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reitermoritz Author

Level 2

220 points

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

When I want to enter my iCloud email address (like foo@icloud.com) as my Apple ID, the system at appleid.apple.com tells me that I can't use an email address with a domain owned by Apple as my Apple ID which I find odd enough. I tried to create a new Apple ID through appleid.apple.com just to see what happens and even then it says that you cannot use an email address with an Apple domain.

It becomes even more odd when you consider that, if I'm not wrong, you can very well create a new Apple ID and use a new @icloud.com email address if you do it with an iPhone.

I can use my iCloud address as the primary email address of my Apple ID account so it's not a huge problem, but it still annoys me a little bit that the name of my Apple ID has to continue being my obsolete Gmail address.

Does anyone have more information on this?

Posted on Oct 15, 2012 8:45 AM

Top-ranking reply

mswcpt

Level 1

14 points

Posted on Nov 24, 2013 9:01 PM

Hi -

As per reitermoritz's reply to my comment on the 20th March 2013, I feel s_rafida has again missed the point slightly and is still being misunderstood. Like the other other Apple customers here, we don't want to have 2, 3, 10 or 7 email addresses. We want ONE. Because we had (now in hindsight directly caused this problem) by using a NON-APPLE email intially as the ID and then an @icloud address for the icloud account and email, we are the ones NOT in a position to get rid of the email associated with the ID and move it to the icloud email address. There are fortunate people out there who have set-up new accounts, devices from scratch who were not Apple customers before that have been able to from the very beginning have their icloud address as their Apple ID, and therefore ONE account.

This means that us poor sods have to go through the inconvenince and frankly seamingly unecessary pain to create digital clutter in our lives and be forced to open some unused email account simply to use it as an Apple ID. What an utterly perposterous and cumbersome system.

I think it is ridiculous.

View in context

428 replies

Sep 13, 2015 1:22 PM in response to Wnader

OK, if it is completely different, then it should already be a totally separate Apple ID.

To find out for sure, log into Apple - My Apple ID with the iCloud ID and password, to see if it exists out there as a primary ID.

Cheers,

May 6, 2016 1:37 PM in response to Samarthnyc

The reason you cannot make an Apple Domain into a Primary email address on an existing Apple account is because the iCloud.com (or me.com, or Mac.com) is already an Apple ID. Go to: Apple - My Apple ID and sign in with your iCloud ID and password. You will see that it goes to its own Apple account.

Cheers,

Sep 11, 2016 7:55 PM in response to snailblazer

No, you cannot make changes to any Apple Domain email assignment - @iCloud.com, @me.com, @mac.com. Whether that email address is your iCloud address attached to your Apple ID, or whether it is your actual Apple ID, it cannot be changed from that function.

You will need to get a new email address (you can get a free one from Google, Yahoo, etc.), and then go to your Apple account, and EDIT your current Apple ID to the new email address. BEFORE you do that, however, be sure to sign out of iCloud on your computer or any devices where it is signed in. Also sign out of iTunes & App Store, FaceTime, and Messages. Then EDIT your email on your Apple account, then sign in with the new email address. You can then go on using your iCloud address if you wish.

To EDIT your Apple account ID, go to: Apple - My Apple ID

Best of luck,

Dec 28, 2016 11:30 PM in response to littleipsum

There is absolutely no call for you to be insulting Gail, who helps a lot of people in these forums. She knows, as we all do, what it is you want; but it's not possible and no-one on here can tell you otherwise. You can send feedback to Apple at http://apple.com/feedback about your views. It's Apple's decision, and ranting at posters in this forum who don't work for Apple and can't do anything about their decisions is not only pointless but ill-mannered.

LACAllen

Level 8

43,506 points

Dec 29, 2016 9:52 PM in response to littleipsum

Gail, at this point I have to assume that you're trolling us.

I assume the opposite... I think users who come to these threads, asking the same questions in perhaps a slightly different manner, but the same question nonetheless, are the trolls.

Of course we understand how it works.

I don't think you do, or how this community works. If you did understand how this community works, you wouldn't make this statement.

We just don't think that it should work this way and have described the issues it causes in earlier posts.

