Level 1

46 points

iCloud set-up: existing Apple ID and new @me.com ID

Hi all:

I have just downloaded OS X 10.7.2, and am currently downloading iOS 5 (or at least trying to).

I have not yet set up iCloud since I'm not totally sure how best to do it.

Here is my situation:

I currently have an Apple ID which is a single word (created years ago when iTunes first came out). Let's call that "matthew."

The email associated with that Apple ID we'll call "matthew@example.com."

My "matthew" Apple ID is what I use for iTunes, the App Store, Game Center, this discussion forum, etc.

What I want to do is create a new @me.com ID, which I'll call "matthew@me.com," and then use that as my new primary email address. Also, I would like to use this with iCloud.

I know that Apple does not allow IDs to merge, meaning I can't have my old "matthew" Apple ID become a part of my new "matthew@me.com" ID.

So, I believe my only option is to have two Apple IDs: my existing "matthew" Apple ID and my new "matthew@me.com" ID. Right?

However, I am not sure how best to do this.

If I set up a new "matthew@me.com" ID in iCloud, how will iCloud know all my previously downloaded apps and music that were downloaded using my "matthew" Apple ID?

Will I be forced to continually sign in and out within apps such as the iTunes Store?

And what if I simply wanted to try iCloud right now using my existing Apple ID? I know that first I would have to change that ID ("matthew") to an email address, right? And then I would sign into iCloud.

But what if I later decided no, I want iCloud to be administered through a new @me.com ID? Can I sign out of iCloud, set up "matthew@me.com," then sign back into iCloud and start using it with the new @me.com ID?

My main concern is that I do not want to close any doors on myself by setting things up in the wrong order.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Oct 12, 2011 3:48 PM

38 replies

Moris

Level 1

26 points

Oct 26, 2011 8:14 AM in response to Matthew Palm

Hi Mattew,

thanks for your quick reply 😉.

Matthew Palm wrote:

- "you can't use the new @me.com email address as new Apple ID" - That's a tricky question. You can indeed use your new @me.com ID as a new Apple ID (for iTunes purchases, for example, and/or for iCloud features), but this Apple ID will be completely separate from your old Apple ID (see next question), and will not have information on all your previous purchases.

Regarding this point, here is what I tried:

First I removed the @me.com email address from my current Apple ID as alternate email address and I tried to create a new Apple ID with that email address, but I got the error "You cannot create an Apple ID using a MobileMe account. If this is your email address, it is also your Apple ID.":

From the other side, if I go to https://appleid.apple.com/ and I type myname@me.com as Apple ID to verify it, I get the message "We can't find an Apple ID matching the information you provided. You may have entered a name that doesn't exactly match our records."

Finally, if I try to create a NEW Apple ID and use myname@me.com as alternate email address I get the message "Email address is already verified with another Apple ID." as it was still linked with the "old" Apple ID.

So my question: how can I disassociate the address @me.com from my current Apple ID and reuse it as new Apple ID or at least as alternate email address for another Apple ID ?

Thanks again.

Matthew Palm Author

Level 1

46 points

Oct 26, 2011 8:18 AM in response to Moris

Hi Moris:

When you set up the new @me.com email, that became a new Apple ID that is associated with you. Therefore, when you "deleted" it, it didn't actually go away. Apple remembers that that @me.com email still belongs to you. Therefore, if you try to set it up as a new @me.com email, Apple says it's already in use -- by you.

What's interesting, though, is that the alert told you, "You cannot create an Apple ID using a MobileMe account." Are you sure your new @me.com email is really new, and not a hold-over from a previous MobileMe account you mighyt have had?

Have you tried adding the new @me.com email back in as an alternate email address?

Moris

Level 1

26 points

Oct 26, 2011 9:00 AM in response to Matthew Palm

Hi Mattew (and all...😉)

Matthew Palm wrote:

What's interesting, though, is that the alert told you, "You cannot create an Apple ID using a MobileMe account." Are you sure your new @me.com email is really new, and not a hold-over from a previous MobileMe account you mighyt have had?

The @me.com email address was created during the initial setup following the iOS 5 installation: I was asked from the setup procedure to create one, and so I did. I never had a MobileMe account before, nor a @me.com address.

Matthew Palm wrote:

Have you tried adding the new @me.com email back in as an alternate email address?

Yes, I tried: I can remove this email address and add it back again, as long as it belongs to my old (current) Apple ID.

Oct 26, 2011 9:13 AM in response to Moris

Yes I can confirm this is the case. I created a new myname@me.com address when I set up iCloud. It is assosciated to my existing old yahoo Apple ID. I also tried disassociating it, so that I could make a new Apple ID and select that same myname@me.com as my address for my ID but I was not able. It seems that disassociating it, does not make it available for use (it always remains used by you, I imagine there is some sort of cycle in the backend of apple's systems before that address would be considered free, or maybe because you may have sent and received email with it, once it is used by one ID it cannot be used to create another- that would make sense to me.

