Skip to main content

iOS 18.1 brings two sorely needed email features to the iPhone

Setting primary email address after iOS 18.1 update.
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends

With the introduction of iOS 18.1, Apple has made a crucial change that will make life easier for users eyeing an inbox address change for their account activities. Up till now, if you sought to change the primary email associated with your Apple account, the existing email address had to be deleted first.

Only after deleting the current email address were users able to add a new one for their Apple account. Following the iOS 18.1 update, users can simply change it without any erasure hassle.

Recommended Videos

In the Settings app, there’s now a dedicated “Primary Email” toggle that lets users specify an email address as the preferred email inbox for all kinds of communication. This is a convenient change, especially for people who use a Gmail account for collaboration on their iPhone and iPad.

Apple is also making it easier for users to change their primary iCloud email account. This is the account used for all kinds of Apple services, ranging from identity and recovery to using iMessage and FaceTime.

Changing iCloud email address on iPhone.
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends

It’s yet another meaningful convenience, one with a security aspect to it. Up until now, users could only use an alias for their identity if they were a part of a shared project with other people; otherwise, the inbox address was left exposed.

In the outlier cases, well, you may just want to get rid of an email address that was not particularly professional-sounding. I remember creating one that mirrored my immature strategy with a gamer tag, and I am sure there are others out there who want to get rid of that shame as well.

With iOS 18.1, it’s finally possible to change the iCloud email address and use a fresh one. If you’ve already installed iOS 18.1 on your iPhone, you can make the changes by following this path: Settings > Profile Name (at the top) > Sign-In & Security > Email & Phone Numbers.

The changes were first spotted by the folks over at MacRumors. For those on the test channel, Apple has already released the sixth beta update of iOS 18.1, which brings a handful of cosmetic changes to the table and a few minor additions to the Settings app.

Nadeem Sarwar
Nadeem is a tech journalist who started reading about cool smartphone tech out of curiosity and soon started writing…
The iOS 18.2 beta, with new Apple Intelligence features, is here
iOS 18.2 update notification on an iPhone.

Apple has just rolled out the first beta of iOS 18.2, merely a day after seeding a release candidate version of the iOS 18.1 build. The latest beta brings some of the biggest Apple Intelligence features to the table.

The first one is ChatGPT integration. When users bring up Siri and ask it a question the assistant can’t handle, the request will be offloaded to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. “Users are asked before any questions are sent to ChatGPT, along with any documents or photos, and Siri then presents the answer directly,” Apple says.

Read more
Apple Intelligence arrives with iOS 18.1 next week
Apple Intelligence on the Apple iPhone 16 Plus.

Last month, Apple released iOS 18 right before the launch of iPhone 16. This update introduced several new features, but it did not include the most significant one, Apple Intelligence, which Apple had promised at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June. That will change next week.

According to The Wall Street Journal and The Verge, which have examined Apple’s upcoming AirPods Pro 2’s hearing health features, iOS 18.1 will arrive sometime next week. Apple had previously said it would launch before the end of the month, and this seems to confirm that.

Read more
The iPhone 16 is having battery life problems. Here’s what we know
Battery page on the iPhone 16.

Do you feel like your battery life has worsened since upgrading to iOS 18? If so, you aren't alone. Dozens of users are reporting excessive amounts of battery drain, specifically on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro. But is there a fix? Unfortunately, not yet.

According to MacRumors, there's a long-running thread with hundreds of posts from users lamenting their battery's lack of joie de vivre. One user said their phone drops from 100% charge to 60% by midday, even though there was no heavy usage during that time. Another user reported a battery drain of around 1% every five minutes. Obviously, this isn't a great look for Apple.

Read more