This week I decided to give it a try to iCloud as my custom email domain provider. Having a custom email domain adds professionalism to your email address while leveraging Apple’s reliable email infrastructure seems to be a great mix.
Piece of cake. Lets go!
Let's start with something easy—getting your domain! I use Namecheap, and it's super simple. Just hop over to https://www.namecheap.com, pick a domain you like, and set up your account. Don't worry, it's a breeze! The best part? Most domains are really affordable, usually between $1–$10. How cool is that?
Next, navigate to icloud.com/icloudplus. Sign in to your Apple Account (if necessary).
Click iCloud+ Features and then click Custom Email Domain.
Click "Add a domain you own." Note that it specifically states you must own the domain before starting this process. If you don't own the domain, you'll receive an error message when prompted to enter the domain name.
Next, choose whether the custom email account will be used only by you or by you and others.
Enter your domain name and click "Continue".
Now, we're going to update the registrar settings (Namecheap in this case). Let's click on "View" to see the values we need to add.
You’ll see a something similar to this:
You'll see MX records, a couple of TXT records, and a CNAME record. There's also an "Open instructions" link at the top of the page for you to click.
Next, we'll navigate to Namecheap. In the top menu, click on "Account" and then "Domain List". This will display all the domains you own with Namecheap. Find the domain you want to use for your custom iCloud address and click "Manage". Once there, click on the "Advanced DNS" tab. You should see a screen similar to the one below:
This is where you add your two TXT records and one CNAME record using the "ADD NEW RECORD" button at the bottom of the table. For the TXT records, use "@" as the host value and paste the value Apple provided into the Value field.
For the CNAME record, Apple provides both a "Host=" and "Value=" entry. Copy the text after "Host=" into the CNAME record's host field, and the text after "Value=" into the Value field.
Further down on the same page, you'll see a Mail Settings tab. It's likely set to mail forwarding. Click the dropdown next to Mail Settings and select "Custom MX".
Your MX records will likely be similar to mine. Add these records using the button at the bottom of the table. For both MX records, use "@" as the host and the values Apple provides. You'll also need to set a priority value—I chose 1 and 2 because that's how they were labeled in Apple's instructions. However, you can use any distinct numbers as long as they indicate the order of preference.
Once you've entered and saved those values, head back to the iCloud site. Click "Done" on the registrar settings page and then "Finish setup" on the original pop-up. In my case, Namecheap updated the records instantly, and I received a success message. However, don't worry if it takes a while—DNS settings can sometimes be slow to update.
After you see the success message, return to the settings page and manage your Custom Email Domains. You can add email addresses by clicking the + symbol.
I hope this guide helps streamline the process of setting up your custom domain (purchased from Namecheap) with Apple's iCloud+ custom domain emails, saving you some trial and error!