Apple rescues Hide My Email feature from the privacy scrap heap
TechCrunch · LC · trust 24/100
Apple has reneged on a planned change to its Hide My Email feature that users said would have made the privacy tool less effective.
Hide My Email is a privacy feature for paying iCloud+ users that generates a unique and disposable email address to give websites instead of a person’s real email address and still have emails route to their regular inboxes. The benefit of the email-hiding feature is that privately generated email addresses cannot be distinguished from regular Apple users with an @icloud.com email address. However, the feature still allows Apple to tell law enforcement who is behind a masked email address .
Earlier this year, the company said it would move users to @private.icloud.com , which users said would make it easier for websites to reject these email addresses during sign-ups. On social media and Reddit threads, users criticized the change as defeating the purpose of the service altogether.
The company confirmed an update on Monday that Hide My Email addresses “will remain” on @icloud.com , after previously saying it would move users to @private.icloud.com .
Apple did not give a reason for changing its decision, but Daring Fireball’s John Gruber , who first reported the about-face, said that Apple employees had objected to the change all along.
Earlier this year, 404 Media reported that a bug in Hide My Email revealed people’s real email addresses. Apple fixed the bug more than a year after it was first made aware that emails rejected as spam would leak the masked users’ real email addresses.
In less than 48 hours, your chance to save up to $300 on your tickets will end!
Every weekday and Sunday, you can get the best of TechCrunch’s coverage.
TechCrunch Mobility is your destination for transportation news and insight.
Startups are the core of TechCrunch, so get our best coverage delivered weekly.
Provides movers and shakers with the info they need to start their day.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice .
That fake Grand Theft Auto VI demo is actually just malware Amanda Silberling 1 hour ago In Brief Apple rescues Hide My Email feature from the privacy scrap heap Zack Whittaker 2 hours ago Apps WhatsApp tightens account security with stronger two-step verification and more Aisha Malik 4 hours ago X LinkedIn Facebook Instagram youTube Mastodon Threads Bluesky TechCrunch Staff Contact Us Advertise Site Map Terms of Service Privacy Policy RSS Terms of Use Code of Conduct OpenAI Hugging Face Flock Startup Battlefield Disrupt 2026 Tech Layoffs ChatGPT © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC.
Read the original at TechCrunch →
Open in TruthVane →