How to transfer an email address and purchases from a shared Apple ID

The fragility of the Apple ID account management system can lead to some funny but common situations. Imagine the following the reader asked:

• You share your Apple ID with one or more other people.
• You can use iCloud email aliases to allow each of you to have your own account.
• But now you want separate Apple IDs. What happens to the email address? And all the things you bought en masse?

There is a solution for both.

Forward your iCloud email

Whether the iCloud address is in use for email or as primary email/sign-in on an Apple ID account, you can’t migrate it to another account. (There is a way if you use a non-Apple address to sign in to your Apple ID; read “How to convert an email address from one Apple ID to another.”)

But you can forward incoming email by filtering on alias. This is what some people actually do to share an Apple ID. Here’s how to do it if you haven’t already set this up:

1. Create a new Apple ID account or email account at another host.
2. Log in to icloud.com and click mail.
3. Click the gear icon at the top of the “Mailboxes” list on the right side
4. Choose Preferences Then click Grammar.
5. Click Add Rule.
6. Select “If a message” option as “Forwarded to” and fill in the entire iCloud address, such as example@icloud.com.
7. Below the label then select “Forward to” and enter the full address to forward the email, such as person@example.com.
8. click Add Then click Finished.

Since this rule works on icloud.com, it works without having to pass mail through a mail app on any of your devices. It’s seamless and works forever.

If I am the one who is forwarding my email, I will tell all of my reporters my new address and update it as part of my login information at other sites. Apple may be shaky about that, but most sites and services aren’t.

You can use rules in the Apple Mail app for macOS (and others) to notify you of incoming messages being sent to a forwarded address to make it easier to see who’s using your old email. Follow these steps:

1. In Mail for macOS, choose Mail > Preferences > Rules.
2. click Add the rule Name the rule “Mark forwarded email”.
3. down “If [any] The following conditions are met, “Set the fields to”, “equal to”, and the address from which the email is to be forwarded.
4. Under Perform the following actions, set the fields to Set Color, Background, and the color of your choice.
5. click yes.

Now you can see at a glance senders requesting news of your new address.

Share, not transfer, purchases and related content

Apple does not allow any transfer of downloaded or paid-for items through its digital stores to other Apple ID accounts. But Family Sharing provides a solution for most purposes in most cases. Family Sharing can reduce Apple service costs with Apple One packages, and let you choose to share apps and media as well as privately pull from a shared pool of iCloud storage.

There are few privacy concerns among adults who use Family Sharing because all data is kept confidential, and no purchases or information is shared without you being able to share or choose to publish something, like an event. For example, Family Sharing creates a shared calendar, but you are not required to add entries to it. No one else in the group can access your portion of your iCloud pool.

The only major drawback is that the person who creates Family Sharing, the organizer, becomes the only source of payment for all purchases. Whatever method they select for payment, it is the only method that all group members can use. This may not work in all circumstances.

If you want to turn on Family Sharing after one or more people have migrated to their Apple ID accounts, you must set it up in iOS, iPadOS, or macOS from the device of the person who became the organizer. Follow Apple’s instructions.

Once enabled, make sure Purchase Sharing is enabled:

• On iOS/iPad, go to Settings > Account name > family sharing > Sharing the purchase. Share purchases with the family It must be enabled.
• On macOS, go to System Preferences > family sharing and click Sharing the purchase. The Share my purchases The box must be checked.

Apple offers a comprehensive list of what can and can’t be shared this way, but it does include Apple digital subscriptions (some of which require a Family Edition) and just about everything purchased from the Apple Digital Store, including books, apps, music, TV show episodes, and movies. Some developers also allow subscriptions and in-app purchases to be shared as long as they are not consumable, such as game tokens.

To access shared items, you may need to visit a special section of the Apple app. For example, to install shared apps in the App Store:

• On iOS/iPadOS, open the App Store app, tap your profile picture, then tap Sold. You can click on another group member’s name to choose from their purchases.
• On macOS, open the App Store app, tap your initials or your name in the lower-right corner, and choose another group member’s name from the “Purchased by” pop-up menu. Your name appears selected by default.

This Mac 911 article came in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Joseph.

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