iOS 18.1 to let users change or delete iCloud.com primary email addresses

Posted:
in iOS edited October 13

The upcoming iOS 18.1 update will allow users to change a previous primary email address, as well as letting those with iCloud.com, mac.com, or me.com email addresses change them.

Your Apple ID is now known as your Apple Account, and comes with new flexibility.
Your Apple ID is now known as your Apple Account, and comes with new flexibility.



Previously, Apple didn't allow any changes to your primary iCloud email address. Instead, those who regretted or no longer wanted to use that primary address could create a handful of "alias" email addresses that covered most uses.

As of iOS 18.1, however, users can change the primary email address associated with your Apple Account -- formerly known as Apple ID -- and use either the new address or the prior one for logging in. Previously, users would have to delete their old primary email, and re-verify their identity in order to pick a new one.

Even if you used an alias, the primary email address could still be seen by others when users send requests to share or collaborate on documents. The same applies to sending invitations to events via the Calendar app.

The change, first spotted by MacRumors, allows those who picked a flippant @icloud.com, @mac.com or @me.com, or have simply outgrown the old primary email address, to update it. The move by Apple also allows users, for the first time, to turn off a primary iCloud email address in addition to the option of deleting it.



Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 19
    XedXed Posts: 2,855member
    Hmm... I wonder if there will also be an option to effectively merge two iCloud accounts.
    omasoubaconstangsflagelluke hamblychiaMplsPAlex1N
  • Reply 2 of 19
    omasouomasou Posts: 623member
    Xed said:
    Hmm... I wonder if there will also be an option to effectively merge two iCloud accounts.
    That's what I'm waiting for.
    dewmebaconstangsflagelluke hamblyauxiochiaMplsPAlex1N
  • Reply 3 of 19
    I am in the same mind set as you all.  I totally can not comprehend why we can not merge two ICloud accounts.  Back in the day when Apple introduced the ITunes store, THEY emphasized the idea to set up a different account from ones primary account mainly for security purposes since money was involved.  Now I have two accounts on all the devices.  Just does not make sense since there are so many ways to verify said accounts.
    williamlondonbaconstangchia
  • Reply 4 of 19
    XedXed Posts: 2,855member
    omasou said:
    Xed said:
    Hmm... I wonder if there will also be an option to effectively merge two iCloud accounts.
    That's what I'm waiting for.
    Even if not officially, I do wonder if there's a way we can play a shell game with accounts so that you can get the account you want as your iCloud account also working as your Apple Store account. 
    dewmewilliamlondon
  • Reply 5 of 19
    rezwitsrezwits Posts: 901member
    Is 18.1 officially out or something?  Cause no way in HELLLLL! would I dick around with that until the final release is out!  Call me paranoid or something but my appleid is waaay to important to me, as I am sure yours is... fair warning.

    But if my Beta updates aren't showing the actual releasing let me know... thanks!
    williamlondonbaconstang
  • Reply 6 of 19
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,714member
    Xed said:
    omasou said:
    Xed said:
    Hmm... I wonder if there will also be an option to effectively merge two iCloud accounts.
    That's what I'm waiting for.
    Even if not officially, I do wonder if there's a way we can play a shell game with accounts so that you can get the account you want as your iCloud account also working as your Apple Store account. 
    I'm in the same boat. The current situation seems just plain stupid. I have to make my ancient "@me.com" Apple Account an adult family member of my "@icloud.com" Apple Account and enable Family Sharing in order to have full access to all of my Apple purchases dating back to the iTunes Era, i.e, when dinosaurs and iPods ruled the earth. This has been going on for at least a decade. Things became somewhat easier when Apple allowed devices to register two Apple IDs as part of their setup process. This "workaround" tells me that Apple knew there was a problem but didn't want to do much of anything to fix it in a reasonable way for similarly afflicted users. My hopes of ever seeing anything like an Apple Account "merge" have long since faded. To Apple I am still two separate users. They may like it, but I'm split on the matter.

    I suppose there are legitimate reasons for an individual to have multiple Apple Accounts (formerly Apple IDs), However I still cannot fathom why Apple can't come up with a way to merge accounts when all of the parties involved are one and the same person. Apple allows me to have multiple email aliases and multiple Hide My Email aliases but they can't allow me to authorize them to merge my two accounts into a single account. I'll sign a release document and get it notarized if that's what they demand. My overriding concern is that they'll eventually remove the current hack-around to lessen the burden on their end and I'll lose everything I've purchased under one or the other accounts. Hopefully logic and common sense will prevail. Sure.
    baconstangAlex1N
  • Reply 7 of 19
    baconstangbaconstang Posts: 1,151member
    My Apple ID, at the iTunes music store and any other money based accounts, has been a Yahoo address for ages. I got am "@me.com" account 4 or 5 years later for mail and such.
    Then, 9 years ago when I bought a new iMac 5K, it assigned my "@me'com" address as my Apple ID, without asking.  It took a couple of years to figure why I had a hard time signing in to certain accounts.  Turned out I was stuck with 2 Apple IDs. 
    When I got an Apple Card, I couldn't put it in my wallet, because the IDs didn't match.  Fun!
    dewmeAlex1N
  • Reply 8 of 19
    I was just grateful years back Apple eventually let me absorb my iTunes purchases from my original AOL Instant Messenger Apple ID into my Gmail one. Nowadays I’d be most happy if I could transfer those licenses into my @me.com ID I’ve been using for the last 15 years the same way haha. I’ve got my Gmail Apple ID (that holds the AIM ID inside it now) also signed in as an adult in my iCloud family. I want to keep my @me.com ID forever though, it hellos me sort the Apple Store employees when I need help lol.
    edited October 13
  • Reply 9 of 19
    The inability to merge two accounts goes against everything Apple is suppose to stand for! I ended up with two accounts because, despite Steve Jobs explicitly saying it would be free for life, they started charging. I jumped ship to Gmail, only to return when it became free again. Since then I’ve been stuck with two accounts! First world problems I know, it’s just feels so much like an issue you’d hear from a Microsoft user! 

