How do I remove an alias from my Apple ID?

As has been stated several times, you can't remove the @icloud.com address which forms the main address and was the one you created when you opened an iCloud account, or which is the iCloud version of the @me.com or @mac. com address which formed the login if you opened a MobileMe or DotMac account some years back.

As you say, you cannot move purchases from one ID to another. when you say you have 'two aliases' do you mean the @mac.com and @me.com versions of the main @icloud.com address? (This would mean you started the account as a DotMac one and they would also be your login. However the @icloud.com address would also show your name.) This address can't be changed. Actual 'aliases' are additional addresses that you added after creating the account and these can be deleted.

I don't know whether in the circumstances Apple can change the main email address, if that's what the issue is: you can only ask. Go to https://getsupport.apple.com . Click' See all products and services', then 'More', then 'iCloud', then 'Account and Setup', then 'Troubleshooting iCloud account issues'. Then click 'No thanks. Continue' to be offered contact methods.

It depends what you mean by 'alias'. If for example you originally had a MobileMe (or DotMac) account with their associated @mac.com and/or @me.com addresses as email addresses and logins, then when you were converted to iCloud you also got an @icloud.com address (with the same text before the '@'); you can't remove this. If you added additional addresses in the form of 'email aliases' you can remove those. What does this have to do with a stolen phone?

A possible work around that may be considered as a solution for some of you here -

As it is clear from this thread Apple created a situation in which Aliases with the "xxx@icloud.com" can't be removed. A possible solution could be creating a new Apple ID which would be configured without the problematic aliases. But in that case all purchase (applications, music etc..) would be lost. Right? Well.. not really.. Just bind/connect the new AppleID account to the old "miss configured" account using the "Family Sharing" feature (https://www.apple.com/icloud/family-sharing/).

A bit messy but it gives you the benefit of both worlds - New AppleID account without losing your old purchases.

Slightly puzzling: if you have an @me.com address that ought to be your login as that was how MobileMe worked. I'm not clear how you can have an Apple ID which is a Gmail address, but also an @me.com address. Possibly it may arise from the transition period between MobileMe and iCloud.

If you go to http://www.icloud.com , click on the cogwheel icon at bottom left, then in the pane which opens click on the 'Accounts' tab you will see something like my own accounts page:

Under 'Email addresses' when the top one in the list at left is selected there are three with the same text before the '@' (three because I started as DotMac; you evidently have two). These addresses cannot be deleted by you: I don't know whether Apple is able to delete them. You would have to ask as I indicated above.

There are three 'aliases' listed - these are the additional addresses which can be deleted, and which can exist in more than one version depending on when they were created: I'm assuming this isn't what you are talking about.

Sorry, I thought I'd mentioned the Mail page initially but I see I didn't. I agree that it's an unsatisfactory situation, particularly over married names; but the only solution is to contact Apple: ask for it to be escalated if necessary. It may be that there is a technical reason in the software why this can't be done, but obviously I don't know about that.

I have the same problem.

I have had a change of name (through divorce) and I cannot get rid of the ALIAS email address which contains that married name.

Other ALIAS emails offer the option of DELETE (X) but not this one which has a (?) instead. When you click it it says it is an ALIAS email of my APPLE.ID. But nowhere to remove or edit it in any way.

Please help.

Thank you

The article is about actual aliases, which are additional addresses added to the account. The @icloud.com which was created when the account was created cannot be changed. It's not clear which the poster is asking about. If an actual alias cannot be removed then only Support can help: go to https://getsupport.apple.com . Click' See all products and services', then 'More', then 'iCloud', then 'Account and Setup', then 'Troubleshooting iCloud account issues'. Then click 'No thanks. Continue' to be offered contact methods.

I have a similar issue somehow my main apple ID ended up linked to my daughters icloud account and it shows up as an alias account in my apple ID and because of this I can not link my icloud to my account. I had called apple support and they refused to remove the incorrect alias saying they have no way of doing so which I know is BS cause I work in IT/Network engineering. So has anyone been able to figure out a way to get this done I need to remove my daughters icloud from my account and add my own icloud.

If your daughter used your Apple ID to create an iCloud account with its @icloud.com address then the iCloud account strictly belongs to you. You cannot change the iCloud address she created but you can create up to three 'email aliases' which are addition addresses (not accounts) which deliver into the inbox alongside the main iCloud address. If you take possession of this iCloud account your daughter cannot retrieve the address she created. Nor can she transfer the iCloud account to her own Apple ID. Apple IDs and iCloud accounts aren't intended to be used by more than one person.

I have TWO "This is an alias of your Apple ID email address" addresses when I try to manage how I'm contactable. I want them both to go away as they both show my previous surname.

I have a second Apple ID that I'd prefer to use for more than just e-mail, but I'm getting the gist that I cannot associate my past purchases with other Apple IDs with my new one (new surname). Is that correct? So I lose everything if I remove the Apple ID that has the offending aliases?

I have an @icloud that I've never used (former name) and an @me that I don't want to use anymore (former name). My Apple ID is a @gmail. Both of these above accounts say they are aliases when I hover over the question mark that is next to them (NOT a x).

iCloud doesn't look like that for me.

When I go to Settings in this window I then choose Manage Apple ID, and edit it:

It's my recollection that I started the @me DURING set-up of my first iPhone about 6 years ago.

Now, I only have gmail accounts BECAUSE Apple refuses to allow me to use @me or @icloud as my Apple ID. I get an error message saying that I can't use a domain owned by Apple.

Actually you didn't refer to the Mail page at all. I know that it can't be deleted because several people have said so in this thread already, having spoken to Apple directly. They are having the same problem as me, and I have understand what they were describing throughout the thread because I see similar things in my own account. I just have the additional situation of a non-Apple domain Apple ID (because they won't let me have otherwise) and TWO Apple domain aliases (Apple calls them aliases in their pop-up info box, it's not my terminology to pick apart) and that contradicts most of what you've said in this thread about the cause and the solution 😐.

I know you're here because you want to help, but there's a bunch of us with the same/similar issues, all understanding how we each got there and that there isn't a solution. Clearly the issue isn't what some people think it is, or the mechanism of getting there isn't what some people think it is.

If anyone has found a solution without losing everything they ever purchased because they changed Apple ID, then I'd be glad to hear it. I'm trying to move on from a bad marriage here.

You don't want that happening. If for example you delete an email alias it can never be re-used: if an address of yours became generally available after a time someone could use it to pretend to be you.