Your actual address stays hidden from marketers and data brokers
In an age when the inbox has become a battleground between personal privacy and commercial appetite, Apple has quietly handed users a new kind of shield. Hide My Email, available to iCloud Plus subscribers since iOS 15, allows anyone to generate disposable email addresses that forward to their real inbox while keeping that address invisible to the marketers and data brokers who traffic in it. It is a small but meaningful reassertion of control — a reminder that the terms of digital participation need not always be set by others.
- The modern inbox has become less a tool of communication than a symptom of how thoroughly personal data has been commodified — spam, unsolicited newsletters, and phantom unsubscribe links are the daily tax of being online.
- Apple's Hide My Email feature disrupts this dynamic by letting users hand over a randomly generated @icloud.com address instead of their real one, severing the link between their identity and the services that would exploit it.
- The feature is woven directly into Safari, Mail, and iCloud settings, surfacing as a suggestion the moment a web form asks for an email — designed to feel effortless rather than technical.
- Unlimited burner addresses can be created, labeled, and deleted at will, meaning the power to cut off a spammer is now as simple as deactivating an address rather than fighting through an unsubscribe maze.
- The catch is cost: Hide My Email lives behind the iCloud Plus paywall, starting at one dollar a month — though existing iCloud storage subscribers are upgraded automatically when they move to iOS 15.
Your inbox has become a graveyard — newsletters you never requested, promotional blasts from retailers, unsubscribe links that lead nowhere. Apple's answer, rolled out with iOS 15 in September, is to stop giving out your real address in the first place.
Hide My Email lets iCloud Plus subscribers generate disposable addresses on demand. When a website asks for your email, you hand over a random string ending in @icloud.com. Apple forwards everything to your real inbox, but your actual address stays hidden from marketers and data brokers. You can create as many of these addresses as you like, label them for your own reference, and delete them when you're done with a service.
The mechanics are simple. In Settings, navigate to iCloud and select Hide My Email, then tap Create New Address. Apple generates one for you — ask for another if you don't like it. Add a label like "Amazon" or "that sketchy coupon site" so you remember what it's for. Managing them is equally straightforward: a single menu shows every burner address you've created, where it's forwarding, and lets you deactivate any address you no longer want. Deactivated addresses are kept separately in case you need to reactivate one later.
This builds on an older, narrower version of the idea. Apple's Sign In with Apple already offered masked email addresses, but only during app sign-up flows. The iCloud Plus version is more flexible — generate an address anytime, for any reason, without needing Apple's authentication system. The tool surfaces naturally in Safari, suggesting a Hide My Email address the moment a form field asks for one.
For people drowning in spam, the shift is meaningful. Instead of managing a flooded inbox, you manage the addresses you give out. Instead of unsubscribing from lists you never joined, you simply deactivate an address and the mail stops. It won't eliminate spam entirely — but it returns a measure of control to the person who should have had it all along.
Your inbox is a graveyard of unwanted mail. Newsletters you never signed up for. Promotional blasts from retailers. Unsubscribe links that lead nowhere. Apple has a new answer: generate a fake email address instead.
Hide My Email, which rolled out in September as part of iOS 15, lets you create disposable email addresses on the fly. When a website asks for your email, you hand over a random string of characters ending in @icloud.com. The mail still reaches you—Apple forwards everything to your real inbox—but your actual address stays hidden from marketers, data brokers, and the sprawling machinery of spam. You can make as many of these addresses as you want, label them for your own reference, and delete them whenever you're done with a service.
The feature was first shown at Apple's developer conference in June, but it only became available to regular users when iOS 15 shipped on September 20. It's not free. Hide My Email is bundled into iCloud Plus, Apple's paid tier, which costs between one and ten dollars a month depending on how much cloud storage you want. If you're already paying for iCloud storage, your account automatically upgrades to iCloud Plus when you move to iOS 15.
The mechanics are straightforward. Open Settings, tap your name, navigate to iCloud, and select Hide My Email. Hit Create New Address. Apple generates a random one for you. If you don't like it, ask for another. Once you settle on one, you can add a label and a note—something like "Amazon" or "that sketchy coupon site"—so you remember what it's for. That's it. The address is live and ready to use.
Managing these addresses is equally simple. Go back to the same menu and you'll see a list of every burner address you've created, along with the labels you assigned. Tap any one to see where it's forwarding, change the label, or add notes. If you want to stop using an address, you can deactivate it. Apple keeps deactivated addresses in a separate list in case you need to reactivate one later.
This isn't Apple's first stab at email privacy. The company already had a Hide My Email feature built into Sign In with Apple, which lets you create a masked address when you're signing up for an app or service using your Apple ID. But that older feature only works during the sign-up process itself. The new iCloud Plus version is more flexible—you can generate addresses anytime, for any reason, without needing to authenticate through Apple's sign-in system.
The tool is woven into the places you'd expect: Safari, Mail, and iCloud settings on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and the web. When you're filling out a form in Safari and it asks for your email, the browser can suggest a Hide My Email address right there in the field. It's designed to feel frictionless, a small friction-reducer in the larger friction of modern digital life.
For people drowning in spam, it's a meaningful shift in control. Instead of managing an inbox full of junk, you manage the addresses you give out. Instead of unsubscribing from lists you never joined, you simply deactivate an address and the mail stops. It won't eliminate spam entirely—but it puts the power back in your hands.
Notable Quotes
You can create and delete as many addresses as needed at any time, giving you more control over who can contact you— Apple's description of Hide My Email functionality
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
So this is just a way to avoid giving out your real email address?
Exactly. You create a temporary one that forwards to your actual inbox, so you get the mail but the company never sees your real address.
Why does that matter? They're going to spam you either way.
Not if you deactivate the address. Once you're done with a service, you kill that fake address and the mail stops coming. Your real email stays clean.
And Apple sees all of this?
Apple sees the forwarding relationship, yes. But the whole point is that third parties—retailers, data brokers, whoever buys the mailing list—they only have the fake address. They can't trace it back to you.
How much does it cost?
It's part of iCloud Plus, which runs one to ten dollars a month depending on storage. If you're already paying for iCloud, you get upgraded automatically.
Can you make unlimited addresses?
Yes. Create as many as you need, label them, delete them whenever. It's all in Settings.