    Do better Apple!
    muthuk_vanalingamdewmewilliamlondonAlex1Nbaconstang
  • Reply 10 of 19
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,930member
    I'm just glad that so far (fingers crossed) I can keep my @mac.com email address. I read a while back that anyone with a @mac.com email address would be switched to an @icloud.com email address as Apple was getting rid @mac.com email addresses. 
    rezwits
  • Reply 11 of 19
    y2any2an Posts: 222member
    Waiting for the real reason for this change to surface. Apple does things for a reason. This scratches an itch for some people, but the real reason is probably that they want drive people to switch to Apple email to facilitate more features in AI. 
    edited October 13 williamlondon
  • Reply 12 of 19
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,760member
    macxpress said:
    I'm just glad that so far (fingers crossed) I can keep my @mac.com email address. I read a while back that anyone with a @mac.com email address would be switched to an @icloud.com email address as Apple was getting rid @mac.com email addresses. 
    I'm the same with my @me.com account. I love how simple and memorable it is. People ask all the time about it.
    williamlondonbaconstang
  • Reply 13 of 19
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 4,015member
    omasou said:
    Xed said:
    Hmm... I wonder if there will also be an option to effectively merge two iCloud accounts.
    That's what I'm waiting for.
    That's what everyone's waiting for!

    Like thousands of others, I have two AppleID's with purchases/paid content linked to both and I'd like nothing better than to be able to merge the two together.

    I suspect you won't be able to merge accounts, though - my guess is this is just what it says - chaining the primary email address and if you try to change the email address on your second account to match your primary account you will get an error.
    Alex1N
  • Reply 14 of 19
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,714member
    auxio said:
    macxpress said:
    I'm just glad that so far (fingers crossed) I can keep my @mac.com email address. I read a while back that anyone with a @mac.com email address would be switched to an @icloud.com email address as Apple was getting rid @mac.com email addresses. 
    I'm the same with my @me.com account. I love how simple and memorable it is. People ask all the time about it.

    In my case I ended up with an @iCloud.com email address that matches my @me.com email address. For example, if your @me.com address is fishstick@me.com you'll also have a fishstick@icloud.com automatically. It looks like Apple is simply using your old me/mac email address as an permanent alias. The real issue is still with the inability to merge two Apple accounts into a single account.
    Alex1N
  • Reply 15 of 19
    My Apple ID is associated with a gmail address. I wonder if I can change it to an iCloud email address.
  • Reply 16 of 19
    My Apple ID is associated with a gmail address. I wonder if I can change it to an iCloud email address.
    You have been able to change the email address associated with an Apple ID for a while with the major caveat that once you changed it to an @icloud.com address it was then impossible to do any further changes.
    williamlondonbestkeptsecretchasm
  • Reply 17 of 19
    chelgrian said:
    My Apple ID is associated with a gmail address. I wonder if I can change it to an iCloud email address.
    You have been able to change the email address associated with an Apple ID for a while with the major caveat that once you changed it to an @icloud.com address it was then impossible to do any further changes.
    Thanks for letting me know. Don't know how I missed it!
  • Reply 18 of 19
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,443member
    macxpress said:
    I'm just glad that so far (fingers crossed) I can keep my @mac.com email address. I read a while back that anyone with a @mac.com email address would be switched to an @icloud.com email address as Apple was getting rid @mac.com email addresses. 
    Me too. I like the "flippant" @.mac and don't see it as flippant. I don't use any of the others in correspondence and did not want to lose it. 

    Combining two accounts is on my list as well. Some time ago Apple allowed the use of "aliases" as email addresses. So I created an additional @mac.com address and all was well for some time. A year or years later that address was changed to a separate Apple ID. Now and then some alert would pop up saying I needed to sign into that account and not my original account. I don't remember the password for that account but I can still read email. What a clusterf.
  • Reply 19 of 19
    XedXed Posts: 2,855member
    macgui said:
    macxpress said:
    I'm just glad that so far (fingers crossed) I can keep my @mac.com email address. I read a while back that anyone with a @mac.com email address would be switched to an @icloud.com email address as Apple was getting rid @mac.com email addresses. 
    Me too. I like the "flippant" @.mac and don't see it as flippant. I don't use any of the others in correspondence and did not want to lose it. 

    Combining two accounts is on my list as well. Some time ago Apple allowed the use of "aliases" as email addresses. So I created an additional @mac.com address and all was well for some time. A year or years later that address was changed to a separate Apple ID. Now and then some alert would pop up saying I needed to sign into that account and not my original account. I don't remember the password for that account but I can still read email. What a clusterf.
    1) I'm confused by your use of flippant in quotes. If you don't see your own email address as flippant then why call it flippant?

    2) I tell people with two Apple IDs to just use the same, secure password for both and/or use a proper password manager so they don't forget their passwords.
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