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

I'm not insulting her and I'm not ranting at her. I do however find it rather insulting to be repeatedly told that I simply "don't understand how it works" and that the issues that I've described "have [nothing] to do with anything" after having described the issues earlier in this thread based on my experience and after spending quite some time working through some of them with Apple Support.

Evidently you don't think accusing someone of trolling is being insulting. Looking a couple of her posts above, Gail tried to offer you workarounds for your situation. We know you you don't want workarounds, you want it to change, but no-one on here can do anything whatever about that.

Since I am not responding to you in the post you are replying to, you don't need to comment. This was a new poster, and since we find that many people posting never read the thread, I am repeating what the answer to the question is. Sorry, but that is how it is. That is the answer. No matter whether you like it or not, there is no other answer that we can give you or anyone else asking the question.

You have been advised to the best of our ability. We can do no more for you. A new answer is not going to appear here, so beyond providing feedback to Apple, not sure why you are persisting with this. We volunteer here to provide people with the best information we have. Providing that information is not trolling, it is doing what we volunteer our time to do - provide the alternatives to questions that people have. So, again, just because you don't like the answer is no reason to take it out on us.

GB

Interestingly, when I try to change my primary address to my iCloud alias, it keeps loading/spinning forever. Previously, it would just immediately give message saying that my Apple ID can't end with @icloud.com. Does this happen for anyone else?

This was always the case for me. Attempted on Mac w/ Safari & Chrome. iPhone Safari & Chrome. Win7 Chrome. I never received the error message. I just gave up on this. I use my iCloud email to sign in for everything & it shows the iCloud email as my ID for most services (FaceTime, iCloud settings pane, Home Sharing, etc.) Only the iTunes store shows the true primary email address. I went the route of using a different email as the primary but in reality it's only a safeguard for recovery. I switched all linked/external services to use my iCloud email so it acts as my primary email and phased out the super-totally-awesome email I made when I was ~12.

I guess I'm not sure what you mean. It can be used as a primary address? It can login to all Apple services - and can be used for Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn etc, etc. It just cannot be set as a primary email for the AppleID. Recovery email addresses are required anyways so in reality you would still need a backup. (? - maybe not with 2FA & phone# but not 100% on this)

fanboyfanboy wrote:

Recovery email addresses are required anyways so in reality you would still need a backup. (? - maybe not with 2FA & phone# but not 100% on this)

If you put a Recovery email on your Apple account, it has to be a totally different address than the Apple ID or any of the alias email addresses on the account. So, needs to be a completely different address not already associated with that Apple account in any way.

For 2SV, there is a Recovery Key, and for 2FA, there is a Recovery process, so neither even provide a place to put a Rescue email address.

Cheers!

GB

There is nothing to solve. This is how it works. Get another free email account so you can change your Verizon email on your Apple ID to a functional address, then just start using your iCloud.com email exclusively. The primary Apple ID and the iCloud email are completely interchangeable.

Cheers,

GB

I'm missing something. I would like to use my icloud email exclusively but oddly, all apple emails e.g. responses to this thread get sent to my apple Id email (which is now gmail and which I don't use). You say they are interchangeable but I don't see that. How can I get apple communications sent to my icloud email?

ARB-82

Thanks for your update... it is very helpful.

However, given that it was provided 2 years ago, I was hoping things might have changed.

I still can't do it.

Your point 3...

"3. You can in fact change your primary email address, so that communications regarding your Apple ID actually goes to a different email address than that of the primary AppleID. This cannot be done by users, but only by request and only if Apple approves your request."

Could you give instructions on how to do it, who to contact exactly?

Rolomoto wrote:

I'm missing something. I would like to use my icloud email exclusively but oddly, all apple emails e.g. responses to this thread get sent to my apple Id email (which is now gmail and which I don't use). You say they are interchangeable but I don't see that. How can I get apple communications sent to my icloud email?

Have you looked in your iCloud email account to see if they are there as well? If you don't have your iCloud email account set up on your devices or computer, go to iCloud.com on a computer via a browser, sign in with your gmail or your iCloud ID, and check to see if the mail is there as well.

Cheers,

GB

gail from maine wrote:

Rolomoto wrote:

I'm missing something. I would like to use my icloud email exclusively but oddly, all apple emails e.g. responses to this thread get sent to my apple Id email (which is now gmail and which I don't use). You say they are interchangeable but I don't see that. How can I get apple communications sent to my icloud email?

Have you looked in your iCloud email account to see if they are there as well?

Cheers,

GB

I can't speak for Rolomoto, but I have looked on my account, and they're not. Apple communications are only sent to the "primary" address, which is *not* an address I want to use for anything other than emergency recovery. Which, incidentally, I would rather do via a text message to my phone than by having another e-mail account I never use, but that has nothing to do with this thread :-)

Until I'm wrong, my understanding is that with an icloud Apple ID (and email), you can setup additional icloud aliases for other email purposes only (which can even be disabled/re-enabled for specific usage). That is a big plus. With a non-icloud Apple ID, the icloud email address created with the iphone/ipad/itunes setup, is really just an alias.

OK, so you are indicating that you went to iCloud.com on your browser, signed in to iCloud with your @iCloud.com email address, clicked on you Mail Inbox, and did not see the same emails that you see with your primary email address?

I just looked at mine, and all of the exact same emails, including Apple communications are showing.

Cheers,

GB

Exactly. For example, I set up Family sharing between my primary @me.com account (which actually does work as desired, but was set up so long ago I have no idea what I did differently) and this new one (which is for my wife), and the "Welcome to Family Sharing" e-mail *only* went to the primary, non-iCloud e-mail. I then signed in to iCloud in the browser on a different computer using the @icloud.com email, which of course generated the standard "Your Apple ID was used to sign in to iCloud via a web browser" message - but again, it only went to the primary e-mail on the account, not the @icloud.com e-mail.

Perhaps there is a setting that would send such messages to both, as you indicate happens for you, but this really doesn't solve the issue. The "Primary" e-mail on this account is mine. The purpose of setting up this AppleID, however, was to give my wife her own e-mail. While it would be perfectly acceptable, even desirable, for my e-mail to be an emergency recovery address on her account, I certainly don't want to be receiving her e-mails on my account in general!