Why am I not receiving emails when my iCloud storage is full?

Which email addresses stop working?

Only addresses that end in @icloud.com, @me.com or @mac.com, plus custom domains set up through iCloud+. Mail in a Gmail, Outlook or work account inside the same Mail app keeps arriving, because those messages are stored by other providers.

Hide My Email addresses forward to your inbox, so they stop delivering too. That matters if you used them to sign up for shops, banks or delivery services: their receipts and alerts will also go quiet until you have space.

Why does mail count at all? Every message and attachment is stored on Apple's servers so it can appear on all your devices. A decade of newsletters with images, plus a few forwarded videos, can reach several gigabytes on its own.

How do I get iCloud Mail working again quickly?

1. Delete one old device backup in Settings > your name > iCloud > Manage Account Storage > Backups. This is usually the fastest large win.
2. In Mail, empty the Trash and Junk folders of your iCloud account.
3. Search for messages with big attachments and delete the ones you don't need.
4. Send yourself a test message from another account once the bar shows free space, and reply to it to check sending too.

What about messages sent while I was full?

Apple's help page does not promise that mail sent during that time is kept for you. Treat anything important as possibly missed. Ask your bank, employer or anyone expecting a reply to resend, and check that sign-in codes from other services still reach you.

It is worth updating accounts that use your iCloud address for password resets. If you plan to let iCloud stay full, move those logins to an address that keeps working, or you could be locked out of a service later.

To stay under the limit for good, see what to delete first. If you would rather keep paying, is iCloud+ worth it compares the plans.