This is not a forum for debate. To ask why Apple does what they do and if and when they will change it. Their house, their rules.

It is for asking technical questions and giving technical answers.

Which Gail has done. Calmly, clearly and in this thread, repeatedly.

You and others have been given options. That you don't like them is moot.

I suggest you send your comments where a) Apple asks you to and b) where they have any chance of being addressed

Apple feedback goes here >>>> http://www.apple.com/feedback/ <<<<

LACAllen

Level 8

43,506 points

May 23, 2017 9:07 AM in response to Israel Brewster

Any Apple domain email address is already an Apple ID and can't be "switched" to from a non Apple domain email address for use as an Apple ID.

This would in effect, be merging 2 Apple IDs, which is not supported by Apple.

So, one can switch the email address associated with their Apple ID from a valid @gmail.com, @hotmail.com email address and so on, to an @icloud.com one time. Once your Apple ID uses an Apple domain email address, you can no longer change it.

As Gail says, this is how it works. Nobody here can change that or even speak to why that is.

Feedback for Apple goes here >>> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Oct 19, 2017 9:57 PM in response to fanboyfanboy

fanboyfanboy wrote:

Agreed. Even from a software perspective, this is not a difficult feature to implement and makes no sense why it hasn't been added yet if Apple really wants to get everyone locked into their ecosystem.

Since you are so certain that it isn't difficult to change the software (I guess you have taken into account the entire iCloud infrastructure, correct?), then why don't you send the solution to Apple via the Feedback link: Apple - Feedback

Cheers,

reitermoritz Author

Level 2

220 points

Jan 13, 2014 9:12 AM in response to darkstery2k

Well, to be fair, I think we have to differntiate here. The Apple ID account contains three different relevant values, configurable under "Name, ID and Email Addresses" in the "My Apple ID" web interface:

The name of the Apple ID itself, which is also an email address,
the primary email address and
the alternate email address.

3) ist just for account recovery purposes. 2) is the actual technically relevant address. This is the one iTunes receips etc. get sent to. And 2) can be an @icloud.com type address.

Only 1) may not be an email address at a domain owned by Apple (for which obscure reason ever; no one seems to know).

So the whole problem is really more a matter of beauty and consistency than a problem which would prevent me from actually getting something done or so.

The annoying thing is just that I have to type in a third party email address to identify myself to iTunes etc. on my various devices. I want my @icloud address to be my one centralized identification towards all Apple services, because it just makes sense, like I said in terms of beauty and consistency. Is it a major issue? No. But Apple's brand is built on the image that it's perfection in design reaches into the little details. And knowing a little bit about the design of software systems myself I just can't think of any plausible reason why it should not be possible.

Jan 20, 2014 6:54 AM in response to reitermoritz

reitermoritz wrote:

Well, to be fair, I think we have to differntiate here. The Apple ID account contains three different relevant values, configurable under "Name, ID and Email Addresses" in the "My Apple ID" web interface:

The name of the Apple ID itself, which is also an email address,

the primary email address and

the alternate email address.

3) ist just for account recovery purposes. 2) is the actual technically relevant address. This is the one iTunes receips etc. get sent to. And 2) can be an @icloud.com type address.

This gave me some hope, as I'd be content if #2 could be an Apple-owned domain. That way receipts for purchases, etc. could go directly to my me.com address, rather than being routed through gmail. I think that also applies, for example, to this forum -- further activity on this thread will be sent to my gmail address; I see no way to change that.

However, as I'm seeing appleid.apple.com right now, #1 and #2 are treated as the same.

(I'm fine with Apple requiring we maintain a non-Apple email address. That seems sensible. But I'm not fine with being blocked from making gmail the alternative address, rather than the primary.)

Woakley5

Level 1

0 points

Jan 14, 2014 7:41 PM in response to dr.stuart

dr.stuart wrote:

Only 1) may not be an email address at a domain owned by Apple (for which obscure reason ever; no one seems to know).

If you go and create an iCloud right now, you can use an xxxxx@icloud.com account for everything. The restrictions are only on early adopters.

Actually, this is not the case, it still requires an outside email as seen in the popup bubble.