In any event, I have the email address I wanted myname@me.com, but assosciated to my existing Apple ID Yahoo email address and I am using iCloud and the email fine so I am not worrying any longer.

What is weird though, is that when I configured my boyfriends iCloud on my machine, I set him up an Apple ID and it is indeed hisname@me.com I cannot assosciate his old hotmail email address to his new Apple ID account which uses his @me.com address because it is assosciated to his existing account. So its strange that I was not able to create a new Apple ID using a newly created @me.com address but I was able to do it for him. So he is very lucky, he has a working new Apple ID with his @me.com address!

I think we just need to wait and see what happens - I'm sure Apple will recognise the demand although I don't think it will be a priority. I'm just accepting it for now, until such a time comes that I can change my primary and my account history could be moved to be associated with my@me.com address. Then I can delete my Yahoo account and use only my @me.com - which I imagine was Apple's intention in providing them for all mac users, so I'm sure they will address it eventually.

mercsd

Level 1

21 points

Oct 26, 2011 9:13 AM in response to Moris

Hey Morris,

You are in the position that the rest of us wish that we were in. You are setup exactly as you should be. The new @me.com account is tied directly to your existing Apple ID. Once Apple allows you to change the Apple ID to that of the @me.com address that is tied to Apple ID, you'll be set, but that is something that Apple is still working on.

Enjoy being setup correctly! 🙂

Matthew Palm Author

Level 1

46 points

Oct 26, 2011 9:26 AM in response to Moris

Hi Moris:

Moris wrote:

Yes, I tried: I can remove this email address and add it back again, as long as it belongs to my old (current) Apple ID.

Yup, that is how it should work. Your new @me.com email address cannot, unfortunately, be your primary email address tied to your old/existing Apple ID.

Hopefully Apple will fix this. Meanwhile, you can do like I do:

I use my old/existing Apple ID for everything -- iTunes, Mac App Store, Discussion Forums, and iCloud. I set up iCloud by signing up with my existing Apple ID. Then, I created a new @me.com email. This way, I have one unified account tied to my old/existing Apple ID. If/when Apple allows us to change primary email addresses to an @me.com email, I'll be ready to make the switch, and won't have to worry about double accounts.

Matthew Palm Author

Level 1

46 points

Oct 26, 2011 9:29 AM in response to Audrey Lepere

Hi Audrey:

Audrey Lepere wrote:

What is weird though, is that when I configured my boyfriends iCloud on my machine, I set him up an Apple ID and it is indeed hisname@me.com I cannot assosciate his old hotmail email address to his new Apple ID account which uses his @me.com address because it is assosciated to his existing account. So its strange that I was not able to create a new Apple ID using a newly created @me.com address but I was able to do it for him. So he is very lucky, he has a working new Apple ID with his @me.com address!

This isn't actually weird, you just came at it from the other side. You set up a new Apple ID for your boyfriend which was an @me.com email. When you tried to associate an old Apple ID (hotmail), you were unable to do so. That's because Apple doesn't allow "cross-pollination" between Aple ID accounts when one of those IDs is an @me.com address.

Matthew Palm Author

Level 1

46 points

Oct 26, 2011 9:32 AM in response to mercsd

Hey Mercsd:

mercsd wrote:

The new @me.com account is tied directly to your existing Apple ID.

Almost. Moris, like me, has a new @me.com email address that can only be used as an alternate email for the old Apple ID. But you're right -- at least they are all tied together!

Interesting side note: I did an experiment where I signed out of my iTunes account, then tried signing back in with my new @me.com address. Sure enough, I was able to...and the user name that showed up was my old/existing Apple ID. So, clearly, they are tied together in the back-end somehow. Apple just needs to figure out how to let us make that transition.

Moris

Level 1

26 points

Oct 26, 2011 9:35 AM in response to Audrey Lepere

Hi Audrey,

Audrey Lepere wrote:

It seems that disassociating it, does not make it available for use (it always remains used by you, I imagine there is some sort of cycle in the backend of apple's systems before that address would be considered free, or maybe because you may have sent and received email with it, once it is used by one ID it cannot be used to create another- that would make sense to me.

That would make sense to me too. Indeed I used this new address only for a test message, but may be that for this reason it was marked "in use", that is not available for other Apple IDs.

Moris

Level 1

26 points

Oct 26, 2011 10:19 AM in response to Matthew Palm

Hi Matthew,

Matthew Palm wrote:

Hopefully Apple will fix this. Meanwhile, you can do like I do:

I use my old/existing Apple ID for everything -- iTunes, Mac App Store, Discussion Forums, and iCloud. I set up iCloud by signing up with my existing Apple ID. Then, I created a new @me.com email. This way, I have one unified account tied to my old/existing Apple ID. If/when Apple allows us to change primary email addresses to an @me.com email, I'll be ready to make the switch, and won't have to worry about double accounts.

