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iCloud @mac.com email back from the dead

N

Naildown

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 6, 2017
32
167
Australia
So this is really strange. My mac.com email alias, which I lost during one of the cloud service transitions (I let it lapse), has started working again.

Today I was looking in my iCloud email which I don’t really use anymore and I noticed I have been receiving email on my @mac.com email alias as of December 2020.

I know for sure that this alias was not active previously as I had sent test emails to it and they always bounced. I can send @mac.com emails too, but only from third party email clients, iCloud email still forces me to use @icloud.com

So what’s going on? I thought Apple wanted to kill mac.com.. if this remains working I might ditch Gmail and come back. I loved my mac.com email back in the day 🤓
 
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You didn't mention the device(s) you're using, but on iPadOS, for example, you can go into your iCloud settings > Names, Phone Numbers and Email > designate which email addresses you're reachable at.

Some of us here never stopped using our @Mac and @me.com addresses. I haven't read anything about Apple wanting to kill those domains, just that you can't create new ones.
 
I always wanted a @Mac email address but, never got around to signing up for one. I seemed to get distracted by too many shiny objects.

Glad it is working for you again. I agree about ditching Gmail. Apple is much better at privacy.
 
Namara said:
You didn't mention the device(s) you're using, but on iPadOS, for example, you can go into your iCloud settings > Names, Phone Numbers and Email > designate which email addresses you're reachable at.

Some of us here never stopped using our @Mac and @me.com addresses. I haven't read anything about Apple wanting to kill those domains, just that you can't create new ones.
Click to expand...
iPhone 11 Pro, Mac mini, MBP.

Anyone who kept using their mac.com email during the transition kept it, but those who weren't current when the changeover occured only retained the mac.com part as an Apple ID, despite the fact the the associated email account didn't exist any more. So until this month, my Apple ID has been a defunct mac.com email address... but not any more! So a change has been made somewhere.

Mac.com and me.com have been in my "reachable at" list for years, and both worked on iMessage (just not email).
 
Apple_Robert said:
I always wanted a @Mac email address but, never got around to signing up for one. I seemed to get distracted by too many shiny objects.

Glad it is working for you again. I agree about ditching Gmail. Apple is much better at privacy.
Click to expand...

Sounds like me. I regret never signing up for an @me address. A friend of mine still uses his & every time I get an email from him I’m jealous when I see the address lol.

Always have felt Apple could have found a better naming concept rather than @icloud IMO.
 
Ok woah.

For some reason I just got a receipt for my iCloud storage purchase... My Apple ID is @Mac.com but I, like yourself, let it lapse much to my dismay and I hadn't used it since. All of a sudden I can send and receive emails with my old Mac email!! This is amazing. I had low key regret for so long. Hopefully it sticks around.

Edit: this was on my iMac Mail app and was able to do the same on a XS Max.
 
Update on this: sending from my @mac.com email address now works from beta.icloud.com and the iOS15 mail client. The beta website also allows the mac.com address to be set as default at last. Woohoo. This only happened in the last few days.
 
Naildown said:
Update on this: sending from my @mac.com email address now works from beta.icloud.com and the iOS15 mail client. The beta website also allows the mac.com address to be set as default at last. Woohoo. This only happened in the last few days.
Click to expand...
How do you change the default address? Does that mean you can use that to login at iCloud.com and Apple ID too?

I'm pretty much hoping to change an @me.com alias to my primary.
 
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I have a question regarding the new custom domains stuff. If I set iCloud up to work with my custom domain, will I be able to delete my original iCloud email address? I want to start again with a fresh iCloud email as I get a huge amount of spam on my main, and want to delete it entirely.

I’d be using my custom domain addresses as the accounts I use, and an iCloud alias as a backup.

When iOS 15 officially comes out, my iPhone will support it, but my Mac will not. (2015 macbook) will the email accounts still work with my mac?
 
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I'm suddenly being prompted to verify my disused mac.com address when I log in at the Apple ID homepage (I still use my mac.com ID for purchases, not email).

Trouble is, I need the verification code to log in to get the verification code...
 
WebHead said:
I'm suddenly being prompted to verify my disused mac.com address when I log in at the Apple ID homepage (I still use my mac.com ID for purchases, not email).

Trouble is, I need the verification code to log in to get the verification code...
Click to expand...
Did you solve this? I'm now running into the same issue, and I just spent a frustrating 30 minutes on the phone with apple support and they basically told me I need to create a new email address, that's not already associated with my apple ID, and then have the verify code sent there. However, that will apparently change my apple ID to that email address, which obviously I don't want to do.
 
Bumping this. Again got a random email receipt to my disused @Mac email. Anyone else? I also was able to send myself an email. I wonder what is happening. Would love to be able to safely use this email again.
 
AlexisNC said:
Did you solve this? I'm now running into the same issue, and I just spent a frustrating 30 minutes on the phone with apple support and they basically told me I need to create a new email address, that's not already associated with my apple ID, and then have the verify code sent there. However, that will apparently change my apple ID to that email address, which obviously I don't want to do.
Click to expand...

Hey, sorry I only just saw this. I'm yet to try it for myself, but I read somewhere the new Apple ID won't replace the old one unless you tell it to - it'll just be an associated email address. But I could be wrong.

Edit: I'm wrong. There are two different scenarios, adding an email alias (which leaves the original Apple ID intact) and changing the username to re-enable email.

Unfortunately in my experience the email aliases don't receive the verification emails.
 
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