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how to rename iCloud mail accounts
- Thread starter hagar
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Same here - I tried to rename my iCloud email to 'Home' but I cannot find the 'description' field to do so. You can rename any other email accounts in iOS8, but not your iCloud email (this was not the case in iOS7). I am not sure why they'd do this? 
Ok by experimenting, I have got around this, but Apple still need to fix it for sure...
I noticed that only the primary iCloud account has lost the ability to change the description field. (I have another iCloud account with my wife to share notes and I can still change the description if I add it as a mailbox) so this led me to try the following, which worked !
What I did was the following:
1) Create a new temp bogus iCloud account (adam_test123) for example.
2) Under General/iCloud I logged out of my primary iCloud account (e.g. adam_stark@icloud.com)
3) Under General/iCloud I logged in under my new temp account (adam_test123) and set it to sync nothing, it is a temp measure after all. This is now my temporary primary iCloud account.
Then
4) Under Mail,Contacts,Calendars, added a new iCloud account and logged in with my appleid which was the original primary account (adam_stark@icloud.com). As this is not my primary account on the iPhone now (the adam_test123 is) and can only sync mail/calendars/reminders etc... It still lets me modify the description field. so I changed it from iCloud to the label i wanted.... (now in mail it shows up with the label I want and not iCloud)
5) Under General/iCloud I logged out of the temp/bogus account....
6) Under General/iCloud I re-logged in as my original account (adam_stark@icloud.com) and the OS obviously knew that the account already existed as a secondary account (as in step 4 above) and must of changed/upgraded it automatically to my primary account again when I logged in, as it gave me the options of iCloud Drive and Find my phone etc...... But the beauty is, it left the description as what I set it to in step 4... so voila, under mail, is now the label I want....
A very long winded way around it, and may not work for all.... but it worked for me at least ;-)
Hope it helps someone .....
Adam
I noticed that only the primary iCloud account has lost the ability to change the description field. (I have another iCloud account with my wife to share notes and I can still change the description if I add it as a mailbox) so this led me to try the following, which worked !
What I did was the following:
1) Create a new temp bogus iCloud account (adam_test123) for example.
2) Under General/iCloud I logged out of my primary iCloud account (e.g. adam_stark@icloud.com)
3) Under General/iCloud I logged in under my new temp account (adam_test123) and set it to sync nothing, it is a temp measure after all. This is now my temporary primary iCloud account.
Then
4) Under Mail,Contacts,Calendars, added a new iCloud account and logged in with my appleid which was the original primary account (adam_stark@icloud.com). As this is not my primary account on the iPhone now (the adam_test123 is) and can only sync mail/calendars/reminders etc... It still lets me modify the description field. so I changed it from iCloud to the label i wanted.... (now in mail it shows up with the label I want and not iCloud)
5) Under General/iCloud I logged out of the temp/bogus account....
6) Under General/iCloud I re-logged in as my original account (adam_stark@icloud.com) and the OS obviously knew that the account already existed as a secondary account (as in step 4 above) and must of changed/upgraded it automatically to my primary account again when I logged in, as it gave me the options of iCloud Drive and Find my phone etc...... But the beauty is, it left the description as what I set it to in step 4... so voila, under mail, is now the label I want....
A very long winded way around it, and may not work for all.... but it worked for me at least ;-)
Hope it helps someone .....
Adam
Adam, I tried this several times, but to no avail. Always returns to generic iCloud. Am I missing some subtle angle? Help?
Err no not really...
Just make sure that in Step 4 you have some temp account logged in as the primary iCloud account (under settings/iCloud) so that you have a iClould label under the mailboxes, then create a new mail iCloud account with your original AppleID (just mail for now) and then change the label... so that under mailboxes you see your mail under the label you want.
At step6 is should keep the label, it has worked for me on 2 phones now...
A.
Just make sure that in Step 4 you have some temp account logged in as the primary iCloud account (under settings/iCloud) so that you have a iClould label under the mailboxes, then create a new mail iCloud account with your original AppleID (just mail for now) and then change the label... so that under mailboxes you see your mail under the label you want.
At step6 is should keep the label, it has worked for me on 2 phones now...
A.
Stumbled across the same behaviour. Surely this is not a bug, rather Apple wants to push the iCloud Label into our minds. The workaround works though, but at this point I just have to resign...at least my whife has her real named featured on the iPad
Stumbled across the same behaviour. Surely this is not a bug, rather Apple wants to push the iCloud Label into our minds. The workaround works though, but at this point I just have to resign...at least my whife has her real named featured on the iPad
This workaround worked in iOS 8, but no longer works in iOS 9. That means that there was a concerted effort to force users to have the primary account named "iCloud". Someone had to write code to do this.
