Apple Hide My Email: What It Is And How To Use

What is Hide My Email?

Have you ever needed to use your mail account to sign up for a new subscription, but you didn’t want to use your personal one? If the answer is yes, Apple Hide My Email is the perfect service for you.

Hide My Email is a feature from Apple that allows you to create a new, random, and unique mail address to use in these situations where you need to provide a mailbox, but would like your personal mail address to remain private. If an email spammer gets your address, this tool will protect you since they don’t have your real mail address anyway!

It’s the perfect feature to use when signing up for new apps, subscribing to newsletters, or sending a message to someone you don’t know very well. The best part is, the emails that are sent to these burner addresses are automatically forwarded to your real address.

For people wondering how to delete digital footprint, understanding the Hide My Email tool from Apple is a great place to start.

How To Use Hide My Email On iOS 15

Now that you understand what this feature can do for you, you’re probably wondering, how does Hide My Email work? Let's go over the step-by-step instructions on how to use this exciting tool. 

1. Sign In With Apple

The most common way you will encounter Apple Hide My Email is through the option to sign in with Apple. It’s important to note that before using this method to gain access to this privacy-enhancing feature, you must have an Apple ID.

1. When you’re on your iPhone, open the app that you’re trying to sign up for.
2. During the signup process, choose the option that says, “Sign In With Apple.” This will allow you to use your Apple ID to sign in to the app and gain access to this feature.
3. After choosing to sign in with your Apple ID, you will be given two options: Share My Email and Hide My Email. Choose “Hide My Email” then “continue.”
4. You are all set! This means that any emails the app sends to your burner mail address will be automatically forwarded to your real mailbox, but the app will never know what your real mail account is.

Thankfully Apple offers widespread access to this tool, as anyone who has an Apple ID will be able to take advantage of it via this method.

2. Hide My Email on iOS 15 for iCloud Users

When learning how to use Hide My Email, it’s important to know that in order to use this method, you must be an iCloud user.

When filling out online forms, like when you sign up for newsletters and subscribe to your favorite blogging site, iCloud users are easily able to hide their personal address from semi-trustworthy eyes.

Let’s review step-by-step instructions for using Hide My Email on iOS 15 for iCloud users.

On your iPhone or iPad, go to the website you are wanting to give your address to in order to subscribe to their newsletter.

1. Tap the box that is asking for your mail address.
2. Your iPhone or iPad should recognize what the website is asking for, and “Hide My Email” should show up as an autofill option.
3. Choose “Hide My Email.”
4. iCloud will pop up with a unique, alternative option for you to use. Tap “Continue” to proceed. 
5. Then you will be given the option to save this burner mail address under a label. This is recommended so you know what it’s corresponding to, whether it’s a website or app. This could be helpful information for you later.

3. How to Hide My Email Address in Gmail

Apple also allows iOS 15 users to use these fake email addresses directly from the Mail app on their iPhones and iPads, including from their Gmail account. Let’s review the step-by-step instructions for composing a message in the Mail app with a burner address. 

1. Open the Mail app and tap on the icon to create a new message. 
2. Tap the “from” field, and instead of choosing your personal address, choose “Hide My Email.”
3. Your phone will then provide a unique, fake address for you to send your message from. Any replies you receive to this new address will automatically forward to your personal address.

How To Turn Off Hide My Email On iPhone

If you want to turn off this feature, you will need to deactivate the specific addresses you no longer wish to use.

Let’s review the step-by-step instructions on how to deactivate them.

1. On your iPhone, open the Settings app.
2. Tap your name at the top of the screen.
3. Tap “iCloud.”
4. Tap “Hide My Email.”
5. The app will list all of the burner addresses you created along with the app or website they’re linked to. Choose the mail addresses you would like to deactivate.

💡 Note: Deactivating an address does not delete the address itself, but it will stop the emails from being forwarded to your real address.

6. If you’ve mistakenly deactivated an address, you can always reactivate it under “Inactive Addresses.”