With the introduction of iOS 15, Apple rebadged its paid iCloud plans to "‌iCloud‌+" to reflect the fact that subscribers now get access to additional privacy features like Private Relay and Hide My Email. This article explains what Hide My Email is and how to use it.

hide my email safari demo
Hide My Email builds on the idea of Sign in With Apple by providing you with unique, random email addresses that forward to your personal inbox whenever you want to keep your personal email address private.

It's especially useful if you suspect that a business you're transacting with is likely to share your email address with ad agencies or other third-parties for marketing purposes. Using a random email address means you can delete the address at any time, ensuring unsolicited emails don't reach your inbox.

How to Create an Email Address Using Hide My Email

The following steps show you how to create a new dummy email address with Hide My Email, for use in Safari and Mail. Make sure your iOS device is running iOS 15 or later.

  1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad
  2. Tap your Apple ID name at the top of the main settings menu.
  3. Tap iCloud.
    settings

  4. Tap Hide My Email.
  5. Tap Create new address.
    settings

  6. Tap Continue, then give your address an identifying label. You can also optionally make a note about it.

  7. Tap Next, then tap Done.
    settings

You can now use the random email address when you send emails in Mail, or when you're asked to enter your email address on a website in Safari.

How to Deactivate an Address Using Hide My Email

If you aren't currently using a random address generated by Hide My Email, you can temporarily deactivate it so that you don't receive any forwarded email from it.

  1. Launch the Settings app on your ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌
  2. Tap your ‌Apple ID‌ name at the top of the main settings menu.
  3. Tap iCloud.
    settings

  4. Tap Hide My Email.
  5. Tap the email address in the list that you want to deactivate.
  6. Tap Deactivate email address.
  7. Tap Deactivate to confirm.
    settings

From now on, you won't receive emails sent to that address anymore. If you want to re-activate the address at any time, you'll find it in an "Inactive addresses" section at the bottom of your active addresses list. Tap the address in question, then tap Reactivate Address. Alternately, you can delete it by selecting Delete Address.

How to Change Your Hide My Email Forwarding Address

You can change the forwarding address for the dummy accounts that Hide My Email randomly generates. Here's how.

  1. Launch the Settings app on your ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌.
  2. Tap your ‌Apple ID‌ name at the top of the main settings menu.
  3. Tap iCloud.
    settings

  4. Tap Hide My Email.
  5. Scroll to the bottom of the address list and tap Forward to.
  6. Select one of your email addresses, then tap Done.
    settings

Paid ‌iCloud‌+ plans also include another premium feature called Private Relay, which ensures that all traffic leaving your device is fully encrypted, so that no third party between the website and your device can see the website being viewed. Check out our dedicated how-to for all the details.

Top Rated Comments

meady100 Avatar
47 months ago
Did that just say ‘iCloud’ and ‘additional privacy features’ in the same sentence?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jeaz Avatar
47 months ago

Are people really going to willfully install iOS 15 on their iPhone?
Why wouldn't they?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarpalMac Avatar
47 months ago

Or you can simply have a secondary email address for all the spam and registrations on websites.
I own a domain and then use a bespoke address for each and all sites which get piped to a single master (catch-all) account. e.g. macrumors@mydomainnamehere.com. That way I can:
1) See who sold my email / has slack security, allowing my address out into the wild (Yes I mean you, ProtectYourBubble, GolfOnline, LinkedIn, Tumblr etc..)
2) Blackhole that address.

Alternatively, with Gmail, you can add a plus and then anything you like, and you will still get it.
E.g. mygmailaccountname+macrumors@gmail.com

Having a bespoke email address is good as well as if bad people get a hold of it, they can't automatically be sure they can login to your account elsewhere, should you make the mistake of reusing a password which lets face, we all have done at some point.


edit: corrected my gmail mistake.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hagar Avatar
47 months ago

I really love this, but however the limit of just 100 aliases does make it, well, limited and in the end not very useful. Hopefully they increase the limit after beta.
Why is 100 not enough? I don’t see the need to use a different one for every single website I subscribe too.

I would use them mainly for websites I don’t really trust. And even then I could still cluster.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JonnyBlaze Avatar
47 months ago
Using a different alias for each account login helps identify where the problem has come from if you do start getting spam, or in case the service you have an account with gets hacked. You only have to change that one account email or alias, rather than changing lots of account that use the same one. There might be other reasons too, but this is what I like the idea of this service for.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jeaz Avatar
47 months ago

Will this come to macOS?
Yeah, it's already in the current macOS beta.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
macbook pro blue green

When Will Apple Release the M5 MacBook Pro?

Wednesday March 26, 2025 4:53 pm PDT by
Apple regularly refreshes the MacBook Pro models, and a new version that uses M5 series chips is in the works. Apple just finished refreshing most of the Mac lineup with M4 chips, and now it's time for the M5. Rumors suggest that we could see the first M5 MacBook Pro models this fall. Design There have been no rumors of a design update for the M5 MacBook Pro models that are coming this...
Facebook Feature

Facebook's New iPhone App Feature Turns the Clock Back to 2007

Thursday March 27, 2025 1:59 pm PDT by
In the mid-to-late 2000s, Facebook was all about staying connected with friends and family. However, as the social media platform added new features and grew over time, that core experience began to get drowned out. That changes starting now, according to Meta, which today introduced a new feature that will "bring back the joy" of classic Facebook. Specifically, Meta has redesigned the...
iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Expected Next Week - Here Are the Release Notes

Friday March 28, 2025 2:01 pm PDT by
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect. There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...
iOS 18 4 Ambient Music Control Center

How to Use iOS 18.4's New Ambient Music Feature in Control Center

Thursday March 27, 2025 7:45 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 18.4 update for the iPhone adds an Ambient Music feature to Control Center. Below, we take a closer look at how it works. iOS 18.4 is currently in beta, so the Ambient Music feature is not widely available yet. The update will likely be released to the general public next week. To use the feature on iOS 18.4, open Control Center and tap on the plus sign in the top-left...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

'iPhone Fold' to Feature Metallic Glass Hinge That Resists Deformation

Thursday March 27, 2025 4:21 am PDT by
Last week, we covered a report claiming that Apple's book-style foldable iPhone (or "iPhone Fold," as we are provisionally calling it here) will use liquid metal hinges to improve durability and help minimize screen creasing. Today, a Chinese leaker provided more details on the properties of this hinge material that help to clarify why Apple chose it for its first foldable device. According...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Six Things to Know About Apple's Upcoming Foldable iPhone

Friday March 28, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We've been hearing rumors about a foldable iPhone for almost a decade now, but it looks like we might finally see the device come to fruition in 2026. We're going to be waiting many more months for the foldable iPhone, but so far we're hearing good things. Apple wants to make it creaseless. It's taken Apple multiple years to design a foldable iPhone that it's satisfied with because Apple ...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...
Apple Lumon Terminal Pro

Apple's Mac Site Features Fictional 'Lumon Terminal Pro'

Wednesday March 26, 2025 12:19 pm PDT by
Apple is going all out with promotions for the popular Severance Apple TV+ show today, and as of right now, you'll find a new "Lumon Terminal Pro" listed on Apple's Mac site. The Lumon Terminal Pro is designed to look similar to the machines that Severance employees like Mark S. and Helly R. use for macrodata refinement. The Terminal features a blue keyboard, a small display with wide...