Apple ID holders can now switch from third-party email address logins to Apple email domai...

Posted:
in General Discussion edited October 2017
Apple on Tuesday updated its Apple ID policy, allowing account holders using third-party email addresses as login credentials to switch to an Apple-provided email address.




Apple has long allowed new customers to sign up for an Apple ID, which is used to authenticate and manage a user's Apple account across services ranging from iTunes to the online Apple store, using third-party email addresses like those from Google and Yahoo.

Until now, the company let users switch their login to another third-party account, but not an Apple domain such as "@icloud.com," "@me.com" or "@mac.com." For example, an Apple ID holder using "[email protected]" might switch their login to "[email protected]," but they were restricted from transitioning to one of Apple's email addresses.

That is no longer the case, as one MacRumors reader points out. Earlier this month, the person sent a letter to multiple Apple executives requesting the Apple ID login quirk be fixed. A reply from an executive relations employee said the problem was being reviewed by Apple's engineering team.

Today, the reader, identified as Dillon, received a phone call saying the issue has been resolved.

Apple has subsequently updated a support document titled "Change your Apple ID" to reflect the account management modification.

As noted in a new section regarding third-party email addresses, the company cautions that switching login information from a third-party service to an @icloud.com, @me.com or @mac.com account is a one-way process.
If you enter a new Apple ID that ends with @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com, you see a message to confirm. When you change your Apple ID to an @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com account, you can't change it back to a third-party email account. Your former Apple ID that ends with a third-party email, becomes an additional email address for your Apple ID account.
The change should be a boon for users, especially platform switchers, who used a non-Apple email address to set up their Apple ID account before transitioning to Apple's suite of services.
Avieshek
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 65
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    Did Apple ever fix the quirk where you couldn't use your regular Apple ID for a developer account and weren't allowed to create a new Apple ID using an icloud.com (etc.) domain, forcing you to use a third-party email provider?
  • Reply 2 of 65
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    Apple must hate email. I wish they made a revolutionary email service. Email feels so old and outdated, I know someone can innovate in this space. 
    apple jockeybloggerblogcornchipAvieshekjahbladechiajony0lolliver
  • Reply 3 of 65
    It’s about damn time. I thought it was quite stupid for not allowing me to switch from a third part to Apple’s own email address. 
    llamabaconstanglostkiwiwatto_cobralolliver
  • Reply 4 of 65
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    To be clear, does this mean that those with iTunes Store/iBookstore/App Store accounts using a 3rd-party address can now link it to an iCloud account so they can have a single account?

    cali said:
    Apple must hate email. I wish they made a revolutionary email service. Email feels so old and outdated, I know someone can innovate in this space. 
    I think the email protocol is fine how it is and it's been many years (since the MobileMe days) that I remember getting copious amount of spam not blocked by their servers, but I'd love here some thoughts of how it can be better.

    From a client aspect, they have made it easily in iOS Mail to unsubscribe, and in all their OSes they've increased data detectors to be more useful with contacts, phone numbers, addresses, events, dates, etc. so that even in other apps they show up as possible options.

    Wow.  Good thing Dillion put in this request.  I mean, 50,000,000 other people with the same problem for the last 10 years didn't matter.  But for Dillion, Apple will do anything.

    Hey Dillion, will you please ask Apple to make the Music app work in landscape mode?  And kill off vertical video syndrome by auto-rotating the camera/video when the camera is held in portrait?  PLEASE???  Thanks.
    You understand that if Dillion was the only one to make this request that he wouldn't hav received a reply. It's likely only because he was one of the last ones to request it when they had a resolution on the ready that he was picked.
    dewmemwhitellamabaconstangjony0lostkiwiwatto_cobralollivercornchip
  • Reply 5 of 65
    I just tried to change my gmail account to  my iCloud account and the system will
    not allow it. I get an error message stating I can’t use iCloud addresses. 
    cornchipseniorchieflostkiwilolliver
  • Reply 6 of 65
    Does anyone know if this lets users *merge* accounts? I have a @gmail account for iTunes purchases and @me.com for Apple ID. Would be nice to combine them both.
    patchythepiratesteveautallest skilwillcropointmrboba1macxpresslostkiwilolliversuperklotonminicoffee
  • Reply 7 of 65
    All I want in life (digital life) is to just use ONE email address for all Apple services. I hate having two accounts. And I would’ve done it from the beginning if I didn’t have to pay for a damn Apple account. 
    mike54chialostkiwilolliver
  • Reply 8 of 65
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,945member
    At long last.
    GeorgeBMacwatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 65
    Does this now mean we don't have to have those stupid ONE-TIME Use Account Passwords set up in all the third-party Email Apps, to access our iCloud.com Email, too? What a waste of time that was.
  • Reply 10 of 65
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Does this now mean we don't have to have those stupid ONE-TIME Use Account Passwords set up in all the third-party Email Apps, to access our iCloud.com Email, too? What a waste of time that was.
    I love app-specific passwords. There's a major convenience with linking other accounts without the fear that my primary account password and all its features and data storage will be comprised.
    Macsplosionwelshdoglolliver
  • Reply 11 of 65
    I just tried to change my gmail account to  my iCloud account and the system will
    not allow it. I get an error message stating I can’t use iCloud addresses. 
    I have the same issue...

