Is anyone giving consideration to using iCloud+ Mail to replace Gmail for Domains? I am.

@cdevroe set it up today! Have Fastmail sub through early 2022 so have that as backup if I need to move back.

@cdevroe considering switch from Proton if they don’t expand Drive storage. + Waiting to see cost for multiple iCloud domains

@endonend What were the steps, if you don’t mind, that you did to set it up? I’m currently on Gmail and wouldn’t mind switching to Apple.

@warner but yeah your switch seems like a no brainer, unless you like having your emails scanned! (My tips on how to continue using select Google services without mail.)

@cdevroe have to do it from iCloud.com - there’s a custom domain button on account settings. Then you tell them what domain you are adding and the email address. Then it gives you a few DNS settings to add, and then you click a button to verify. It was actually pretty easy!

@cdevroe also it was only available once I got the “you get icloud+” email from Apple.

@endonend cool thnx

@cdevroe Considering a move from Fastmail. I setup a new domain on ICloud+ to kick the tires, but hopefully some folks here will report back before I move my main domain.

@timapple I’m thinking I’ll give it a try this weekend.

@mcg Definitely report what you find!

@pimoore @cdevroe I’m also using fastmail. I heard some people talking about protonmail, but then read some headlines that it’s not as secure as it is advertising.

@timapple How do you intend to “move your messages” to Apple? I have years of messages in Gmail I’d love to move.

@timapple Good tip, thanks.

@pimoore @timapple I haven’t even considered using Apple for custom domains and I do have an Apple One premiere for my family. I think this is a carry over for when the services were in need of vast amount of improvements.

@cdevroe I moved one of my lesser used domains to iCloud just to test it and it’s been working fine. It’s all straight forward to set up. One thing that isn’t clear in Apple’s docs is you can receive emails sent to any address at your register domain.

@cdevroe Apple’s docs don’t specifically address a catch-address and some docs make it seem like you can only receive emails sent to configured addresses.

@mandaris Proton is pricey for what you get

@jmreekes Oh! It’s good to hear from you. I’m paid up through the beginning of the next year.

@cdevroe I never used gmail outside of my ‘throwaway’ gmail that you have through signing up ….

That said I do have some mail free websites that I’m thinking of adding.

@cdevroe Great to see your and the other reports. I’m keen to try Cloud+ custom domain. Like some others I’ve been using ProtonMail.

@ronguest I’m looking forward to trying it. Today I tried to create my iCloud email address and there was an error. So I’m guessing a lot of people are turning this on right now. I’ll try again at a different time.

@jmreekes That’s a nice feature. I find myself wishing Apple had a 1TB add-on for Apple One.

@jmreekes That’s what had me holding off, I’ve so many service@mydomain emails I have no way of identifying them all. Can you block addresses too? To dump those that are getting spammed?

@jamescousins That was my biggest question as well because, like you, I have countless service@mydomajn.com emails.
You can’t create a blocklist but you can block senders through the mail app and/or create a rule to move those messages to the trash.

@jmreekes Now that I’ve said that, some service@mydomain.com type emails sent to my iCloud domain have started bouncing

@jamescousins Possibly. Apparently, iCloud Custom Domains don’t currently have catch-all support. I think the reason I thought it did was I was testing it with my Fastmail account which that domain used to and Fastmail still thought it was at Fastmail

@jamescousins I tried sending an email to a non-configured iCloud Domain address from Gmail and it bounced. Sorry for the confusion and bad information. @cdevroe

@jmreekes Damn. Was hoping I could dispense with my hosting (been experimenting with a GitHub static site too). Annoying thing is that I can see this being the sort of thing Apple won’t add down the line.

@jamescousins Sadly I agree, especially with Hide My Email being a new feature of iCloud+. I think in Apple’s eyes, Hide My Email is catch-all/wildcard support even though Hide My Email only creates @icloud.com addresses.

@jamescousins I’ll be sticking with Fastmail

@jamescousins I think for the average user who only uses one address, iCloud Custom Domains is great. Not useful for me without wildcard support.

@cdevroe If I was starting again, the way I’d have set things up would, coincidentally, have worked. But as it is I’m trapped with the legacy of 20 years of domain ownership and the frustration that it means I can’t use a really neat feature.

@jmreekes Not sure why my last reply went to @cdevroe rather than you. Apologies for any confusion.

@jamescousins @jmreekes I still cannot create an icloud email so I’m guessing they are either getting many signups or the feature is so buggy they shut it off.

@cdevroe We should have known better. Never get excited, give it some time. Remember MobileMe?

@jamescousins trigger warning

@endonend any chance your AppleID is the same as your custom domain email? I keep getting an unhelpful error message, but the address I’m trying to setup is the same as my AppleID, which could be the problem

@timapple I’ve been getting strange errors trying to set this up, but my custom-domain email address is the same as my AppleID. Is this the problem you were having?

@mroutley @timapple I still haven’t been able to get this set up. I cannot even create the email address.

@jamescousins @timapple @jmreekes @ronguest @JohnPhilpin @pimoore @mcg @endonend A little birdie told me that Apple is having issues with creating new iCloud email addresses. Even through the error is less than obvious.

@cdevroe I had issues with this initially but eventually got it to work. That was the most difficult part by far. Hope they fix that — it’s confusing for sure.

@cdevroe They never quite get online service launches right, do they?

@endonend you created a brand new icloud.com email address?

@cdevroe yeah. My Apple ID is a Gmail address so when I turned on iCloud Mail it asked me create an address. Took a few attempts but it finally worked.

@endonend good to know.

@cdevroe thanks for the heads up - not tried yet - and now we have Fastmail/1Password … from no choice to too much choice!

@timapple have you ever tried imapsync.lamiral.info to move IMAP accounts? I’ve used it for server migrations and never had any issues. There is an online version of it now too.