Apple is changing Hide My Email, and privacy experts say it could backfire

Apple is preparing to overhaul one of its most popular privacy tools, and not everyone is convinced the change is for the better.

In the coming weeks, the company will begin moving the anonymously generated email addresses created through Hide My Email to a different domain. The feature, which lets users mask their real email address whenever they sign up for an app, newsletter, or online account, has become a quiet favourite among privacy-conscious iPhone owners since launching alongside iCloud+.

How Hide My Email works

When you use Hide My Email, Apple generates a random, unique address that forwards messages to your real inbox. The business or website you hand it to never sees your actual email. If you start getting spam, you can simply switch off that one address without affecting anything else. It is a simple idea that gives users a rare amount of control over who can reach them.

Until now, those generated addresses have all shared a recognizable Apple-associated domain. That consistency is exactly what makes the upcoming change significant.

Why moving the domain matters

The concern, flagged by security researchers, is that the value of an anonymous email lies partly in it being indistinguishable from a normal one. If every Hide My Email address sits on a single, well-known domain, it becomes trivial for websites to detect them, and some services already do, blocking or rejecting sign-ups from masked addresses to force users to hand over their real contact details.

Moving everyone to a new, identifiable domain in one coordinated shift could make that detection even easier in the short term. Companies that want to refuse anonymous emails would only need to update a single block list. Critics argue this risks undercutting the entire point of the feature: blending in.

Apple has not publicly detailed its reasoning for the migration, and it is possible the change is tied to deliverability, spam handling, or infrastructure improvements rather than anything that weakens privacy. But the lack of explanation has left researchers filling in the blanks.

What users should watch for

If you rely on Hide My Email, the practical advice is straightforward. Existing addresses are expected to keep working, but it is worth keeping an eye out for any forwarding hiccups during the transition, and for any services that suddenly start rejecting your masked address at sign-up.

The episode is a useful reminder that privacy features are only as strong as the ecosystem they live in. A masking tool works best when it is invisible, and any change that makes anonymous addresses easier to single out chips away at that protection, even if that is not the intent.

Apple is expected to roll out the change gradually rather than all at once, so most users may not notice anything immediately. Whether the new domain proves more durable or simply paints a bigger target will become clear in the months ahead.

Source: TechCrunch.