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 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.
[...] Email feels so old and outdated, I know someone can innovate in this space.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?
Seems like the change they might make if they are going to offer hosting for private domains again. After all you'd want people who hae already signed up with a private address to convert to a cloud address to bring there hosting over.
Fingers crossed at least. Would love to see iCloud for teams. Would make my life easier. Especially it let the team buy apps.
I've read this article twice now and I'm still not sure what's actually new - I switched my account login from #####@aol.com to #####@icloud.com months ago. Workd fine back then and still does today.
This is good.... I have a friend who had a Verizon.net email address when I signed her up with an Apple ID. But shortly after they switched to Comcast and the Verizon address became defunct. I later set her up with an iCloud.com address, but her Apple ID was locked into the defunct Verizon.net address. Totally stupid!
But, WHY IS APPLE STILL USING EMAIL ADDRESSES AS IDs? ... That is just as stupid and unnecessary. And, as email rolls off of the radar it will become ever stupider and unnecessaryer....
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 [....] 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 [....] not.
Same problem here. My iCloud and iTunes accounts use different Apple IDs (email addresses) due to me starting out my interactions with Apple online accounts via MobileMe. No matter how many times I've tried to get Apple to allow me to merge these separate Apple ID credentials nothing ever gets done. Based on my conversations with Apple support people, including escalations to managers, nothing ever will ever get done. When I've spoken with technical people at Apple online support they react as if I'm asking them to give me Tim Cook's ATM card and PIN code. There is something holy and sacred within Apple about Apple ID account credentials and they are unwilling to budge an inch. I've kind of given up hope that they will ever fix the merge problem and will only continue to come up with cosmetic porcine lipstick workarounds that do nothing to solve the real problem. Only in the past few months was I able to change the email address on one of my Apple IDs from a dead email account to a live GMail email account.
It's too bad that this problem persists because Apple has all the tools and authentication mechanisms necessary to fix this problem. Between Touch ID, Face ID, knowing low level details about my "trusted" devices, multi-factor authentication, credit card information, etc., it seems extremely likely that Apple can come up with a safe multi-step and multi-factor spoof-proof process to ensure that the real person who is financially responsible for the two (or more) accounts is the person who is performing the multi-step, multi-factor authentication process needed to merge the multiple accounts into a single Apple ID. I don't mind jumping through a few hoops to get to a point where all of my financial transactions with Apple are handled through a single Apple ID, one that is ideally bound to an Apple email account. This isn't too much to ask of Apple. Apple, please fix this.
Same problem here. My iCloud and iTunes accounts use different Apple IDs (email addresses) due to me starting out my interactions with Apple online accounts via MobileMe. [...]
Same for me: all my data on my ex MobileMe account, now iCloud, and all my purchases on another one. At least they should provide a way to transfer (i.e.: move) purchases, that is, apps and music. Then I would be happy. Or maybe some kind of tight account link in the same vein as Family Sharing but sharing both account purchases, that would be a step in the right direction. Today, the only solution is to give up your old account and re purchase everything. Crazy... "It just works" as they say...
My main problem with this situation is how will I be able to implement Family Sharing to share both purchases and iCloud Photos and storage: will I be able to use Family Sharing on both accounts, one for data and the other for purchases, or will I have to choose only one (obviously data and storage) and repurchase my stuff in the long run...?
I’m one of those with a separate account form the old days (non-Apple email, strictly for sharing App Store purchases with family). I’ve gotten so used to working this way that I don’t think I would merge it with my personal iCloud account now even if I could. The non-Apple email is my own domain so I’m not sure there’s any benefit to changing it at this point. In fact, I wish I had kept my @mac.com domain as a badge of time served but at least I still have @me.com.
Same problem here. My iCloud and iTunes accounts use different Apple IDs (email addresses) due to me starting out my interactions with Apple online accounts via MobileMe. [...]
