Many users encounter a “Problem Turning On Mail” when creating a new iCloud email address on their iPhone. They see this message “Problem Turning On Mail. There was a problem turning on your email, try again.”
The good news is that there is a simple fix of signing out of iCloud and signing back in again.
This error has been plaguing iPhone users since 2012! It occurs when trying to create an iCloud email address through the iPhone Settings. Frustratingly, the issue persists through device restarts and Software Updates.
Fortunately, we’ve got the solution below — and it couldn’t be much simpler.
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How to Fix “Problem Turning on Mail”
Before You DO Anything…
Check Apple’s System Status page and make sure iCloud Mail is working without any reported issues. Look for a yellow sign for problems
If Apple indicates there are problems with iCloud or iCloud Mail, wait until the System Status returns to the green sign for available (and working normally) before trying again.
Sign Out and Back Into iCloud
The easy fix for this annoying bug is to sign out of iCloud on your device, then sign back in and try again. This solution has proven effective for most people with the same error.
Most users tell us that when they sign out of iCloud and sign back in, that somehow they can suddenly create an icloud.com email address, with no roadblocks!
If you’re at all unclear on the process follow the steps, we’ve laid out below.
How to Sign Out of iCloud:
- Go to Settings > [your name] > Sign Out (at the bottom)
- Enter your Apple ID password, and tap Turn Off
- Choose what data to keep a local copy of Selecting everything is safer but slower
How to Sign In to iCloud:
- Go to Settings > Sign in to your iPhone
- Enter your Apple ID email and password
- If prompted, enter the verification code sent to your devices
- Enter your iPhone passcode and select Merge
Once successfully signed back in, you should find that you can create an iCloud email address without any problems.
Remember, Your Apple ID is Your iCloud Email Address!
If you already have an Apple ID, you should have an email address associated with that ID.
When you first set-up your Apple ID, Apple automatically suggests an iCloud email address for you using the information you provide when setting up your Apple ID. It’s usually your Full [email protected]
Look at Your Date & Time Settings
Sometimes, your device’s date and time do not match Apple Servers, and this inconsistency causes the error.
So let’s check your date and time settings
- Go to Settings > General > Date & Time
- Choose Set Automatically or toggle it off, wait a few seconds, and toggle it back on
- Restart your device (power down and back on) and try your iCloud email again
Trying iCloud Email on a Browser? Clear the Browser’s Cache
If you can’t access your email or send and receive messages with your @icloud.com email address
- For Safari, go to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data
- If you’re using a different browser, clear its cache following the browser’s guidelines
Contact Apple Support For Help
If nothing helps, we suggest you reach out to Apple Support in your home country. 
Since there are quite a few reasons why this error happens, it’s best to go to the source if these quick fixes don’t work for you.
Did any of these fixes work for you? Let us know in the comments!
Reader Tips
- Try creating an email alias instead of using your Apple ID
- iCloud and Apple don’t seem to like number strings in your email ID. Try using just letters and see if it now works. That did the trick for me!
- Try changing your Apple ID password. Then shut down your iPhone or iPad and restart. You should see a message saying you need to log in to your Apple ID again due to the password change. Once done, try setting up iCloud and your iCloud email. This was the trick for me that finally, after a lot of wasted time, worked!
- Change the iCloud email name you selected to something different (so if it’s [email protected], try [email protected]) For me, the error happened when they email address I chose was already taken and in use. Once I changed my iCloud email address to something else, it worked!
- All I had to do was sign out of my iCloud account. Then, when I signed back in, I suddenly was able to create a new iCloud email address! Don’t know exactly why, but it worked for me
- Sometimes it’s because too many accounts were created from that device or, as stated above, a problem with the email alias you chose or the email address you use
- The problem is with iCloud. It does not always appear to know that an email is being used for iCloud! Try a forced restart and the set up your iCloud account again and use a different email address this time around
Dan is a freelance writer based in South West England.
He spent two years supervising repairs as a Genius Admin for Apple Retail and uses that knowledge to keep our troubleshooting guides up to date.
