reitermoritz

Q: 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 8:48 AM

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

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  • by Imp68,

    Imp68 Imp68 Jan 1, 2014 2:57 PM in response to dr.stuart
    Level 4 (2,633 points)
    Jan 1, 2014 2:57 PM in response to dr.stuart

    Ya, but you can pretty much ignore that 3rd party email address and never use it.  You would only ever need it to reset your password, so it makes perfect sense to have.  You can use your icloud email address to sign into all apple services.

  • by dr.stuart,

    dr.stuart dr.stuart Jan 1, 2014 2:59 PM in response to Imp68
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 1, 2014 2:59 PM in response to Imp68

    The 3rd party email cannot be ignored.  It shows up at various places every time I open the "settings" in my iOS device.  It shows up as my caller ID on iMessages from time to time, even though I repeatedly try and turn it off. It shows up in my iTunes accout.  It shows up on my sales receipts.  It shows up everywhere.  The 3rd part email address is like a cockroach that just will not die.  I don't understand why Apple with it's "walled garden" is so insistent that we retain our Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail accounts.  

  • by Michele L.,

    Michele L. Michele L. Jan 3, 2014 12:13 AM in response to reitermoritz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 3, 2014 12:13 AM in response to reitermoritz

    FWIW i've sent a feedback (http://www.apple.com/feedback/) and lurked everything around here but without any result.

     

    Looks like external emails can't be removed or ignored. Simply as that.

     

    I hope to be wrong but at the moment I am pretty disappointed.

  • by date palm,

    date palm date palm Jan 7, 2014 2:44 PM in response to reitermoritz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 7, 2014 2:44 PM in response to reitermoritz

    You can actually use an alternate email address to sign in. This is an option when managing your appleid. So my primary address is a hotmail account (which I never use) and my alternate id is a @me.com address which I can use for everything. Isn't this a solution?

  • by Michele L.,

    Michele L. Michele L. Jan 13, 2014 12:47 AM in response to date palm
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 13, 2014 12:47 AM in response to date palm

    I just want to set my Apple ID as a primary address and delete (or hide) the other one.
    Is it impossible to achieve? I am stuck with an old email account that still to pop-up evrey now and then and no, ignore it is not a solution, is an act of surrending.

  • by darkstery2k,

    darkstery2k darkstery2k Jan 13, 2014 6:53 AM in response to date palm
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iCloud
    Jan 13, 2014 6:53 AM in response to date palm

    It's only half the solution....  The problem is when you buy anything with your appleID (iTunes, Apple.com, etc.) the reciept and shipping info is sent to that 3rd party email address that I never even check anymore.  Why they can't (or don't want to) do the code work to allow this change is rediculous.  If someone that sets up an AppleID for the first time does not have to use a 3rd party email address (except for optional recovery purposes) and I cannot (even though I have had my ID since 2007) and have been a loyal paying customer is just plain stupid!

  • by reitermoritz,

    reitermoritz reitermoritz Jan 13, 2014 9:12 AM in response to darkstery2k
    Level 1 (21 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:

     

    1. The name of the Apple ID itself, which is also an email address,
    2. the primary email address and
    3. 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.

  • by KAS0L0,

    KAS0L0 KAS0L0 Jan 13, 2014 11:37 AM in response to reitermoritz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 13, 2014 11:37 AM in response to reitermoritz

    we are weighing in on this important thread...

     

    I do not want my icloud master account tied to an offshore email account such as gmail.

     

    I want to use my icloud account as my MASTER EMAIL ACCOUNT.

  • by dr.stuart,

    dr.stuart dr.stuart Jan 13, 2014 12:26 PM in response to reitermoritz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 13, 2014 12:26 PM in response to reitermoritz

    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. 

  • by Woakley5,

    Woakley5 Woakley5 Jan 14, 2014 7:41 PM in response to dr.stuart
    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.

    Screen Shot 2014-01-14 at 7.39.32 PM.png

  • by reitermoritz,

    reitermoritz reitermoritz Jan 14, 2014 9:25 PM in response to Woakley5
    Level 1 (21 points)
    Jan 14, 2014 9:25 PM in response to Woakley5

    Yeah, the only way to get an Apple ID where your iCloud address is the name of your Apple ID is to create it via the initial setup process of an iOS device. That's why this is so mysterious: Why does Apple allow it when creating the Apple ID via one process (iOS setup) but not via the other process (web interface)?

     

    And of course: for existing users, also using an iOS device to create the ID is not an option as long as you already have any purchases on your Apple ID because you would not be able to transfer them to the newly created one.

  • by chicagopjp,

    chicagopjp chicagopjp Jan 20, 2014 6:54 AM in response to reitermoritz
    Level 2 (260 points)
    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:

     

    1. The name of the Apple ID itself, which is also an email address,
    2. the primary email address and
    3. 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.)

  • by reitermoritz,

    reitermoritz reitermoritz Jan 20, 2014 8:18 AM in response to chicagopjp
    Level 1 (21 points)
    Jan 20, 2014 8:18 AM in response to chicagopjp

    In my Apple ID account the primary email address and the Apple ID itself are different, the primary email address being an iCloud-address.

  • by Cristian Gobbo,

    Cristian Gobbo Cristian Gobbo Jan 22, 2014 5:09 AM in response to reitermoritz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 22, 2014 5:09 AM in response to reitermoritz

    In my Apple ID account 1 and 2 are treated as the same, in which Apple ID and Primary Email Address must be an e-mail address in an external domain. They made a mess. Apple, fix your faults!

     

    <Image Edited by Host>

  • by stabesm,

    stabesm stabesm Jan 22, 2014 1:35 PM in response to reitermoritz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 22, 2014 1:35 PM in response to reitermoritz

    This is such an annoying issue and yet Apple simply fail to comprehend it. Completely. I have had fights by email with the idiots on their help desks and am flabergasted at their total lack of willingness to let users control their own accounts. I get the feeling their is something behind this lack of comprehension though...

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