iOS 15.4 Beta Adds Support for Setting Up Custom Email Domains With iCloud Mail

[MacRumors]

The iOS 15.4 beta that was introduced today expands support for the custom email domain feature available for iCloud+, adding an option to set up a custom domain with iCloud Mail directly on the iPhone.

If you go to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud, "iCloud Mail" is now a tappable option and it includes a section for setting up a Custom Email Domain.

Prior to now, custom domains were able to be set up with iCloud Mail, but Apple's iCloud.com website was required to get it working and there was no option to set it up right on the iPhone or iPad.

Setting up a custom email domain requires a paid iCloud+ storage plan, which is priced starting at $0.99. The feature is designed to allow a custom email address like "johnny@appleseed.com" to be used for sending and receiving emails using iCloud Mail. Though the custom domain feature uses iCloud Mail, emails will be addressed to and sent from the custom domain.

Each iCloud user can add up to five custom domains to iCloud Mail, and members of a Family Sharing group can also use those domains. Email addresses that are currently used with the custom domain are supposed, and there's also an option to set up new email addresses with the domain.

Custom Email Domain settings on the iPhone and iPad will make it much easier to use custom email addresses. It's worth noting that this same feature is also available on the Mac under the System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud Mail, but it does not yet appear to be functional.

Article Link: iOS 15.4 Beta Adds Support for Setting Up Custom Email Domains With iCloud Mail

 

[Seoras]

With Google's recent announcement that it is moving everyone on free GSuite domain accounts to subscription Workplace accounts this will prove to be really popular.
I think Google's making a huge mistake timing it with Apple introducing custom email domains.
I accepted that my email was being snooped on by Google for data harvesting and selling.
With Apple's privacy focus it seems like the obvious move. Just how do I transfer over all my historical emails though?

 

[_Spinn_]

Looks like 15.4 has a lot of features coming! Nice to see that custom email domains can now be setup right from your iPhone.

 

[Wildkraut]

Hmmm and what’s the benefit? I mean compared to a normally setup email imap account. Trying hard but I see none so far…

 

[james2538]

I'll consider switching back once iCloud adds status syncing across devices. It's annoying to read email on my iPad/MacBook and still have my iPhone show that I have unread messages until I refresh it. Same for flags.

FastMail has had this for years and has always been rock solid. (Pretty sure Google/Microsoft paid plans offer it too)

 

[snebes]

With Google's recent announcement that it is moving everyone on free GSuite domain accounts to subscription Workplace accounts this will prove to be really popular.
I think Google's making a huge mistake timing it with Apple introducing custom email domains.
I accepted that my email was being snooped on by Google for data harvesting and selling.
With Apple's privacy focus it seems like the obvious move. Just how do I transfer over all my historical emails though?

Google did backtrack somewhat on this. Now they will let you move the data to a @gmail.com account. That said, I have a custom domain iCloud account now and it is awesomely easy. It isn't a 1 to 1 match of the services, however.

With Apple's privacy focus it seems like the obvious move. Just how do I transfer over all my historical emails though?

It will be a pain, but SMTP transfers (literally copy/pasting email) is the easiest to get stuff out of Gmail. I haven't looked for better tools in the last few years, but if there is one, I'm sure someone will chime in.

 

[A_A]

Hmmm and what’s the benefit? I mean compared to a normally setup email imap account. Trying hard but I see none so far…

If you own a business, you can now use John@yourcompany.com instead and it will look more professional than a gmail or icloud account

 

[kalafalas]

What about managing aliases and rules? You still have to go to the website for those

 

[jasonefmonk]

Hmmm and what’s the benefit? I mean compared to a normally setup email imap account. Trying hard but I see none so far…

Saving money! It’s about CAD$25 per year for a standard IMAP mail service with fetch.
If iCloud Mail has push this could be really excellent! I pay just under CAD$70 per year for a Microsoft Exchange mail service to have that functionality.

If you own a business, you can now use John@yourcompany.com instead and it will look more professional than a gmail or icloud account

You can have a custom domain with ‘a normally setup email imap account’ too.

 

[antiprotest]

Nice that it's coming to iPhone since a lot of people don't even know about icloud.com.

 

[kevcube]

Hmmm and what’s the benefit? I mean compared to a normally setup email imap account. Trying hard but I see none so far…

“Normally setup email imap account”

Your email has to be delivered from one server to another. Apple is letting you use their servers for receiving and storing mail. I’m guessing your normally setup account is using another cloud provider. It’s just a matter of who you are trusting with your data and who you are trusting with the reliability of their services.

 

[dewilded]

With Google's recent announcement that it is moving everyone on free GSuite domain accounts to subscription Workplace accounts this will prove to be really popular.
I think Google's making a huge mistake timing it with Apple introducing custom email domains.
I accepted that my email was being snooped on by Google for data harvesting and selling.
With Apple's privacy focus it seems like the obvious move. Just how do I transfer over all my historical emails though?

