Short answer: Apple Mail is the email app built into iPhone, iPad and Mac. iCloud Mail is Apple's free email service, the account behind your @icloud.com address. Most people use them together, but you can use either one on its own: Apple Mail also works with Gmail, Outlook and other accounts, and iCloud Mail opens in any web browser.
Looking for your inbox? Sign in at icloud.com/mail with your Apple Account, or open the Mail app on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.
Apple Mail vs iCloud Mail at a glance
| Apple Mail | iCloud Mail | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An app (email client) | An email service and account (@icloud.com) |
| Where it runs | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro | Any web browser at icloud.com/mail, the Mail app on Apple devices, Outlook on Windows, and other email apps via IMAP |
| Accounts | iCloud, Gmail, Outlook.com, Microsoft Exchange, Yahoo, AOL and any IMAP account | Your @icloud.com address, up to 9 aliases, and custom domains with iCloud+ |
| Storage | Keeps a local copy; your mail lives on each provider's server | Uses your iCloud storage: 5 GB free, shared with photos and backups |
| Cost | Free, built in | Free; iCloud+ from $0.99 a month for more storage and extras |
| Notable features | Categories, Apple Intelligence summaries and Priority Messages, Send Later, Undo Send, Remind Me, Mail Privacy Protection | Hide My Email and custom domains (iCloud+), categories and Mail Cleanup on iCloud.com, Mail Drop for files up to 5 GB |
What is iCloud Mail?
iCloud Mail is Apple's email service. Every Apple Account can have a free email address ending in @icloud.com, and it comes with built-in spam and phishing filtering and no ads (Apple: iCloud). Accounts that date back to Apple's older .Mac and MobileMe services may also have @me.com or @mac.com versions of the same address, which arrive in the same inbox.
So yes, @icloud.com is a real email address. You can give it out, sign up for services with it, and send mail to Gmail, Outlook or any other provider. iCloud Mail works over IMAP, the standard most email apps use. It does not support POP.
Do you have to pay for iCloud Mail?
No. iCloud Mail is free, and every Apple Account gets 5 GB of iCloud storage at no cost. That 5 GB is shared with your photos, backups and files, so it can fill up. When it is full, you can't send or receive iCloud email until you free up space or upgrade (Apple: iCloud Mail limits).
iCloud+ is the optional paid plan. It adds storage and a few mail extras: Hide My Email, Custom Email Domain, plus iCloud Private Relay, HomeKit Secure Video and Family Sharing with up to five other people. US prices:
| iCloud+ plan | Price (US) |
|---|---|
| 50 GB | $0.99 a month |
| 200 GB | $2.99 a month |
| 2 TB | $9.99 a month |
| 6 TB | $29.99 a month |
| 12 TB | $59.99 a month |
iCloud+ is also included in every Apple One plan.
What is Apple Mail?
Apple Mail is the Mail app that comes with every iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro. It is free, made by Apple, and still very much current: it ships with iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27. People often call it "Apple Mail" to tell it apart from other email apps, but on your device it is simply named Mail.
Mail is an email client, not an email service. It can hold several accounts at once: iCloud, Google, Microsoft Exchange, Outlook.com, Yahoo, AOL, or any other account through IMAP (Apple: add email accounts on iPhone). All of them can show in one combined inbox, and you pick which address to send from when you write a message.
Features worth knowing in the current version:
- Categories: Mail sorts incoming mail into Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions. Time-sensitive messages from other categories also show up in Primary, and you can move a sender to a different category.
- Apple Intelligence: summaries of messages and threads, Priority Messages at the top of the inbox, Smart Reply and Writing Tools. These need a supported device, such as iPhone 15 Pro or later, an M1 or later iPad or Mac, and a supported language (Apple: Apple Intelligence requirements).
- Undo Send: you get 10 seconds by default to take back a message. Change the delay in Settings > Apps > Mail > Undo Send Delay on iPhone, or in Mail > Settings > Composing on Mac (Apple: Undo Send). It doesn't work for messages sent with Mail Drop.
- Send Later and Remind Me: schedule an email from the menu on the send button, or have a message come back to the top of your inbox at a time you choose.
- Mail Privacy Protection: hides your IP address and stops senders from seeing whether you opened their email. On iPhone, turn it on in Settings > Apps > Mail > Privacy Protection.
iOS 27 also improves Mail search, which now ranks results by relevance, and adds Ask Siri in Mail. The new Siri features are in beta, start in English, and are not available everywhere at launch.
