Help in Choosing Which Email for Apple ID

[underneathed]

Everyone has their own methodology in deciding how many email addresses they need and what they are used for. I'm using 4 personal accounts:

- 1 x Gmail : Family/Friends
- 1 x Gmail : Important (Financials, Insurance, Govt Accounts)
- 1 x Gmail : Unimportant (Online Shopping Accounts, App Accounts)
- 1 x Gmail : Junk (Anything that needs an email account, but will generate spam)

This system works fine for me, and not interested in changing it. However, I need to make an Apple ID for my iPhone and MacBook Pro. It will be a brand new account for both.

The problem I am having is in deciding whether to create an iCloud email address vs. using one of my Gmail accounts.

I first thought it might be "cleaner" to make an iCloud account, which would only be used strictly for the Apple devices. But on the flip side, seeing as signing up for an Apple ID is similar to signing up for a service with another company, I thought perhaps my Gmail/Unimportant account would make sense. But as there is connection with Apple ID and using the phone for Apple Pay, and other more "important" uses, it's muddying the waters, so to speak.

Can anyone who maybe uses a similar set up for email accounts give me some insight on what you would do if in my shoes, and why? Because Apple ID is used for different areas, some for sensitive like Apple Pay (financial/important) vs. Games or normal Apps (unimportant) - I feel stuck in what to do.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

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[Rigby]

If you plan on using iMessage or any of the sharing features with your friends and family, the most sensible choice would be your Family/Friends Gmail account. This might include family plan app sharing, etc.

Just as a note, you can always add additional email addresses in your Apple profile that you want to use for iMessage, Facetime etc., so using an icloud.com Apple ID does not prevent you from being reachable through established addresses from other email providers such as Gmail.

Personally I switched my Apple ID to an icloud.com address when that became possible. There is a lot of critical stuff connected to the Apple ID (Find my iPhone, device locking/unlocking, app store/iTunes purchases etc.), and I wanted to have this completely separate from other accounts that might be compromised in some way. I do not use the iCloud email service though. The Apple ID is just a login name for me.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

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