I highlighted them on my iPhone and used the iOS ability to move messages. Moved them to the new account right on the phone.

 

[cube4ever]

Until Apple fixes the DKIM Alignment when sending from Desktop/iOS mail.app (not via icloud.com) it's a no-go. See the endless forum threads or test with https://mxtoolbox.com/deliverability

 

[ratspg]

With Google's recent announcement that it is moving everyone on free GSuite domain accounts to subscription Workplace accounts this will prove to be really popular.
I think Google's making a huge mistake timing it with Apple introducing custom email domains.
I accepted that my email was being snooped on by Google for data harvesting and selling.
With Apple's privacy focus it seems like the obvious move. Just how do I transfer over all my historical emails though?

Google takeout mbox format. Import emails to Mail.app.

 

[TraceyS/FL]

I can’t get my domain email to work, the mailbox isn’t showing anywhere. 100% user error I’m sure, so I’m happy it will get easier.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Is this the same as an iMail Pro subscription?

 

[jeremysteele]

Wish they could fix their dropped email issue. I recently moved my email off iCloud for that exact issue. Had quite a few emails simply not make it through. No bounces, it was just dropped. No filtering or anything on my end, and Apple support could not give me an answer until one of them said "it's been a known issue for years, and it comes and goes."

Ironically, one of the emails was for Samsung's support system (SSD warranty replacement). I found that particularly funny.

 

[Rydawg96]

I'll consider switching back once iCloud adds status syncing across devices. It's annoying to read email on my iPad/MacBook and still have my iPhone show that I have unread messages until I refresh it. Same for flags.

FastMail has had this for years and has always been rock solid. (Pretty sure Google/Microsoft paid plans offer it too)

Buzzard, mine refreshes automatically

 

[Just sayin...]

With Google's recent announcement that it is moving everyone on free GSuite domain accounts to subscription Workplace accounts this will prove to be really popular.
I think Google's making a huge mistake timing it with Apple introducing custom email domains.
I accepted that my email was being snooped on by Google for data harvesting and selling.
With Apple's privacy focus it seems like the obvious move. Just how do I transfer over all my historical emails though?

I’ve got a custom domain with seven family members - all currently using a legacy GSuite domain account. Three of us (spouse, son & I) are on a 2TB iCloud family plan, while the remaining four are extended relatives with the same last name. This has potential to be *exactly* what we’ve been looking for - provided we can partition e-mails between close (shared iCloud) and distant (no shared iCloud) family members! Fingers crossed…. ?

 

[Jzvm]

With Google's recent announcement that it is moving everyone on free GSuite domain accounts to subscription Workplace accounts this will prove to be really popular.
I think Google's making a huge mistake timing it with Apple introducing custom email domains.
I accepted that my email was being snooped on by Google for data harvesting and selling.
With Apple's privacy focus it seems like the obvious move. Just how do I transfer over all my historical emails though?

I have been looking for a service to replace my free Gsuite account. Unfortunately none offer a catch all email address. Hopefully Apple will add that soon.

 

[bukalemun]

With Google's recent announcement that it is moving everyone on free GSuite domain accounts to subscription Workplace accounts this will prove to be really popular.
I think Google's making a huge mistake timing it with Apple introducing custom email domains.
I accepted that my email was being snooped on by Google for data harvesting and selling.
With Apple's privacy focus it seems like the obvious move. Just how do I transfer over all my historical emails though?

Just got the announcement email from Google and then read this. I am a light user for GSuite and I’ll definitely move to iCloud now.

You can set up an account for both before GSuite expires and just drag and drop the old mails to the new account on macOS Mail app.

 

[collin_]

Wait so this is the real deal? As in update your MX records real? Like, a full-on Google Workspace replacement?

If so, idk what to think yet. I'm glad that the option is there and it's also cheaper but, although Apple has a decent track record with privacy (and Google obviously does not), I feel like I trust Google more from a security standpoint.

For email I want the best security available and Apple's... 2FA in particular is quite strange IMO. Google Advanced Protection + support for physical security keys (and more importantly, FIDO U2F) is pretty hard to beat.

Although Apple's easy, proprietary 2FA system may make sense as the default option, I would appreciate at least having the option to use more advanced, secure 2FA methods such as FIDO U2F or FIDO2/WebAuthn.

While we're at it (as in while I'm ranting), I also think we should have the option to make every iCloud service end-to-end encrypted instead of just the ones Apple chooses. I would much rather have Apple not be able to access/recover things like my photos while still being able to sync them easily across devices. (Although I am not 100% sure if this would be feasible given the typical Photos library file size.)

 

[ErikGrim]

Has the issue been fixed with this not working with (long disabled) previous AppleID associated emails?

EDIT: No it hasn't.

 

[infinitejest]

So, you still have to own the domain to set this up? I’m not sure how this works and what’s the benefit?

 

[macfacts]

Hmmm and what’s the benefit? I mean compared to a normally setup email imap account. Trying hard but I see none so far…

Locks you into apples ecosystem.