Use a Custom Email Domain With iCloud Mail

With iCloud+, Apple will host email for a domain you own — you@yourname.com lands in the same Mail inbox as your @icloud.com address, with Apple running the servers. Setup takes ten minutes plus however long your registrar takes to apply DNS changes.

What you need first

• An iCloud+ subscription (any tier, including 50 GB).
• iCloud Mail turned on with a working primary @icloud.com address — Apple requires it before a domain can be attached. Check System Settings → your name → iCloud → iCloud Mail.
• A domain you own, and login access to the registrar or DNS host that manages it.
• Two-factor authentication on your Apple Account.

You can add up to five domains, and each person can have up to three addresses per domain.

Add the domain

1. In a browser, sign in at icloud.com, click your account name → Manage Apple Account-adjacent settings, and open Custom Email Domain (the direct URL icloud.com/icloudplus takes you straight there). On iPhone it also lives under Settings → your name → iCloud → iCloud Mail.
2. Choose whether the domain is for Only You or You and Your Family (Family Sharing members can then get their own addresses).
3. Type the domain name and, if you already receive mail at addresses on it, enter those existing addresses so they carry over.
4. Follow the prompt to update your DNS. For popular registrars Apple offers a sign in to your registrar flow that applies the records automatically; otherwise choose the manual option.

The DNS records that make it work

Apple shows you the exact values during setup — they'll look like this:

• MX records pointing to mx01.mail.icloud.com and mx02.mail.icloud.com — these route incoming mail to Apple.
• A TXT (SPF) record containing v=spf1 include:icloud.com ~all — tells receiving servers Apple may send on your domain's behalf.
• A CNAME (DKIM) record named sig1._domainkey pointing at an Apple-provided icloudmailin.com host — cryptographically signs your outgoing mail.
• A short TXT verification record proving you control the domain.

Remove any old MX records for the previous mail host, or delivery will be unpredictable. DNS changes can take from minutes to 24–48 hours to propagate; Apple re-checks automatically and emails you when the domain goes live. To undo the whole thing later, remove the domain in the same Custom Email Domain screen and restore your old DNS records — keep a copy of them before you start.

Addresses, family, and catch-all

Once verified, create addresses from the same screen and pick which one Mail uses by default when composing (in Mail on the Mac: Mail → Settings → Composing). If you shared the domain with your family, each member claims their own addresses — mail stays private to each person. Apple also supports a catch-all toggle so anything@yourdomain reaches you even without a matching address, which pairs nicely with per-site burner addressing.

Two things to keep in mind long-term

Apple hosts the mail, but you still own and renew the domain — if it lapses at the registrar, every address on it stops working and anyone who re-registers the domain can receive your mail. Set the domain to auto-renew. Also know what iCloud Mail is and isn't: you get solid spam filtering, push mail, and end-to-end integration with Apple's Mail apps, but no shared team mailboxes and a cap of three addresses per person per domain. If you outgrow it, you can move the domain to another provider later by pointing the MX records elsewhere — your addresses survive, the mailbox contents need exporting from Mail first.

Pair it with burner addresses

A custom domain is for the addresses you give people; for the ones you give websites, use Hide My Email burner addresses and keep both inboxes clean.