At its WWDC keynote on Monday, Apple announced that iCloud is getting a premium subscription tier called "iCloud+," which includes tentpole privacy features like Private Relay and Hide My Email. Another feature included in iCloud+ that wasn't discussed in the keynote is the ability to create a custom email domain name.
From Apple's iOS 15 features preview page, under the iCloud+ section:
Custom email domain
Personalize your iCloud Mail address with a custom domain name, and invite family members to use the same domain with their iCloud Mail accounts.
In essence, what this means is that when iCloud+ goes live, Apple will allow users to change their iCloud Mail address completely. For instance, the email address jonnyappleseed@icloud.com could be changed to jonny@appleseed.com, forgoing the icloud domain reference entirely for a more personalized or businesslike look.
Additionally, Apple will allow users to invite family members to use the same domain name with their own iCloud Mail accounts, although it's not currently clear if family members will need to be part of Family Sharing for this to work.
For users of Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and other email providers, this sort of email address personalization has been available for a long time, so Apple could eventually prise some customers away from the competition with this move. It remains to be seen whether custom email domains for iCloud Mail will have certain limitations that rivals don't set, though.
This is big. I'm surprised this wasn't even mentioned in passing at the event. Paves the way for an Office 365 / G Suite competitor. #WWDC21 pic.twitter.com/w9D9Ap3Jjk — Luke Bettridge (@bttrdg) June 7, 2021
We've reached out to Apple for additional information. Either way, expect more details as we approach the launch of iCloud+ in the fall.
