Last month, Apple quietly rolled out a change to Apple IDs that should please anyone who’s been waiting for the chance to change the email address associated with their account.
Those users who originally registered their Apple ID with a third-party email address (e.g. @gmail.com, @outlook.com, @yahoo.com) can now swap to an Apple-based email address (@icloud.com, @me.com, @mac.com) instead.
That may seem like a minor thing, but amazingly this is something that couldn’t be done before despite many users wanting to do so. Under the old system, you could swap a registered email for another so long as they were both third-party address.
Many people no longer use the email address they first registered with, and only keep the old account open for the purposes of using Apple ID. Those people can now swap to using an Apple email with their Apple ID to unify all their accounts at last.
It’s worth noting that once you make the switch you can never go back, although the old address can still be used as a secondary email for login purposes.
How to change your Apple ID
To make the change from an iPhone or iPad, Apple says you’ll first need to “sign out of every service and device that uses Apple your ID.” Don’t forget, that includes things like iMessage and FaceTime.
Next, follow these official steps from Apple:
1. Go to Settings > [your name] > Name, Phone Numbers, Email.
2. Next to Reachable At, tap Edit, then delete your current Apple ID.
3. Tap Continue. Enter the Apple ID that you want to use.
4. Tap Next.
That’s it! Note that this update seems to be rolling out slowly, and in some regions, it’s still not possible at all. That should change over the next day or two as the email swapping feature goes live worldwide.