    mike54volganevariverGeorgeBMaclolliver
  • Reply 12 of 65
    Soli said:
    Does this now mean we don't have to have those stupid ONE-TIME Use Account Passwords set up in all the third-party Email Apps, to access our iCloud.com Email, too? What a waste of time that was.
    I love app-specific passwords. There's a major convenience with linking other accounts without the fear that my primary account password and all its features and data storage will be comprised.
    That is wonderful for you. I understand why you would want that sort of protection. Now, is there an answer for the rest of us?
    edited October 2017
  • Reply 13 of 65
    anomeanome Posts: 1,533member
    I've been using my @mac.com address for my Apple ID since it was iTools. My biggest problem was I wanted to create a new Apple ID to use in the Beta program (so that my normal ID doesn't accidentally install betas on things, as it has for my MacBook Pro), but it won't let me use a non-Apple account I have because it's also being used as the backup e-mail for my Apple ID.
  • Reply 14 of 65
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    SoundJudgment said:
    Now, is there an answer for the rest of us?
    Of course.
    lolliver
  • Reply 15 of 65
    cali said:
    [...] Email feels so old and outdated, I know someone can innovate in this space. 
    You're under 35, aren't you? Back in MY day, when we had to walk twenty miles to school, barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways, we would have KILLED to have electronic mail, even if we had to go to the post office to pick it up!

    But seriously, that's the mindset that gave us Microsoft Word -- an app that did a good job of what it was designed to do getting so bloated with fluff that it's now much more difficult to use for its intended purpose. Let's not let email (or text messaging for that matter) devolve into a cluttered, confusing mess like that.

    As for Apple's new policy, I don't understand why it's a "one-way street" that once you change to an Apple domain you can no longer use a third-party address.

    Neither do I understand why Apple's email won't allow me to use my own domain name. Doesn't Gmail let you do that?
    mike1
  • Reply 16 of 65
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    anome said:
    I've been using my @mac.com address for my Apple ID since it was iTools. My biggest problem was I wanted to create a new Apple ID to use in the Beta program (so that my normal ID doesn't accidentally install betas on things, as it has for my MacBook Pro), but it won't let me use a non-Apple account I have because it's also being used as the backup e-mail for my Apple ID.
    Was this a specific bug you experienced or are your System Preferences not setup correctly? When was the last time you used the macOS betas, because the current setup is quite robust.
  • Reply 17 of 65
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    Neither do I understand why Apple's email won't allow me to use my own domain name. Doesn't Gmail let you do that?
    Unless I'm mistaken and paying money to Google I don't need to, it's not Gmail that allows you to add MX Records to add private domain for a Google-based email email service, but their G Suite service. Sure, it clearly uses much of the same back and front end design to display emails from your private domain as it would Gmail, but I don't see anything that shows that Gmail allows this for free and I don't see Apple venturing into supporting small businesses.

    edit: I just checked my mail portals for my private domain v my Gmail account. The former lists Mail on the left-handside column and the latter lists Gmail.

    edited October 2017
  • Reply 18 of 65
    plovellplovell Posts: 824member
    Anyone who creates an AppleID as something other than "@icloud.com" is just asking for trouble. 

    Seriously - create the id AND the iCloud account that's married to it. It's free. It'll always be there to rescue you. You don't have to use it every day or even much at all but some day, some time it may just save your bacon.

    As an example, a friend years ago set up her iPhone with a "verizon.net" email as AppleID. I had politely suggested that she not do that but she forcefully defended her decision saying that she didn't need any of that Apple email **** so there. Mmmmkay. Besides, Verizon's a big company and that email isn't going to change.

    Fast forward a few years and - lordy lordy - the Verizon email IS changing and going to AOL domains. Although Verizon had some scheme for retaining existing addresses, this was unacceptable so she bailed on that and now has a new and different gmail address for her AppleID (as well as her everything else). 

    Now she's upset because her friends are confused that "Messages" to her go to [email protected] but email is to [email protected] and they're all confused. And this is Apple's fault. 

    So just remember - any time you create a new AppleID for someone, always ALWAYS create along with it the matching icloud.com address. You can't do it later, so do it right the first time. Do NOT take "no" for an answer. 
    entropyslostkiwicornchip
  • Reply 19 of 65
    I don’t think many people have the problem of needing to create their first iCloud account from another account, especially since Apple limited the functionality of using an outside email account, making having one uniform account for full functionality impossible.

    I’m sure there are millions like myself who started purchasing iTunes content before getting an Apple ID, and thus are now still forced to have two separate accounts in order to keep the previous content. Which of course now means that my Apple Music ID is still a stupid Gmail account as well.  

    What is needed is the ability to merge accounts to one synchronous Apple ID. From some other posts here it seems like Apple is not allowing this, which seems like a huge fucking slap in the face from Tim and Apple, who promised the ability to merge accounts years ago. I figured changing the file system would be the final thing that allowed for this. Guess fucking not. 

    I went from elated to pissed pretty fast with this story. 
    willcropointSoundJudgmentmike1cornchip
  • Reply 20 of 65
    Soli said:
    Neither do I understand why Apple's email won't allow me to use my own domain name. Doesn't Gmail let you do that?
    Unless I'm mistaken and paying money to Google I don't need to, it's not Gmail that allows you to add MX Records to add private domain for a Google-based email email service, but their G Suite service. Sure, it clearly uses much of the same back and front end design to display emails from your private domain as it would Gmail, but I don't see anything that shows that Gmail allows this for free and I don't see Apple venturing into supporting small businesses.

    edit: I just checked my mail portals for my private domain v my Gmail account. The former lists Mail on the left-handside column and the latter lists Gmail.

    Thanks Soli. I guess I read "Google Mail" and thought that meant "Gmail." I didn't know there is a difference. Now I do!
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