“Apple today has made a notable update to the process of changing the email address associated with your Apple ID,” Chance Miller reports for 9to5Mac. “Starting today, you can change your Apple ID from a third-party email service such as Gmail or Yahoo to an Apple domain.”
“Previously, Apple only allowed users to change their Apple ID email from one third-party provider to another,” Miller reports. “As Apple notes in an updated support document, you can now make the shift. The company explains that if your Apple ID is currently associated with a Gmail or Yahoo email address, you can now switch to an @iCloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com account.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hallelujah!
From Apple’s support document:
If your Apple ID is a third-party email address
Before you change your Apple ID email address, you need to sign out of every Apple service and device that uses your Apple ID. If you want to use your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to change your Apple ID, stay signed in to your Apple ID on just that device.
When you change your Apple ID, you can enter another third-party email address or an @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com email address.
Use your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
1. Go to Settings > [your name] > Name, Phone Numbers, Email.
2. Next to Reachable At, tap Edit, then delete your current Apple ID.
3. Tap Continue. Enter the Apple ID that you want to use.
4. Tap Next.Use your Apple ID account page
1. Go to appleid.apple.com and sign in.
2. In the Account section, click Edit.
3. Under your Apple ID, click Change Apple ID.
4. Enter the Apple ID that you want to use.
5. Click Continue.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.
Verify your new email
If you change your Apple ID to another third-party email address, you need to verify your account.
After you enter the email address that you want to use as your Apple ID, a verification code is sent to you at that address. Enter the verification code from the email into the fields provided and start using your updated Apple ID. Didn’t get the email?Sign back in
Sign back in to all Apple services with your new Apple ID.
After you change your Apple ID, you need to use your new sign-in information with all Apple services that you use.Instructions for changing an Apple ID that ends with @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com in the full document here.
I want to change mine from iCloud to another email address. And merging two accounts would be nice.
I would love to merge 2 accounts! I have a personal and a business (which is closed 😔 ) account and would love to be able to transfer/ merge the apps I bought on the business account onto my personal
I have about $5000 worth of movie, app, and music purchases tied to an iCloud account that has an @iCloud.com email address I no longer want to use, so I had to create a brand new Apple account and lose all of my purchases. It would be great if I could merge these accounts and regain access to my stuff.
You can set it up as a family sharing and all the apps you purchased from the account you no longer wants to use will be available to download using the new account.
You cannot merge an Apple ID that is a third party email address into your current mac.com address.
.me and .icloud was a stupid idea from Apple… yes, Apple has made a bit o’ junque in its history…
Do we know if this will affect Family Share? Do those devices also have to be logged out before changing the primary ID?
I’ve followed these instructions trying to change my Apple id from my Gmail account to a .mac account. It doesn’t work for me. I get a message that says, “You can’t change your id to a .mac address” or something to that effect. Any ideas what’s wrong?
same here, doesn’t work.
The real question is this: when will Apple allow me to merge my two Apple ID’s into a single account?
yes!
Don’t blame Apple; their hands are tied on this by the DMCA. It has to do with digital purchases of copyrighted content such as music, movies, TV shows and books.
Congress seriously needs to amend/update the DMCA as much has changed since the late 90s.
but if you can prove, perhaps with a notary, that the two appleIDs belong to literally the same person, then there should be nothing blocking the merging of said appleIDs
Too bad the only thing Apple doesn’t encrypt is the MAIL on the servers at rest.