How to open iCloud Mail on any device
You need an iCloud email address first. If you don't have one yet, see the section on creating an iCloud email address below. Then pick your device (Apple: set up iCloud Mail on all your devices).
In a web browser
- Go to icloud.com/mail on any computer, tablet or phone.
- Sign in with your Apple Account email or phone number and password.
- Enter the two-factor authentication code sent to your trusted device.
- If you're on your own computer, choose to trust the browser so you aren't asked for a code every time. Don't do this on a shared computer.
On iPhone or iPad
- Open Settings and tap your name.
- Tap iCloud, then Mail (iCloud Mail).
- Turn on Use on this iPhone (or iPad).
- Open the Mail app. Your iCloud inbox appears under the iCloud section of the mailbox list.
New to iCloud on a phone or tablet? Our guide to setting up iCloud on iPhone and iPad walks through the rest of the setup.
On Mac
- Open System Settings and click your name.
- Click iCloud, then Mail.
- Turn on Sync this Mac (on macOS 13.3 or later).
- Open the Mail app to read and send iCloud email.
To add other accounts, such as Gmail or a work address, use Mail > Add Account on Mac (Apple: add email accounts in Mail on Mac) or Settings > Apps > Mail > Mail Accounts > Add Account on iPhone.
On Windows
The simplest option is the browser at icloud.com/mail. To use iCloud Mail in Outlook, Apple points you to iCloud for Windows. If you set it up in Outlook directly, sign in with your Apple Account email and an app-specific password, not your normal password (Apple: iCloud Mail in Outlook). Two-factor authentication must be turned on for your Apple Account.
On Android
There is no Apple Mail app for Android. You have two options:
- Open icloud.com/mail in your phone's browser.
- Add your iCloud address to an email app that supports IMAP, such as Outlook or Gmail, using the server settings below and an app-specific password.
iCloud Mail server settings
Use these settings to add iCloud Mail to any email app that isn't set up automatically (Apple: iCloud Mail server settings):
| Setting | Incoming mail (IMAP) | Outgoing mail (SMTP) |
|---|---|---|
| Server | imap.mail.me.com | smtp.mail.me.com |
| Port | 993 | 587 |
| Security | SSL (try TLS if you get an error) | SSL (try TLS or STARTTLS if you get an error) |
| Username | The part of your address before @icloud.com (if that fails, use the full address) | Your full iCloud email address |
| Password | An app-specific password | An app-specific password; authentication required |
To make an app-specific password, sign in at account.apple.com, open Sign-In and Security, then App-Specific Passwords (Apple: app-specific passwords). You can have up to 25 active at a time, and changing your main Apple Account password revokes all of them. Some apps let you use Sign in with Apple Account instead.
How to create an iCloud email address
You can create your primary @icloud.com address in any of three places (Apple: create a primary iCloud Mail address):
- iPhone or iPad: Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Mail.
- Mac: System Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Mail.
- Web: sign in at icloud.com/mail and choose Create Email Address.
The name must be more than three characters and not already taken. Choose carefully: you can't rename your primary iCloud address later.
If you want another address, add an alias instead. You can have up to nine @icloud.com aliases, created on icloud.com/mail under Settings > Add Alias (Apple: email aliases). Deleting an alias is permanent. Hide My Email is different: it creates random addresses for sign-up forms that forward to your inbox, and it needs iCloud+.
Apple Mail vs iCloud Mail: the key differences
App vs account
The core difference is that one is software and the other is an email account. Think of iCloud Mail as Apple's equivalent of Gmail, and Apple Mail as an app like Outlook that can open many accounts. Most iPhone owners use both without noticing: their @icloud.com account shows up in the Mail app. You don't have to choose one over the other.
Storage and where your email lives
Apple Mail keeps a local copy of your messages so they open quickly, but the mail itself stays on each provider's server. Your Gmail lives at Google, your work email at your company, and your iCloud email in iCloud. Only iCloud Mail counts against your iCloud storage.
Features: the app vs the web
Apple Mail on your devices has the most features, including Apple Intelligence, Send Later and Remind Me. iCloud Mail on the web is no longer bare-bones, though. On iCloud.com you get categories (Apple: categories on iCloud.com), Mail Cleanup to bulk-unsubscribe from senders and clear out old promotions (Apple: iCloud Mail Cleanup), plus folders, rules, aliases and a custom domain (Apple: Mail on iCloud.com overview).
