When you create an Apple ID, you can use any email address you want. A Gmail, Hotmail, Live, or Yahoo email or any other email will work. Apple doesn’t bar you from using a third-party email address to create an Apple ID. As of a few days ago, Apple now gives you the option to change your Apple ID email address from a third-party email to another third-party email or to an @iCloud or @me email.
If you change to an @iCloud or @me email, it is permanent. You cannot switch your Apple ID back to a third-party email address. If you plan on making the change, be sure you won’t want to revert back later. It might also be a good idea to disable Two-factor authentication before you begin but make sure you enable it again when you’re done.
Change Your Apple ID Email Address
This change is best made from the desktop via your browser. You can still make it from an iPhone or iPad if you want but the browser is a good, safe choice.
Visit the Apple account page and sign in with your Apple ID. On your account page, at the very top, you’ll see basic account information and an edit button. Click this button.
You will enter editing mode. In this mode, a “Change Apple ID” option appears under your current Apple ID email. Click it.
Enter the new email address you want to use with your Apple ID. You don’t necessarily have to change it to an @iCloud or @me account. If you use a Yahoo email with your Apple ID, you can change it to Gmail as well. If you change to an @iCloud or @me though, there’s no going back as we mentioned at the start. Enter the new email and tap Continue.
You will need to sign in with your new email on all your devices. Your purchase history, payment details, authorized computers should all still be there. Your other account information i.e., your security questions, your phone number, and Two Factor authentication status will still be unchanged.
@iCloud and @me Apple ID
While you can change a third-party email associate with your Apple ID to a different one, if your Apple ID is already linked to an @iCloud or @me account you cannot change it to a third-party email account. What you can do instead is change it to a different @iCloud or @me address but that’s where your options end. We should also mention that you can’t merge Apple IDs. If you have an email, third-party or Apple email, it can only be linked to a single Apple ID.