You are right, but my initial goal was to use the old (current) Apple ID as the "family" Apple ID, only for purchases on Apple Store and iTunes Store, and then to have a "personal" Apple ID for me, one for my wife, etc., so that everyone can have his specific contacts, calendars and so on. Since I didn't need (and I think I will never use for email exchange) the new @me.com address, I thought I could use it only as second, "personal" Apple ID, to use specifically for iCloud.

A further option could be to create a completely new Apple ID to use with iCloud, but this would require another email address, and I dont like the idea to spread around so many (unused) email addresses.

Anyway, let's see how things will change in the next future 😉.

Moris

Level 1

26 points

Oct 27, 2011 4:20 AM in response to Matthew Palm

Hi Matthew,

the link you pointed to is very exhaustive (although long...) and covers different scenarios.

Matthew Palm wrote:

Yup, that is exactly what I was going to recommend -- setting up an Apple ID, in the form of an iCloud account, for each user.

Well, this is the point I'd like to elaborate.

I'm still not sure to understand the differences between "Apple ID" and "iCloud ID" (or iCloud account), if there are some. Is there any difference ?

I have the ability to create a new Apple ID on tha Apple website at https://appleid.apple.com/ with the big blue button "Create an Apple ID" or on my iDevice via Settings -> Mail -> Add Account -> iCloud -> Get a free Apple ID. Do they bring to the same result ?

And finally, when you say "setting up an Apple ID, in the form of an iCloud account, for each user", to which of the two methods are you thinking to ?

Thanks 😉.

Matthew Palm Author

Level 1

46 points

Oct 27, 2011 7:10 AM in response to Moris

Hi Moris:

Yeah, that is a long thread, indeed. But I thought there might be some useful info in there for you.

The whole "Apple ID" terminology is kind of confusing. One way to look at is like this: the original Apple ID (used for iTunes, Discussion Forums, Mac App Store, etc.) is an Apple ID. And iCloud (used for syncing devices and data in the cloud) is ALSO an Apple ID.

The confusing part is that Apple lets people use multiple Apple IDs for different purposes. This is actually good for some people who have families and want to control what gets shared. But it can lead to confusion when people inadvertently set up more than one Apple ID.

In my situation, I had an old/existing Apple ID. I did not want to lose or change this because it has 8+ years of information (purchases, discussion forums, etc.) atached to it. So, when I set up iCloud, I did so by signing into iCloud using my existing Apple ID.

First, I signed in on my iMac. Then I signed in on my iPhone and iPad.

Now, I still have one Apple ID which I use for everything.

(As an aside, I ALSO set up a new @me.com email address, which became an alternate email for my old/existing Apple ID. If Apple one day allows @me.com emails to become primary email addresses for an existing Apple ID, I will make the switch. Meanwhile, I wait.)

In your case, it sounds like you might want to use your old/existing Apple ID (the one tied to all of your iTunes purchases) on all of the devices your family uses. You can do this by signing into the iTunes App and the App Store App on each iPhone/iPad.

Then, in order for each user to keep their own calendars, contacts, and bookmarks, each person should sign into (or set up on their device) their very own iCloud account. This will create a second, new Apple ID which will be their own. (They can choose their own email address for this - they do not have to set up or use an @me.com email address.)

This way, all of you can share purchased apps (and any of you can buy them if you know the password!), but each of you will have control over your own iCloud data - calendars, contacts, etc.

The one caveat I have here has to do woth Photostream. Apparently that cannot be contained to individual iCloud users, but I really know very little about that. (That's why I sent that link to that long thread. I think they might cover that info in there.)

I hope this helps!

s1nt4x

Level 1

0 points

Oct 27, 2011 7:34 AM in response to Matthew Palm

Same problem here sadly made a email during activation it sayd it was taken i chouse another and now my account is stuck checking the first one. I have deleted the @me adress from the account but it stil finds it somehow and trys to check it 😟

Moris

Level 1

26 points

Oct 27, 2011 9:20 AM in response to Matthew Palm

Hi Matthew,

Matthew Palm wrote:

I hope this helps!

Yes, it helps 😉. Now it's all more clear.

I'm only unsure if - only on my personal devices - keep on using the "family" Apple ID as ID for all services and apps (as you do) or create a new one specific for iCloud services only.

My concern is to make a mess deleting the actual iClod ID and creating a new one...!

Matthew Palm Author

Level 1

46 points

Oct 27, 2011 10:05 AM in response to Moris

Hi Moris:

If you already set up your own iCloud account, I would suggest you keep that on your personal device(s). (I have heard that some people had problems when they deleted an iCloud account.)

If/when Apple allows us to merge accounts, you will be set.

Oh, and please click "Helpful Answer" on any of the posts I submitted if you feel they were indeed helpful.

Thanks!

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iCloud set-up: existing Apple ID and new @me.com ID