Same for me: all my data on my ex MobileMe account, now iCloud, and all my purchases on another one. At least they should provide a way to transfer (i.e.: move) purchases, that is, apps and music. Then I would be happy. Or maybe some kind of tight account link in the same vein as Family Sharing but sharing both account purchases, that would be a step in the right direction. Today, the only solution is to give up your old account and re purchase everything. Crazy... "It just works" as they say...
My main problem with this situation is how will I be able to implement Family Sharing to share both purchases and iCloud Photos and storage: will I be able to use Family Sharing on both accounts, one for data and the other for purchases, or will I have to choose only one (obviously data and storage) and repurchase my stuff in the long run...?
EDIT: typo.
It flows both ways... you can share between accounts, not just one gets access to the other
Same for me: all my data on my ex MobileMe account, now iCloud, and all my purchases on another one. At least they should provide a way to transfer (i.e.: move) purchases, that is, apps and music. Then I would be happy. Or maybe some kind of tight account link in the same vein as Family Sharing but sharing both account purchases, that would be a step in the right direction. Today, the only solution is to give up your old account and re purchase everything. Crazy... "It just works" as they say...
My main problem with this situation is how will I be able to implement Family Sharing to share both purchases and iCloud Photos and storage: will I be able to use Family Sharing on both accounts, one for data and the other for purchases, or will I have to choose only one (obviously data and storage) and repurchase my stuff in the long run...?
EDIT: typo.
Same issue with me. I have several thousand $$ worth of content as well as my Apple developer account bound to my iTunes Apple ID but all my iCloud services like storage and Photos bound to my iCloud Apple ID. When I've spoken with Apple they've told me that they cannot redirect my iTunes account content to my iCloud account. They are very adamant about this.
I can't really make a full statement about Family Sharing because I haven't figured out all of the intricacies of how it is supposed to work versus how it appears to be working. I do know that App purchases that I make through the App Store do take advantage of Family Sharing. With macOS High Sierra 10.13 I am able to share my iCloud Storage with Family Sharing which is nice. In fact, when I flipped the switch on Family Sharing of my storage plan Apple refunded me the payments that were made by the other family member who had their own separate storage plan. Apple Music is not shared unless you purchase a family plan. Not sure about iTunes music purchases, but I believe they follow the same rules as App purchases and are shared. If you have the Music in the Cloud (Match) feature things get murky because there is a hard limit on the number of devices (10) that can participate. I haven't tried adding another family member's device to this service so I don't know whether it works.
Apple Photos is another story altogether. The storage of Photos content (pictures & videos) is associated with an iCloud account and not an iTunes account. However, the association of Photos content to iCloud is very "loose" compared to App Store content. Depending on your Photos optimization settings you can also have Photos content stored locally on your devices. The "loose" association of Photos content with iCloud can cause some very unexpected surprises. For example, if you decide to hand off one of your old iOS devices to a family member and want to save them from having to re-download all the sharable iCloud (and iTunes I suppose) content on the device you may try to do something like log out of your iCloud account and have them log into their iCloud account, expecting iCloud to simply figure out who "owns" what and switch everything over to their own iCloud content. Unfortunately, whether by design or due to buggy software, after flipping iCloud accounts on the device, Photos and its iCloud storage will see the locally cached Photos content on the device and associate this content with the newly activated iCloud account - to the point of merging content from two separate iCloud Photos libraries together. This can cause massive grief, especially when the new owner of the device sees tens of thousands of pictures that they didn't take suddenly dumped into their Photos library. Bad bad bad. To avoid this you should always completely wipe the data from a device you are transferring ownership of, even when the new owner is a family member. I'm not overly alarmed by this only because iOS devices are not multi-user and this behavior is an artifact of the single-user design decision. As newer iOS devices, especially the massively capable new iPad Pros, become the norm I hope Apple makes them multi-user capable by default.
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.
How did you purchase iTunes content without an Apple ID?
I wish Apple would figure out how to merge different AppleID's together. I have some that are many years old using old email accounts that are no longer available for one reason or another.
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.
I didn't read far enough down in the thread...This is exactly what I'm asking for.
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 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.
Just tried this morning and it also won't let me. I've been waiting years to change from my gmail address.