Jan 2, 2013 8:17 PM in response to reitermoritz

I too would love to know because I am just about to ditch my old Apple ID and start over so I want to get it right. I want to cut my ties to Windows by finally ditching my hotmail account and Apple ID seems to be the only thing I need to keep it for!!

I just bought a new MacBook Pro and the guy in the Apple Store said there is a way to use you iCloud address as your Apple ID but it was too busy for me to book an appointment with a genius.

What we also have to realise is that Apple ID options are (or definitely used to be) different depending on which country your credit card comes from. So, if someone finds a solution, it may not work for you because Apple is bound by the laws of the country in which they operate. Hence why I couldn't redownload songs that I had purchased for free when I lived in Japan and had a Japanese iTunes account, but people in the US have pretty much always been able to.

I hope someone can shed some light on this issue soon. I am ready make iCloud my primary e-mail account and leave my hotmail account to manage my junk mail ;-)

Jan 8, 2013 9:51 AM in response to noel-in-japan

I've come across this problem too.

The email address, a non-Apple one, which my daughter had been using for her Apple ID in now defunct and she doesn't have another email address to use. I thought all she had to do was to get a free @icloud.com one and use this instead for the Apple ID. She went to the appleid.apple.com website, signed in and then went to manage her Apple ID. She clicked the Add Email Address button and entered what she thought would be an unused icloud email address which was accepted and she got a confirmatory email. However when we went to edit her current Apple ID email address and tried to change it to her new icloud one we got that message that you can't use an email address with an Apple domain.

We've been on to Apple Support today and they've confirmed that this is the case and suggested that she gets a new non-Apple one, from such as a Gmail one, to use. Since her present, defunct, email address works OK for app purchases etc she's just going to leave it but add her new icloud one an an alternartive email address that she can be contacted at.

I see that this problem is also dealt with at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4677439?answerId=20818027022#20818027022&tstart=0#20818027?tstart=0

reitermoritz Author

Level 2

220 points

Mar 19, 2013 1:19 AM in response to s_rafida

Thanks for your reply s_rafida. So I have my Apple ID from before iCloud existed where all my purchases are on. Now I use an iCloud email as my only private email account and want to get rid of the Gmail account I used before, but I can't because Apple forces me to keep it as the login for my Apple ID.

Now you are telling me that my new iCloud email account is in fact a second Apple ID, right? Well, then I want to be able to merge that one and the one my purchases are on...

mswcpt

Level 1

14 points

Mar 19, 2013 9:35 PM in response to reitermoritz

"Well, then I want to be able to merge that one and the one my purchases are on..."

This is exactly what I want to do but don't think I can:

I noticed the following :

If you attempt to create an Apple ID which is the same as your @icloud email address from the online facility, it does not allow you (can't use an Apple associated email address as your Apple ID). However - if you start a fresh device - such as a new iPhone, iPad (must be mobile it seems), and then create an iCloud account and Apple ID from the prompts when setting up the mobile device, it IS possible to have your Apple ID and @iCloud email address as the same. I know because I just did it!

Unfortunately for me, the result I got above is not for one of my own ID's but a friends, and I would VERY much like to do the same - my current Apple ID is a completely different email address from my iCloud account. Trying to get them the same in my situation is a major bother - I think that if I wipe a device (such as an iPhone5 that is mine) and try to setup as I did my friend's device, then I will get a conflict because the iCloud email I have ALREADY exists. This is my worry and I will not attempt this until I get the new iPad 4 soon to test this.

There is an inconsistency here between the two methods of creating Apple ID's and iCloud accounts.

Overall in my opinion, the Apple ID system as currently available from Apple is not designed very well, and should be addressed.

Best wishes -

reitermoritz Author

Level 2

220 points

Mar 20, 2013 12:45 AM in response to mswcpt

mswcpt, thanks for your contribution. What you describe exactly matches my experiences and I completely agree with you. It appears that Apple did not spend enough thought in how to bring together their approaches from different stages of their effort to provide customers with cloud services. Now we are stuck in this somewhat inconsistent state. It also shows that s_rafida kind of missed the point.

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