your main email and write from the aliase. This is the only way to create the email you want with the same Apple ID.

If you want to change the main email - you can do this ONLY by signing with diffrent Apple ID. You actually will need to use two Apple IDs at the same time - the main Apple ID for iTunes, and another one only for your iCloud email.

Please, do not forget to LIKE this and to click that the problem is solved!!!

This is how i fixed my problem, thanks to Roscoe23!

Roscoe23

The original post here was talking about changing the Apple ID for iCloud. I had the same issue since I just changed the email account used for my Apple ID and I could not change the iCloud login name. Here's what it took to fix it:

First, had to change my Apple ID for the iTunes App. Hit the icon, scroll to the bottom, click the Apple ID: name@email.com button. Click Sign Out, go back to the button at the bottom which is now "Sign In" and enter the new info.

Second, as one of the earlier posts describes, hit the Settings icon, iCloud. Delete account. Go through the steps and enter new info.

Without that first step of changing in iTunes, could not manage to change it for iCloud.

If you don't know the password for the original ID you will have to contact Support.

To contact iCloud Support: if you currently happen to have AppleCare, either because you recently bought Apple hardware or have paid to extend the inititial period, you can contact them here:

http://www.apple.com/support/icloud/contact/

You will need the serial number of the covered hardware.

If you are not covered by AppleCare, then - in common with other free email services - there is no free support and you may be asked to pay a fee.

Is the old email address what you Apple ID used to be, and you changed it to the new address via the Edit button on Manage your Apple ID? If so, then follow these instructions:

1. Go to Manage your Apple ID, sign in with your current Apple/iCloud ID, and change the Apple/iCloud ID back to the old email address. This is temporary. Do NOT verify it, do NOT change your password: Apple - My Apple ID

2. Go to Settings>iCloud on your device and scroll down to the bottom and press Delete. Type in your current Apple/iCloud ID password when prompted. Follow the remaining prompts to delete the account.

3. Go back to Manage your Apple ID, sign on with the ID you changed it to and your current password, and change the Apple/iCloud ID back to the new email address.

4. Go back to Settings>iCloud and sign on with the new ID.

If you did not change your Apple/iCloud ID via Manage your Apple ID, but simply added a new Apple ID, then you are going to have to determine what the password is to the old ID, or change it. Go to Manage your Apple ID, and click on Reset Password. If you do not remember your Security Questions, you will have to have Apple Support reset them for you: ACCOUNT SECURITY CONTACT NUMBERS

Best of luck,

GB

This worked! Yay!

lightgripMay 30, 2014 8:15 PM Re: How to change iCloud email address?
Re: How to change iCloud email address?in response to gmarkey

If you already changed the primary email address on the icloud website, or your in your ap store settings and are still getting the old apple id in your icloud, . Here's what you do:

2. Go into your iPad Settings; i Cloud. Turn off find my ipad. When it come up to verify your account with the password, it will still have the old apple id.

3. You can not use the old apple id's password. Punch in the new password you entered for your new apple id.

4. That will shut off what is keeping the old id in there.

5. Go to the bottom of the page and hit, Delete Account.

6. Type in the new Apple ID, and password, and WALA! Your in!

I hope this helps out everyone!

This worked! Tried and tried to figure this out and couldn't. Thank you!"

Before you changed your Apple ID to the new email address, did you log out of your iCloud account? Or, is the iCloud account still showing he old address?

If it is still showing the old address, you need to do the following:

1. Go back to Manage your Apple ID, sign in with your new Apple ID email address, and EDIT that address back to the old email address. This is temporary, Do NOT verify it, do NOT change the Password: Apple - My Apple ID

2. Go to Settings>iCloud on your device, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on Sign Out/Delete iCloud account. Type in your current Apple ID password when asked, then follow the prompts to remove the old iCloud account from the device. If you are signed onto iCloud on your computer or Mac, also sign out there.

3. Go back to Manage your Apple ID, sign on with the old Apple ID/current password, and EDIT your Apple ID back to the new email address. You may have to verify it again.

4. Go back to Settings>iCloud and sign on with your new Apple ID. Your iCloud email address should now match your Apple ID email address.

Best of luck,

GB

Did you try signing onto Manage your Apple ID with your @me.com address to see if it would bring up an Apple ID account? To the best of my knowledge, @me.com accounts are Apple IDs....

Try "Reset Password" for that @me.com address, and answering the Security Questions. If you don't know the Security Questions, contact Apple Support to have them reset, then try again: ACCOUNT SECURITY CONTACT NUMBERS

GB

ok it didnt allow me to. cant make my @icloud.com or @me.com as my primary email address. my problems and wants would be the same as this other thread -

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