If you’re embarrassed about your decade-old iCloud email address, this might be your month.
MacRumors reports that Apple will allow users to change their iCloud email address for the first time with the introduction of iOS 18.1, and will also make it dramatically easier to change your old Apple Account email.
Before, Apple didn’t allow users to change their primary iCloud email address at all. Users could set up an alias, which would show a different iCloud address when sending emails. However, they weren’t able to completely hide their original email, regardless of what they tried. Their iCloud email address would still be visible when sharing or collaborating on documents or sending calendar invites, for example.
Post-update Apple users can also change their primary Apple Account—formally known as Apple ID—email address directly, by heading to the Settings app. Before, users needed to go through the lengthy process of deleting their old primary email, and then re-verifying their identity before picking a new one.
The name-change update will also apply to Apple old timers who created their iCloud email accounts before 2012, and set up @me.com or @mac.com email addresses.
Apple hasn’t released a firm release date for iOS 18.1 at the time of writing, but it’s expected to begin a phased rollout on Oct. 28, if Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is correct in his predictions.
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But iOS 18.1 is set to bring a lot more to the table than just email updates—it also brings the first major entrance by Apple into the world of generative AI. Apple Intelligence, also pegged for release with iOS 18.1, is expected to bring a cohort of new AI features that can “create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks.”
iCloud has had plenty of other major updates in 2024. In February, Apple updated the iCloud for Windows app, allowing for better integration across platforms. The redesign allowed users to sync their iCloud photos to a folder on Windows, as well as merge their Safari and iCloud bookmarks with Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.
