How to manage your Apple ID account in System Preferences on Mac

Apple ID Overview

With macOS Catalina, Apple brought a simple new way to access and manage your Apple ID account information. You can change your name, phone, and email, check your payment and shipping details, and take care of your devices, all in one handy spot.

Here’s how to access and manage your Apple ID details in System Preferences on Mac.

Access and manage your account

Access your Apple ID

Just open your System Preferences with the button in your Dock or by clicking Apple icon > System Preferences from the menu bar.

Now, in the main System Preferences window, you have an Apple ID option to access your account information.

System Preferences Apple ID

Manage your Apple ID account details

You’ll see a handy navigation for your details on the left.

Overview: Sign out of your account and check out information about Apple ID and privacy policies.

Apple ID Overview

Name, Phone, Email: Manage your contact information. Change your name, update your birthdate if it’s incorrect, add or delete phone numbers and email addresses, and mark preferences for announcements and updates.

Apple ID Name Phone Email

Password & Security: Change your password and see the last time you changed it, edit your trusted phone number, get a verification code to sign in on another device, and view your authentication details.

Apple ID Password Security

Payment & Shipping: Adjust your default payment method for purchases, view your Apple Cash and Apple Card balances if applicable, and edit your shipping address.

Apple ID Payment Shipping

Manage iCloud, Media, and Purchases

The next two sections in the navigation let you take care of your iCloud settings and your media and purchases.

iCloud: Instead of a dedicated iCloud option on the System Preferences main screen, you’ll go here now to manage your iCloud account. Sync your apps by marking the checkboxes as before. And, click the Manage button at the bottom to manage your iCloud storage.

Apple ID iCloud

Media & Purchases: You can adjust your purchase settings here for the App Store, Books Store, free downloads, and in-app purchases. If you click the Manage button for your account or subscriptions, the App Store will open for you to continue.

Apple ID Media Purchases

Manage your devices

The final area in the left-hand navigation is for your devices. You’ll see all of those listed and can click one for further details and actions.

For instance, if you view your iPhone or iPad, you can see things like your model, version, and serial number along with if Find My is on, when the last backup was, and which cards you have set up in Apple Pay.

The options differ depending on the device, but you do have the ability to Remove from Account at the bottom (except for your Mac).

Apple ID Devices

Wrapping it up

Having quick access to your Apple ID and account details is a nice addition to Mac. It may not be an earth-shattering new feature with macOS Catalina, but it is a useful one.

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