Long before that, Dan turned to Apple products from a musical background. Having owned iPods for years, he bought a MacBook to learn sound recording and production. It was using those skills that he gained a first-class Bachelor of Science in Sound Technology.
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Thank you! This was VERY helpful! Signing out of my ICloud address and signing back in fixed my problem – I already have an ICloud email address, but Mail wouldn’t let me sign in!
After creating iCloud email I got the problem with email error. Now the window is locked so I cannot get to the settings screen
Hi Michael,
Take a look at your Date & Time settings in Settings > General. Toggle off and on Set Automatically. Then restart your device and see if you can get the iCloud email to work.
If that doesn’t help, try logging out of your iCloud account, and then log back in. Then try your iCloud Mail again.
Very nice
Worked just as advised only I had a similar experience with my iphone 7 as Linda did with her ipad. After signing back in and hitting “Merge”, I was locked on the screen and could not access anything else in Settings. I rebooted my phone and after unlocking it with my passcode, my icloud email signup was easy. Thanks.
I got super lucky. Like somebody else said that warning came up that said you will lose information so I canceled the sign out (I know, puss) and when I did I noticed that the issue was fixed. The mail switched on and I was able to successfully create an iCloud address. Honestly thought of signing out earlier but didn’t follow through because I didn’t think that was the problem. So thank you for sending me back in the right direction.
Worked like a champ. Thank you for the posting and excellent directions.
Yes this fixed the problem
It worked like a charm for me!
Please note if you are unsure of your AppleID password you should reset it or confirm it before you sign out or you’ll be in for a load of trouble!
But we reset ours, signed out, signed back in, and created a new email address because the old one was getting too much spam.
Also, note that you can create aliases for your Apple email address.
So you can have one for just email lists or whatever, and one for just your family.
Then use rules to move them into different folders to reduce clutter.
My phone is telling me if I sign out this way, “your iCloud photo library and any documents and data stored in iCloud It’s drive will be removed from this iphone” Does that mean I’ll lose all my photos? Did you lose yours?
Hi Meg,
That message means that your iCloud removes that data from your phone, not from iCloud itself. As the article states, it’s always safer to keep a local copy of that data on your iPhone–but you need to have sufficient internal storage on your iPhone to do so AND downloading all that data to your local storage takes a lot of time and bandwidth–so use WiFi not cellular data to do so.
All your iCloud photos, documents, and data shouldn’t just disappear. They should remain in your iCloud Account on any other devices or Macs using the same Apple ID (with iCloud enabled) and on the iCloud website.
Once you sign back into iCloud, all the data stored on your iCloud account should then return and be accessible on your iPhone.
We recommend that you check your iCloud account via a web browser before turning off your iCloud account on your iPhone.
Do a thorough review of what’s in your iCloud account (photos and other data) to ensure everything is stored in your iCloud account. Once checked, then you should feel comfortable in moving forward with disabling and re-enabling iCloud.
Sam
Tried this. But my iPad has been attempting to sign me back in for over an hour. It appears stuck. Just circling like units processing. Not sure what to do
Hi Linda,
What you describe sounds like an issue with either your network or Apple’s Servers. Either or both could be the reason.
We suggest you connect to a different WiFi network (like at work, school, a library, or any other place offering WiFi) and see if you are able to create your iCloud email.
If still unable, it’s likely a problem on Apple Servers, which you have no control over. You can check the status of Apple’s Server at their system status site; however, minor local problems often do not appear.
In looking at the system status today, there are reports of problems with iCloud Services over the past two days. So this could be your problem.
In that case, wait another day or two and try again–also, it’s always good to perform these types of tasks in off-hours, so later at night or earlier in the morning (or on Saturdays) when traffic is normally lower.
Keep us posted if this issue persists into next week.
Sam
Yes this worked for me.
iPhone 5c, ios 10.3.3
iMac OS 10.10 (Yosemite)
Am now able to sync my Notes between the two.
Thank you!
It worked for me.
It worked! Thank you.