Hi, I have been thinking about setting up a custom email domain for my partner and I. We want three unique email addresses, one 'personal' email address for each of us and a third shared email address that we would both have access to for bills, shared accts etc. I have successfully registered my desired domain (luckily got a great one!) and setup iCloud Custom Domain. We already have iCloud family sharing, so it was fairly straightforward to setup our personal custom email addresses, however, the way iCloud Custom Domains works makes it a bit tricky to setup the shared email address.
Essentially, with iCloud Custom Domains, each custom address is an alias to the main iCloud inbox. If I was to add the shared address to my iCloud account, all the emails sent to that address would come to my main inbox, along with emails sent to my personal address. I have tested the obvious adding the shared address to both iCloud accounts, however, an address can only be an alias for one iCloud account.
I have been doing a lot of testing to try and see if there is any work around options. For example, by chance I recently discovered it is possible to sign into a second iCloud account on an iPhone/Mac just for email and/or contacts and/or calendars. (on iPhone go to settings->Mail->Accounts->Add Account->iCloud) I tested this by signing into my personal iCloud on my partners iPhone. It shows up just like any internet account would (such as Google/Gmail account), albeit with more information about the devices registered to the iCloud account. It also supports iCloud email aliases in the mail app. I could select my personal custom email address in the email composer on her iPhone.
So that brings me to my latest idea: Create a new 'shared' iCloud account (probably be First Name: "<their name> and <my name>", Last Name: "<our last name>"), add it to our iCloud Family, add the shared custom email alias and then log into our iPhones and Macs with what I tested above. I think it is a pretty sound idea, however, I have read before that sharing iCloud account can be fiddly and is generally not advised. However, will still be using our personal iCloud accounts for music, app purchases, our Mac account, iMessage etc. The shared iCloud is just for email.
Is this a common thing to do? Is this crazy or is it just the workaround I am looking for?
Essentially, with iCloud Custom Domains, each custom address is an alias to the main iCloud inbox. If I was to add the shared address to my iCloud account, all the emails sent to that address would come to my main inbox, along with emails sent to my personal address. I have tested the obvious adding the shared address to both iCloud accounts, however, an address can only be an alias for one iCloud account.
I have been doing a lot of testing to try and see if there is any work around options. For example, by chance I recently discovered it is possible to sign into a second iCloud account on an iPhone/Mac just for email and/or contacts and/or calendars. (on iPhone go to settings->Mail->Accounts->Add Account->iCloud) I tested this by signing into my personal iCloud on my partners iPhone. It shows up just like any internet account would (such as Google/Gmail account), albeit with more information about the devices registered to the iCloud account. It also supports iCloud email aliases in the mail app. I could select my personal custom email address in the email composer on her iPhone.
So that brings me to my latest idea: Create a new 'shared' iCloud account (probably be First Name: "<their name> and <my name>", Last Name: "<our last name>"), add it to our iCloud Family, add the shared custom email alias and then log into our iPhones and Macs with what I tested above. I think it is a pretty sound idea, however, I have read before that sharing iCloud account can be fiddly and is generally not advised. However, will still be using our personal iCloud accounts for music, app purchases, our Mac account, iMessage etc. The shared iCloud is just for email.
Is this a common thing to do? Is this crazy or is it just the workaround I am looking for?