Problem is, if you have some other email address established as your iCloud login, that means that you have to remember that iCloud does NOT mean iCloud, it means whatever email address you signed up to iCloud WITH. (remember, this description ONLY shows up in Mail.)
Hey, Apple? Quit screwing around with forcing people to have all the nitpicky details the way YOU want them and fix iCloud Drive so I can HAVE THE FILES I WANT ON MY COMPUTER. I think you have better things to do than force the look and feel AWAY from what I want.
Great stuff, thanks for your reply...... sound like a long winded way around it but might still give it a go, the main thing is that its not something silly I am doing to miss the option to change..... I will now sleep peacefully at night!!!!
The never ending story of why Apple actively (i.e. put effort into) prevent users from doing the simplest, yet obvious things. This problem still exits in iOS 16 and I find it bizarre that something as simple and basic as allowing a user to name their email accounts (mailboxes in Mail) to whatever the f**k they want has been REMOVED.
As far as I can see now, the primary iCloud account gets named as 'iCloud' and any other iCloud accounts are simply listed as the actual email address. Not only is this a completely **** idea, but Apple then have the arrogance and, er, words fail me, to actually remove the ability for users to change those names to something that works for them.
To add insult to injury, Apple still claim you can do this. There is an article that shows a recent version of iOS (looks like iOS 16 on my iPhone) and state that you tap Edit in top right of the mailboxes list view and you can then simply tap a mailbox to rename it, or even apparently delete it. This is 100% completely and utterly untrue. All tapping does is check and uncheck that mailbox. So either whoever wrote that article had never actually attempted the procedure themselves or the entire story is a barefaced lie to just sucker the ignorant into believing they are a caring, sharing company that provides what the users need. You can believe which you want, but I call BS on that.
Between the Mac that is my primary access to the outside world, my iPhone, iPad and Watch, I spend much of my day interacting with Apple products and they have the ability to produce great ones. But always tempered by their insatiable desire to 'hold back' in some way and not allow the user to do what they obviously should be allowed to do. Is it a power thing? They just have to feel 'in control' and saying "no" has always been seen as a mark of power. Are they really so petty?
I don't know, but I am unable to comprehend why something so basic and simple as being able to name ones email mailboxes to something that makes sense (for that user) is something that Apple not only don't care about, but they have actually gone to the bother if removing the code to allow that.
This is a bit of a rant as I have spent the best part of a day futzing with iCloud accounts to sort this and also update the multiple Apple TVs around the house, all of which now with the latest and greatest TV-OS REQUIRE the user to have a mobile device handy that is running the very latest i(Pad)OS and whose main iCloud account is the one that now needs updating on the Apple TV. No more option to update manually. No, you MUST have the latest iPhone/iPad kit in order to update the Apple TV and stop it complaining every time you turn it on. Talk about Big Brother.
The reason I have so many Apple products is because they offer so much that I desire. Unfortunately, what they provide falls WAY short of what Tim and his cronies would have us believe. Most of that **** simply doesn't work. Siri? basically a waste to time and essentially useless. Today trying to change iCloud accounts on an iPhone to simply find out if I can change the mailbox name and so much of the entire process is horrifically poorly designed and execution is even worse. Much of it simply does not do what it is supposed to do. Pitiful is the word that comes to mind.
Steve Jobs had his bad sides, but he was dedicated to Apple making 'insanely great' products and that worked in spectacularly intuitive ways. Tim Cook is a corporate businessman who cares nothing about the user experience, or apparently that most of what he proclaims is fanciful nonsense. Instead each year claiming "this is best iPhone we've ever made". Really? I've never heard such meaningless tripe. I'm sure he really loves all the latest Animojis they've spent all the development time producing instead of what users actually want.
Enough of that. I would just like to be able to name the iOS mailboxes how I want and to be honest, how I previously was able to do. Unfortunately messing around today to try and find a way to cure that for the main iCloud account has lost it for a secondary account that is now listed in Mail simply as the email address, which apart from not being 'at a glance' distinguishable, is factually incorrect. I do NOT use that address for that account and mainly use one from a custom domain that I have set up. So **** AND wrong.
Way to go Apple. Enforce your idea of what name to display and get it monumentally wrong. Hey Tim, get your act together. Apple has become what we used to laugh about Windows. Well done.
As far as I can see now, the primary iCloud account gets named as 'iCloud' and any other iCloud accounts are simply listed as the actual email address. Not only is this a completely **** idea, but Apple then have the arrogance and, er, words fail me, to actually remove the ability for users to change those names to something that works for them.
To add insult to injury, Apple still claim you can do this. There is an article that shows a recent version of iOS (looks like iOS 16 on my iPhone) and state that you tap Edit in top right of the mailboxes list view and you can then simply tap a mailbox to rename it, or even apparently delete it. This is 100% completely and utterly untrue. All tapping does is check and uncheck that mailbox. So either whoever wrote that article had never actually attempted the procedure themselves or the entire story is a barefaced lie to just sucker the ignorant into believing they are a caring, sharing company that provides what the users need. You can believe which you want, but I call BS on that.