Comments
I had to walk fifty miles, uphill, both ways, dragging the snow plough…
But it now I know I can’t change to another email address afterwards, I’m not so sure I’m ready for the commitment.
Sometmes tying yourself to Apple is like getting a tattoo, then waking up and finding it says “ENGLUND 1966”
After all you'd want people who hae already signed up with a private address to convert to a cloud address to bring there hosting over.
Fingers crossed at least. Would love to see iCloud for teams. Would make my life easier. Especially it let the team buy apps.
I have a friend who had a Verizon.net email address when I signed her up with an Apple ID. But shortly after they switched to Comcast and the Verizon address became defunct. I later set her up with an iCloud.com address, but her Apple ID was locked into the defunct Verizon.net address. Totally stupid!
But, WHY IS APPLE STILL USING EMAIL ADDRESSES AS IDs?
... That is just as stupid and unnecessary. And, as email rolls off of the radar it will become ever stupider and unnecessaryer....
It's too bad that this problem persists because Apple has all the tools and authentication mechanisms necessary to fix this problem. Between Touch ID, Face ID, knowing low level details about my "trusted" devices, multi-factor authentication, credit card information, etc., it seems extremely likely that Apple can come up with a safe multi-step and multi-factor spoof-proof process to ensure that the real person who is financially responsible for the two (or more) accounts is the person who is performing the multi-step, multi-factor authentication process needed to merge the multiple accounts into a single Apple ID. I don't mind jumping through a few hoops to get to a point where all of my financial transactions with Apple are handled through a single Apple ID, one that is ideally bound to an Apple email account. This isn't too much to ask of Apple. Apple, please fix this.
My main problem with this situation is how will I be able to implement Family Sharing to share both purchases and iCloud Photos and storage: will I be able to use Family Sharing on both accounts, one for data and the other for purchases, or will I have to choose only one (obviously data and storage) and repurchase my stuff in the long run...?
EDIT: typo.
I can't really make a full statement about Family Sharing because I haven't figured out all of the intricacies of how it is supposed to work versus how it appears to be working. I do know that App purchases that I make through the App Store do take advantage of Family Sharing. With macOS High Sierra 10.13 I am able to share my iCloud Storage with Family Sharing which is nice. In fact, when I flipped the switch on Family Sharing of my storage plan Apple refunded me the payments that were made by the other family member who had their own separate storage plan. Apple Music is not shared unless you purchase a family plan. Not sure about iTunes music purchases, but I believe they follow the same rules as App purchases and are shared. If you have the Music in the Cloud (Match) feature things get murky because there is a hard limit on the number of devices (10) that can participate. I haven't tried adding another family member's device to this service so I don't know whether it works.
Apple Photos is another story altogether. The storage of Photos content (pictures & videos) is associated with an iCloud account and not an iTunes account. However, the association of Photos content to iCloud is very "loose" compared to App Store content. Depending on your Photos optimization settings you can also have Photos content stored locally on your devices. The "loose" association of Photos content with iCloud can cause some very unexpected surprises. For example, if you decide to hand off one of your old iOS devices to a family member and want to save them from having to re-download all the sharable iCloud (and iTunes I suppose) content on the device you may try to do something like log out of your iCloud account and have them log into their iCloud account, expecting iCloud to simply figure out who "owns" what and switch everything over to their own iCloud content. Unfortunately, whether by design or due to buggy software, after flipping iCloud accounts on the device, Photos and its iCloud storage will see the locally cached Photos content on the device and associate this content with the newly activated iCloud account - to the point of merging content from two separate iCloud Photos libraries together. This can cause massive grief, especially when the new owner of the device sees tens of thousands of pictures that they didn't take suddenly dumped into their Photos library. Bad bad bad. To avoid this you should always completely wipe the data from a device you are transferring ownership of, even when the new owner is a family member. I'm not overly alarmed by this only because iOS devices are not multi-user and this behavior is an artifact of the single-user design decision. As newer iOS devices, especially the massively capable new iPad Pros, become the norm I hope Apple makes them multi-user capable by default.