Cannot Set Up Custom Email Domain - Email Already in Use

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Level 1

4 points

Cannot Set Up Custom Email Domain - Email Already in Use

I am trying to set up a custom email domain for use with iCloud+. There are three email addresses currently in use (hosted by Squarespace): one for myself, one for another person, and one shared address that we both receive. When I enter the three addresses under my own name in the setup screen, only the "shared" address gets a verification email - the other two ("me@domain.com" and "him@domain.com") produce error messages that they're already in use with another Apple account.

Well, duh. I use my Apple devices to receive email at that address. My business partner uses his Apple devices to receive emails at his address. I've tried deleting all references to my own email address ("me@domain.com") from all of my devices, but I'm still getting the error.

Any ideas here? Surely this isn't set up such that you can ONLY use a brand-new never-before-used email address with the Custom Domain feature?

iPad Pro, iPadOS 18

Posted on Sep 23, 2025 7:16 AM

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Answer 1

brbo

Level 8

38,605 points

Sep 24, 2025 3:39 PM in response to adt2

Re: "Cannot Set Up Custom Email Domain - Email Already in Use" "Any ideas here?

Surely this isn't set up such that you can ONLY use a brand-new never-before-used email

address with the Custom Domain feature?"

Am no expert in this area, yet your question to the community deserves some response.

If you haven't worked through it yet:

Wondering whether Apple support's online article (link below) can help you.

Personalize iCloud Mail with a custom email domain and share with others - Apple Support

Eg: says:

"If you already have email addresses at a domain, you can configure them and assign them to others during setup. Otherwise, everyone can create email addresses later.

Each person can have up to three active email addresses per domain. The domain owner can also decide to accept emails sent to addresses that aren’t actively set up with the domain."

There's much more info. in the above article..

If nothing above helps:

You can always try contacting iCloud Support:

(There is a "Get Support" link (online chat, phone, etc) at the bottom of their website :

iCloud - Official Apple Support

All the best :-)

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