Between the Mac that is my primary access to the outside world, my iPhone, iPad and Watch, I spend much of my day interacting with Apple products and they have the ability to produce great ones. But always tempered by their insatiable desire to 'hold back' in some way and not allow the user to do what they obviously should be allowed to do. Is it a power thing? They just have to feel 'in control' and saying "no" has always been seen as a mark of power. Are they really so petty?
I don't know, but I am unable to comprehend why something so basic and simple as being able to name ones email mailboxes to something that makes sense (for that user) is something that Apple not only don't care about, but they have actually gone to the bother if removing the code to allow that.
This is a bit of a rant as I have spent the best part of a day futzing with iCloud accounts to sort this and also update the multiple Apple TVs around the house, all of which now with the latest and greatest TV-OS REQUIRE the user to have a mobile device handy that is running the very latest i(Pad)OS and whose main iCloud account is the one that now needs updating on the Apple TV. No more option to update manually. No, you MUST have the latest iPhone/iPad kit in order to update the Apple TV and stop it complaining every time you turn it on. Talk about Big Brother.
The reason I have so many Apple products is because they offer so much that I desire. Unfortunately, what they provide falls WAY short of what Tim and his cronies would have us believe. Most of that **** simply doesn't work. Siri? basically a waste to time and essentially useless. Today trying to change iCloud accounts on an iPhone to simply find out if I can change the mailbox name and so much of the entire process is horrifically poorly designed and execution is even worse. Much of it simply does not do what it is supposed to do. Pitiful is the word that comes to mind.
Steve Jobs had his bad sides, but he was dedicated to Apple making 'insanely great' products and that worked in spectacularly intuitive ways. Tim Cook is a corporate businessman who cares nothing about the user experience, or apparently that most of what he proclaims is fanciful nonsense. Instead each year claiming "this is best iPhone we've ever made". Really? I've never heard such meaningless tripe. I'm sure he really loves all the latest Animojis they've spent all the development time producing instead of what users actually want.
Enough of that. I would just like to be able to name the iOS mailboxes how I want and to be honest, how I previously was able to do. Unfortunately messing around today to try and find a way to cure that for the main iCloud account has lost it for a secondary account that is now listed in Mail simply as the email address, which apart from not being 'at a glance' distinguishable, is factually incorrect. I do NOT use that address for that account and mainly use one from a custom domain that I have set up. So **** AND wrong.
Way to go Apple. Enforce your idea of what name to display and get it monumentally wrong. Hey Tim, get your act together. Apple has become what we used to laugh about Windows. Well done.
It IS possible to rename mailboxes in iOS 16 by going to Accounts in Mail settings. Changing the Description field will rename the mailbox.
Except for the iCloud account. I guess because the settings of the iCloud account are different. They are combined with all the other iCloud settings and there is no Description field.
I thought I had made it clear I was talking about iCloud accounts (I had). Other account types are not in question. However the primary iCloud account gets a mailbox named 'iCloud' and others are simply named as the email address and there is NO description field shown anywhere. If there was, I wouldn't have needed to rant here about Apple's inadequacies.
There used to be a way to do this as I have some iCloud accounts appropriately named, but when messing around trying to get around this, I lost those names.
Worse, Apple provide an article on how to do exactly this. Implying it is as simple as tapping the mailbox name when in 'Edit' mode, but in fact all that does is select and deselect that mailbox (whatever that does). Apple's article is either wrong through ignorance or a downright lie.
Apple waste too much of my time due to their arrogance/stupidity/incompetence (take your pick).
In I(Pad)OS 17, it IS now possible to edit iCloud account mailboxes, EXCEPT for the primary account. Not sure when that got fixed for secondary accounts, but still impossible for the primary account.
Why do these 'descriptions' not sync between devices? Seems obvious to me that syncing is what would generally be desirable. All messages sync and some other settings, but not mailbox descriptions. Why?
The fact that the primary account description CAN be changed on the Mac makes syncing these even more desirable and the inconsistency is bizarre.
I suspect that this 'description' is stored somewhere, buried in a plist somewhere, even for the primary account, but it's set to "iCloud". If only someone could find where it is stored…
Why do these 'descriptions' not sync between devices? Seems obvious to me that syncing is what would generally be desirable. All messages sync and some other settings, but not mailbox descriptions. Why?
The fact that the primary account description CAN be changed on the Mac makes syncing these even more desirable and the inconsistency is bizarre.
I suspect that this 'description' is stored somewhere, buried in a plist somewhere, even for the primary account, but it's set to "iCloud". If only someone could find where it is stored…