I’ve long been of the opinion that iCloud+ is an essential part of the Apple experience. Having all of my photos, messages, notes, and other data synced across my devices at all times is a must, and knowing that it’s all stored safely online in case something happens to my phone gives me peace of mind.

One of the lesser-known benefits of iCloud+ is custom email domains, the ability to send and receive email from a personalized address. Rather than [username]@icloud.com, you can use any address you want from any domain you own.

I’ve used iCloud+ to set up email on this website as well as custom addresses for myself and Katherine on our family website. It’s a great way to create a unique and personal email address without paying for an extra service like Google Workspace or Fastmail.

The setup process is really straightforward, too. Here’s how to get a custom email address with iCloud+:

On your Apple device, open the Settings app, choose your name at the top, and then choose iCloud.
Under the iCloud+ section of this page, choose Custom Email Domain.
Here, you’ll be asked whether you already own the domain you want to use or not. If you don’t yet own the domain, choose Buy a New Domain. Enter the domain you want and follow the in-app process of purchasing your domain from Cloudflare. Then skip to step 10.
If you already own the domain you want to use, choose Add a Domain You Own.
On the next screen, choose whether you want to use the domain just for yourself or create addresses for others as well. If you want to give friends and family the ability to create their own addresses on your domain, choose the You and Other People option. Otherwise, go with Only You.
Then choose whether you want to import existing addresses or not. I find it best to use the “No email addresses” option and start from scratch.
You’ll then be prompted to enter the domain you want to use.
Once you’ve entered your domain name, the app will show you instructions for configuring the email setup with your domain provider. Go to your domain provider’s website, then copy and paste the provided information into your domain’s DNS records.
Back in the Settings app, choose Finish Custom Domain Setup to complete the process.
Now you can select your domain name in the Custom Email Domain settings to create an email address and invite others to use your custom email domain, too.

I’m impressed by how simple Apple has made this process for users. The most intimating part is updating domain DNS records, but they’ve even made that as approachable as possible. And once that’s done, it’s set forever.

Using a personalized email address with iCloud+ is really nice. It makes you look fancy without having do a lot of work or pay any extra money. Apple didn’t have to include such a fun and powerful feature with their cloud service, but I’m glad they did. I find it really useful. And with the help of this guide, hopefully you will, too.

Do you subscribe to iCloud+? And have you tried the custom email domain feature? I’d love to hear your thoughts!