Privacy
Mail Privacy Protection works in the Mail app and on iCloud.com (Settings > Privacy & Security > Protect Mail Activity). It hides your IP address and blocks open tracking (Apple: Mail Privacy Protection). Hide My Email is an iCloud+ feature, not an Apple Mail feature, though you can use it from the Mail app if you subscribe. iCloud Private Relay is also part of iCloud+, but it protects Safari browsing, not email.
Cost
Both are free. You only pay if you want more than 5 GB of iCloud storage or the iCloud+ extras such as a custom email domain.
iCloud Mail limits to know
- Message size: 20 MB per message, incoming or outgoing.
- Mail Drop: send attachments up to 5 GB as a download link. Mail Drop files don't count against your iCloud storage, links expire after 30 days, and you can have up to 1 TB in Mail Drop at once (Apple: Mail Drop).
- Sending: up to 1,000 messages and 1,000 recipients a day, and up to 500 recipients per message.
- Storage: when your iCloud storage is full, iCloud Mail stops sending and receiving.
If mail still isn't arriving, see our guide to fixing Mac Mail not receiving emails.
Why your Mac and iPhone show different email accounts
Email accounts are added to each device separately. Your iCloud account follows your Apple Account, so it appears on every device where you're signed in with Mail turned on. Gmail, Outlook or work accounts only appear on the devices where you added them, so add them again on your Mac or iPhone if they are missing.
Your Mail settings sync too, but only if iCloud Drive is on. It keeps rules, signatures, Smart Mailboxes, blocked senders and flags in step between Macs, and VIPs and address suggestions across all your devices.
Using iCloud Mail in another email app
Because iCloud Mail uses IMAP, it works in almost any email app, not just Apple's. If you want a different look or more tools, our list of Apple Mail alternatives for Mac and iPhone compares the main options, and Apple Mail vs Gmail covers the most common switch. For phones specifically, see our ranking of the best email apps for iPhone.
Disclosure: we make Canary Mail. It is a third-party email app for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows and Android, used by more than 2 million people. It works with iCloud accounts alongside Gmail, Outlook and other providers in one inbox, and includes AI for summaries and drafting.
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Frequently asked questions
Is iCloud an email?
iCloud is Apple's cloud service, and iCloud Mail is the email part of it. If you've set it up, your address ends in @icloud.com, and it works like any other email address.
What is Apple's email called?
The email service is iCloud Mail, with @icloud.com addresses. The app on iPhone, iPad and Mac is called Mail, often referred to as Apple Mail.
How do I log in to my Apple email?
Go to icloud.com/mail and sign in with your Apple Account, or turn on iCloud Mail in Settings on your iPhone or iPad (System Settings on Mac) and open the Mail app.
How do I retrieve mail from iCloud?
Sign in at icloud.com/mail, or make sure Mail is turned on for iCloud on your device. If messages are missing, check Junk and Archive, and check that your iCloud storage isn't full, because a full account stops receiving mail.
Is Apple email the same as Gmail?
No. iCloud Mail is Apple's email service and Gmail is Google's. Apple Mail, the app, can hold both a Gmail account and an iCloud account at the same time.
What is Apple's email server?
iCloud Mail uses imap.mail.me.com (port 993, SSL) for incoming mail and smtp.mail.me.com (port 587, SSL or TLS) for outgoing mail. POP isn't supported.
Do I have to pay for an iCloud email?
No. The address and 5 GB of storage are free. iCloud+ starts at $0.99 a month in the US if you need more storage, Hide My Email or a custom domain.
Why would someone have an iCloud email?
It comes free with an Apple Account, has no ads, works on every Apple device and on the web, and offers privacy features such as Mail Privacy Protection and, with iCloud+, Hide My Email and custom domains.
Does Apple Mail still exist?
Yes. Mail is built into iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27, as well as Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro.
Can I use Apple Mail without iCloud?
Yes. You can add Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, a work account or any IMAP account to Mail without ever turning on iCloud Mail.
Why doesn't my iCloud password work in Outlook or on Android?
Third-party apps need an app-specific password, not your Apple Account password. Turn on two-factor authentication, then create one at account.apple.com under Sign-In and Security.