Is iCloud email account more secure than gmail account?

[hajime]

Hi, I want to move away from services provided by that G company. For free email account, is iCloud more secure?

 

[russell_314]

I'm no expert, but I would think both are fairly secure if there's a strong password and two factor authentication attached. Neither one is going to be secure if the right people want access. Both Apple and Google will hand over your information if they get a request from a government agency.

My problem with Gmail isn't security but privacy. If something is free, then you have to figure out how are they making money. Google claims not to read your emails anymore but do you really know?

I went with Fastmail for anything that's important. I still send all the subscriptions and junk to Gmail. I've never used my iCloud email for anything because I didn't want to get it attacked by spam. I guess now with the disposable email addresses it's better.

 

[Expos of 1969]

You may wish to have a look at ProtonMail. They offer both free and paid accounts.

 

[maflynn]

You may wish to have a look at ProtonMail. They offer both free and paid accounts.

I'm actually transitioning away from icloud as my main email account to ProtonMail. I'll not completely abandon it, but iCloud's usage will diminish I opted for the paid tier for PM as it gives the number of advantages that allowed me to do what I was looking to do.

The biggest advantage (for me) was to register a domain and use that, and I understand that iCloud+ can also use a domain, but you get more options For instance, does Apple mail offer a catch all option for custom domains. So I can use thisisjunk@mydomain.com even though I never setup thisisjunk as an email address but because I setup mydomain.com in protonmail it will collect any email to that domain.

So far with my usage, I've been happy with its spam filter but admittedly, its still way too soon to actually pronounce its better

Here's my thread on this: ProtonMail - why use it?

ProtonMail is a privacy minded solution, so there's huge differences between Gmail and PM. First and foremost your emails are not scanned and the data sold
5 Reasons to Ditch Gmail for ProtonMail
Why Proton Mail Is More Secure Than Gmail
Protonmail vs Gmail: what's the best email provider for your business?

 

[Expos of 1969]

I'm actually transitioning away from icloud as my main email account to ProtonMail. I'll not completely abandon it, but iCloud's usage will diminish I opted for the paid tier for PM as it gives the number of advantages that allowed me to do what I was looking to do.

The biggest advantage (for me) was to register a domain and use that, and I understand that iCloud+ can also use a domain, but you get more options For instance, does Apple mail offer a catch all option for custom domains. So I can use thisisjunk@mydomain.com even though I never setup thisisjunk as an email address but because I setup mydomain.com in protonmail it will collect any email to that domain.

So far with my usage, I've been happy with its spam filter but admittedly, its still way too soon to actually pronounce its better

Here's my thread on this: ProtonMail - why use it?

ProtonMail is a privacy minded solution, so there's huge differences between Gmail and PM. First and foremost your emails are not scanned and the data sold
5 Reasons to Ditch Gmail for ProtonMail
Why Proton Mail Is More Secure Than Gmail
Protonmail vs Gmail: what's the best email provider for your business?

I have used Proton for a number of years. First free and for the past two years with a custom domain. No major problems. The occasional down time but even Gmail has had that. I would never only have one provider as I travel a fair bit and an outage at the wrong time could mean my air ticket, hotel booking etc. would be inaccessible. I always put those sorts of things in two email accounts with different providers. I download to WhatsApp when possible but I like the added security of having my tickets in different systems.

 

[Pablo90]

For instance, does Apple mail offer a catch all option for custom domains. So I can use thisisjunk@mydomain.com even though I never setup thisisjunk as an email address but because I setup mydomain.com in protonmail it will collect any email to that domain.

Yes, you can do that.

 

[Feek]

Protonmail used to have quite a reputation for abuse and were blocked in a fair number of places, they may have moved on from that but I'd always be a little concerned if I was considering using them.

 

[Expos of 1969]

Protonmail used to have quite a reputation for abuse and were blocked in a fair number of places, they may have moved on from that but I'd always be a little concerned if I was considering using them.

My understanding is that a few companies or websites were rejecting incoming messages using the @protonmail.com address as they felt the free account was popular with scam artists. As if the free @gmail.com address was never used by bad characters.

In any case, Proton now offers a variety of free addresses and of course there is the custom domain option as well.

 

[maflynn]

Protonmail used to have quite a reputation for abuse and were blocked in a fair number of places

This was one reason why I opted for a custom domain. The biggest reason however is that I can now have an email address of mike@somedomain.com instead of mike120393@protonmail.com

They also have proton.me, so that may also help, so companies may block protonmail.com but not the .me (I'm just guessing on that).

 

[hajime]

I went with Fastmail for anything that's important. I still send all the subscriptions and junk to Gmail. I've never used my iCloud email for anything because I didn't want to get it attacked by spam. I guess now with the disposable email addresses it's better.

Can we change iCloud email address? I think as least for the free basic one, it is unchangeable.

 

[ignatius345]

Can we change iCloud email address? I think as least for the free basic one, it is unchangeable.

You get a few "aliases" that all deliver mail to the same inbox.

Add and manage email aliases for iCloud Mail on iCloud.com

In Mail on iCloud.com, create email aliases to help keep your real email address private.

support.apple.com

I made a special one for when I made a political donation, knowing they would run amok with that spreading that address far and wide (which they absolutely did). Any email to that address gets filtered immediately to the trash

 

[txscott]

Security is not the issue with Gmail or any of Googles services. It is privacy that is concerning. Two separate issues.

 

[Ethosik]

I didn’t know iCloud has an email option. I just thought it linked to existing accounts like Gmail. How do I set one up? On my phone the account is there, but no email option. Just contacts, calendar, etc.

I already have iCloud+ for the space. So if I get a good email account for it anyway that’s great.

