Apple Is Making 'Hide My Email' Less Effective, but There Are Alternatives

Apple's "Hide My Email" feature, which generates one-time-use email aliases to mask your real inbox, is losing effectiveness. The company now exposes your actual email address to merchants during refunds and disputes, undermining the privacy benefit that made the feature attractive in the first place.

This shift affects anyone using iCloud+ subscribers who rely on Hide My Email to maintain anonymity while shopping online. When you initiate a refund or chargeback through Apple Pay, the merchant receives your genuine email address instead of the masked alias. This creates a paper trail linking your real identity to purchases you made specifically to hide your identity.

The change matters for privacy-conscious shoppers. Retailers can now track your real email address across transactions, build profiles on your spending habits, and add you to marketing lists without your knowledge. If you've been using masked emails to avoid spam or unwanted solicitation, this protection has eroded.

Several alternatives exist for those seeking stronger email privacy. ProtonMail offers integrated email aliases through its suite. Fastmail provides unlimited masked emails and gives users control over when addresses expire. DuckDuckGo's Email Protection generates disposable aliases free of charge. Mozilla Relay, from the Firefox maker, creates masks that forward messages to your real inbox while keeping your address private.

Each service operates differently. ProtonMail integrates encryption into the system but costs money. Fastmail charges a subscription but offers the most granular control. DuckDuckGo's offering is free but limits how many masks you create. Mozilla Relay stands between free and premium tiers, giving you flexibility based on budget.

Shoppers shouldn't rely solely on one masking service. Rotating between multiple providers reduces the risk that any single company's data breach exposes all your masked addresses. This layered approach works especially well for high-value transactions or accounts containing sensitive financial information.

Apple