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iCloud with own mail domain (SMTP)
- Thread starter melino
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Answering my self:
If you log in to icloud.com and go to mail settings you see a field "Addresses", but at this time only your me.com address is listed and as far as I see you can't edit it or add another. I think Apple will add the option to add a own mail domain later, so you can send with it.
Also the compose mail windows has a drop down menu where you can choose the senders address. Now only the me.com is available of corse but this menu wouldn't make sence if apple wouldn't plan to set up an alternative. Hopefully they intergate the @owndomain.com option.
There was one in MobileMe lately, looked simliar to what you see now in icloud.com and worked well.
In iOS you can add a smtp server to the MobileMe settings and let iOS send via this server only, similar to Mail.app in OS X.
I used to work with MobileMe this way several months with my own mail domain. Without using my own mail domain iCloud Mail would be totally useless for me.
If you log in to icloud.com and go to mail settings you see a field "Addresses", but at this time only your me.com address is listed and as far as I see you can't edit it or add another. I think Apple will add the option to add a own mail domain later, so you can send with it.
Also the compose mail windows has a drop down menu where you can choose the senders address. Now only the me.com is available of corse but this menu wouldn't make sence if apple wouldn't plan to set up an alternative. Hopefully they intergate the @owndomain.com option.
There was one in MobileMe lately, looked simliar to what you see now in icloud.com and worked well.
In iOS you can add a smtp server to the MobileMe settings and let iOS send via this server only, similar to Mail.app in OS X.
I used to work with MobileMe this way several months with my own mail domain. Without using my own mail domain iCloud Mail would be totally useless for me.
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MobileMe had a way of doing this - I'm sure a multitude of people will want to be able to send emails from their Cloud account but looking like it comes from their own domain. In the email settings in iOS 5 it looks like this functionality may be there, just not enabled yet; hopefully this will be enabled when the final version of iOS 5 is released.
If not, maybe this is worth a shot - setting up iCloud email as a regular IMAP account with customisable settings, rather than through the automatic iCloud set up process. See here for details: -
http://www.macstories.net/news/configure-an-icloud-email-account-on-snow-leopard/
I havent tested it yet - I'll wait to see if the final release of iOS 5 enables the functionality first.
I am using iOS 5 since the very first beta and now using the gold master.
The way with the additional SMTP server in mail settings in iOS 4 worked for me, but in iOS 5 it always activated the deactivated me.com SMTP server by itself after some hours, so it was always preferred. It was very buggy.
Now in the GM release the disable button has been disabled/grayed out. Looks wired and a bit like a panic attack. I guess Apple didn't manage to fix this issues until the GM release and decided to disable it rather than releasing it buggy.
Anyway. In the web app of MobileMe the settings allowed you to set your own SMTP server and that was fantastic. This feature is missing in iCloud now and I don't expect it to return, even if I can't figure out what's the use of the alternative SMTP server in iOS if not for using your own SMTP server. The help text there tells it's for the case of the me.com server fails to send. But is Apple really worried about that their servers might not working probably?
A bit strange...
The way with the additional SMTP server in mail settings in iOS 4 worked for me, but in iOS 5 it always activated the deactivated me.com SMTP server by itself after some hours, so it was always preferred. It was very buggy.
Now in the GM release the disable button has been disabled/grayed out. Looks wired and a bit like a panic attack. I guess Apple didn't manage to fix this issues until the GM release and decided to disable it rather than releasing it buggy.
Anyway. In the web app of MobileMe the settings allowed you to set your own SMTP server and that was fantastic. This feature is missing in iCloud now and I don't expect it to return, even if I can't figure out what's the use of the alternative SMTP server in iOS if not for using your own SMTP server. The help text there tells it's for the case of the me.com server fails to send. But is Apple really worried about that their servers might not working probably?
A bit strange...
I agree. The button's there but can't be used. It could be a bug.
Total pain in the ass. I think I might move my mail to gmail now.
Total pain in the ass. I think I might move my mail to gmail now.
I am with you and I will continue using gmail until apple changes this! Please post if anything changes with the situation!
Just a guess, but I'm assuming Apple is doing this on purpose to increase the exposure of the @me.com brand. Not letting folks use their service as a pass through for another email provider was most likely one of the trade offs that resulted from them knocking the $99 price tag off the cloud services.
Is there any update to this?
I have a personal domain email address I want to keep.
I can "kind" of get it working on my iphone and mac, but www.icloud.com doesn't allow you to use anything but a .me email address.
Really gets me. iCloud is amazing for what works but come on Apple... I'd PAY good money to move all my dropbox + use a google apps style personal email address.
Sort it out.
I have a personal domain email address I want to keep.
I can "kind" of get it working on my iphone and mac, but www.icloud.com doesn't allow you to use anything but a .me email address.
Really gets me. iCloud is amazing for what works but come on Apple... I'd PAY good money to move all my dropbox + use a google apps style personal email address.
Sort it out.
Bad news: beta.icloud.com and iOS 6 beta made no steps towards this unfortunately.
At least you can now disable the me.com smtp in iOS 6 beta and add an own smtp server that (in my case google) overwrites the @me.com sender address.
This way you don't need to set up a separate imap account anymore. No big thing, would love to have this option in icloud.com one day.
At least you can now disable the me.com smtp in iOS 6 beta and add an own smtp server that (in my case google) overwrites the @me.com sender address.
This way you don't need to set up a separate imap account anymore. No big thing, would love to have this option in icloud.com one day.
Kills me.
The crazy thing is there must be SO many people out there that would PAY for this.
Give iCloud away to your iOS + Mac users for sure. But for those of us who want to move ALL our data + keep our own domains I'd throw money at that easy.
I WANT to bin google apps. I WANT to bin my Dropbox account.
Apple sure aren't making it easy though. Everything's in place. It just needs someone over at Apple to push this stuff onwards.
Si
The crazy thing is there must be SO many people out there that would PAY for this.
Give iCloud away to your iOS + Mac users for sure. But for those of us who want to move ALL our data + keep our own domains I'd throw money at that easy.
I WANT to bin google apps. I WANT to bin my Dropbox account.
Apple sure aren't making it easy though. Everything's in place. It just needs someone over at Apple to push this stuff onwards.
Si
I am not sure. Apple knows, that the mail domain @me.com or worse @icloud.com (from iOS 6 launch on) is a no go for business users. And I think they want it that way. Business users are much more sophisticated and to charge them is another game than giving it away for free.
Most companies that would be the target ground here use Exchange, Windows desktop devices and iOS as mobile devices. Of course you can use iCloud on a Windows device but Exchange/Outlook is the better solution there, as well in a mixed environment.
iCloud is for private and will stay there, even if many professional users like you and me use it.
If only the icloud.com webmailer would support own domains... Maybe someday when Apple allows us to join Apple-IDs (as promised by Tim) they will suddenly have own smtp support without mentioning it.
Most companies that would be the target ground here use Exchange, Windows desktop devices and iOS as mobile devices. Of course you can use iCloud on a Windows device but Exchange/Outlook is the better solution there, as well in a mixed environment.
iCloud is for private and will stay there, even if many professional users like you and me use it.
If only the icloud.com webmailer would support own domains... Maybe someday when Apple allows us to join Apple-IDs (as promised by Tim) they will suddenly have own smtp support without mentioning it.