 

[Aves]

I didn’t know iCloud has an email option. I just thought it linked to existing accounts like Gmail. How do I set one up? On my phone the account is there, but no email option. Just contacts, calendar, etc.

I already have iCloud+ for the space. So if I get a good email account for it anyway that’s great.

You had the option to use an existing email address as your apple ID, this is what you did.
You also had the option to create a new Apple ID getting a @me.com or -later- an @icloud.com account for free.

If you want an iCloud email you have to get a me.com or iCloud apple ID.

 

[chown33]

I think this will answer your question:

Create a primary email address for iCloud Mail

Create an iCloud.com email address on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to use iCloud Mail.

support.apple.com

Or this may be what you're looking for:

Add and manage email aliases for iCloud Mail on iCloud.com

In Mail on iCloud.com, create email aliases to help keep your real email address private.

support.apple.com

Found by searching for keywords: create icloud email account

 

[jimimac71]

I don't use iCloud but have used Gmail for decades.
I also have accounts with MS Outlook, Yahoo! and AOL Mail.
They all have ads when I use them online.
I don't worry about Google and privacy. They snoop to sell ads.
This website uses ads from Google.

 

[GumaRodak]

I do use the icloud aliases and hide my email from apple and these accounts cannot be hacked basically.

 

[casperes1996]

Can we change iCloud email address? I think as least for the free basic one, it is unchangeable.

I have several email addresses handled by iCloud. A couple are just directly associated with the Apple endpoint, things like
user@icloud.com
user@me.com
project-name@icloud.com

And then I have my personalised ones like
cs@theparallelthread.com

The latter requires a paid iCloud subscription and owning the domain such that you can set up the DNS to point to Apple.

iCloud also offers disposable emails through "Hide my Email", where if you sign up for something online you can have it generate a random email that redirects to your inbox, write a note for it and then later you can if you so desire disable these random addresses so you don't. have to hunt down unsubscribe buttons and worry about emails being sold to advertisers.

As for security in general, email is inherently unsecure. That is, it is hard to gain access to your account, regardless if it's through Apple or Google, but the contents of email messages is not to be considered secure communication. While it is possible to set up encrypted email it's not broadly used and email communication is generally plain text. That means others on the network of both the sending and receiving party can see the contents of email messages. It is also fairly easy to spoof emails and send emails that look like they come from someone else. Popular email providers do have checks in place to try and filter this sort of thing out, but the email standard is inherently susceptible to it.
This is regardless of the provider.

I would trust better privacy from an iCloud email than a Gmail but I've not looked into their respective privacy policies specifically for email

 

[brinkeguthrie]

I don't know about secure; but do you know how much spam I get in my iCloud email? None. Ever. I've used it since Aug of 20 and I've not EVER received one spam. Once in awhile a legit email ends up in junk by accident- but a real spam email? Never.

 

[Aves]

I don't know about secure; but do you know how much spam I get in my iCloud email? None. Ever. I've used it since Aug of 20 and I've not EVER received one spam. Once in awhile a legit email ends up in junk by accident- but a real spam email? Never.

I never get spam either.

 

[brinkeguthrie]

I just have one other email account- a Gmail account, and I don't use it; it auto-forwards to iCloud in case something arrives. I am amazed that I never get Nigerian Prince scams, nothing.

 

[hajime]

Since iCloud email is part of Apple's ID account, if bad guys know about one's iCloud email address, what sort of damage can they do to the user's Apple account?

 

[casperes1996]

Since iCloud email is part of Apple's ID account, if bad guys know about one's iCloud email address, what sort of damage can they do to the user's Apple account?

If they just know your email address? Nothing.

You can also use other emails to log into your Apple ID. My Apple ID can be logged into both through my iCloud, Hotmail and Gmail email addresses as the username. But to actually log in a fairly complex password is required as well as another of my Apple devices approving the log in through a pop up prompt and a verification code to enter. (If they also have your device it becomes a bit easier as it is already a verified device for that account)

 

[london_apple]

My problem with Gmail isn't security but privacy. If something is free, then you have to figure out how are they making money. Google claims not to read your emails anymore but do you really know?

I think there is something to be said about this comment. I felt compelled to respond to this thread because about a year and a half ago (give or take) I had the same questions, and just decided to bite the bullet and slowly transition to iCloud Mail away from Gmail. It's been an interesting ride - and honesty, I'm enjoying it a little bit more.

To echo some of the other comments on this thread, since fully moving to iCloud, updating my email in various places and websites using iCloud's aliases and Hide My Email... I really never receive spam emails. Seriously. Never really see them... and when they do come through, it usually ends up in the junk mailbox for me too. The one a week or something lol.

So, all that said, my iCloud inboxes feel a lot more "quiet" -- I think you should give it a shot if that's your goal. Feels a lot simpler across my devices too. I love that iCloud Mail pushes mail to the Notification Center across my devices too - and considering that there isn't that much spam or subscription mail coming to me, it doesn't feel unnatural or overwhelming to see Mail Notifications pop up. Kinda handy. There just seemed to be so much going on in Gmail at any given time for me... but best of luck. Tell us how it goes and what you end up doing!

 

[one more]

I am also considering moving away from Gmail to iCloud Mail and need a bit of advice.

Currently Gmail handles my personal mail @gmail and gets my work email forwarded to it by my web/mail host. I have also configured an SMTP server in Gmail to be able to send from my work account from within Gmail app itself, where I can now just select which account to use from a drop-down list.

So I can easily change the forwarder to @icloud.com. However, how easy is it to setup sending from my work mail from within iCloud Mail? Is it as straightforward as just entering my SMTP server details, similar to Gmail, or more complicated than that?

Many thanks!