How does iCloud's Hide My Email feature handle sender information and replies?

9 Marketer opinions 4 Expert opinions 6 Technical articles 2 Resources

Summary

iCloud's Hide My Email allows users to create unique, random email addresses that forward to their personal inbox, protecting their real address from spam and privacy breaches. While designed for privacy, there are some limitations. When replying to emails, recipients see the masked address. However, sending directly to a masked address might be restricted, and some websites may reject these addresses during sign-up. Users can disable these addresses, causing emails to bounce. Alternatives like SimpleLogin and Privacy.com offer more control. Custom domain usage requires proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configuration. Sometimes, emails to masked addresses may land in the spam folder. The feature works best as a disposable address to shield your primary inbox from unwanted communications.

Key findings

Privacy Focus: Hide My Email is designed to protect your real email address.
Masked Replies: When replying, the recipient sees the masked address.
Sending Restrictions: Sending directly to a masked address might be limited.
Address Rejection: Some websites might reject masked addresses during sign-up.
Disable Feature: Addresses can be disabled, causing emails to bounce.
Alternative Services: Alternatives offer more control over aliases and domains.
Spam Potential: Emails to masked addresses can sometimes end up in spam folders.
Custom Domains: Custom domains require SPF/DKIM/DMARC setup.

Key considerations

Privacy Trade-offs: Understand the balance between privacy and potential functional limitations.
Address Acceptance: Verify acceptance of masked addresses on important websites.
Spam Monitoring: Check your spam folder for misdirected emails.
Domain Configuration: Properly configure SPF/DKIM/DMARC for custom domains.
Disposable Usage: Utilize masked addresses as temporary, disposable options.
Reply Limitations: Recognize potential limitations in how senders can interact with the masked addresses.
Alternative Considerations: Evaluate whether alternative services offering more control suit your needs.

What email marketers say
9Marketer opinions

iCloud's Hide My Email feature allows users to create unique, random email addresses to protect their primary email address from spam and privacy breaches. When used, replies to emails sent to the masked address will show the masked iCloud address, not the user's real address. Users have control over these addresses and can disable them to stop unwanted emails. Alternative services like SimpleLogin and Privacy.com offer similar functionality with potentially more control over aliases and custom domains. However, some websites might reject the generated addresses due to format validation issues, and occasionally, emails sent to the masked address may end up in spam folders.

Key opinions

Privacy Protection: Hide My Email helps protect your real email address by creating unique, random addresses for online services.
Reply Handling: Replies to emails sent to the masked address will show the masked iCloud address, not the user's real address.
Control Over Addresses: Users can disable Hide My Email addresses to stop unwanted emails.
Alternative Services: Services like SimpleLogin and Privacy.com offer similar functionality with more control.
Potential Issues: Some websites might reject the generated addresses, and emails may occasionally end up in spam.

Key considerations

Website Compatibility: Be aware that some websites might not accept the randomly generated Hide My Email addresses.
Spam Filtering: Check your spam folder occasionally, as emails sent to the masked address might end up there.
Control Needs: Consider alternative services if you need more control over aliases or custom domains.
Privacy Level: Determine how important it is to hide your email address when signing up for services or subscriptions.
Address Lifespan: Be aware if turning the service off, that any service may email you at your real address instead.

Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit shares that when you reply to an email sent to your Hide My Email address, the recipient will see the unique, randomly generated iCloud address instead of your real email. If you turn it off, any services using it won't work and it's likely they will just email you to your real email address anyway.

July 2024 - Reddit

Marketer view

Email marketer from Forbes explains that Hide My Email offers control. If you start getting spam, you can easily delete that address, stopping the flow of unwanted emails.

May 2022 - Forbes

Marketer view

Email marketer from Mailchimp Blog shares that Hide My Email helps users maintain their privacy and reduce spam by generating unique addresses for each service. This also limits data breaches, as each random email can be turned off if required.

December 2024 - Mailchimp Blog

Marketer view

Email marketer from Twitter shares that when you reply to an email sent to your Hide My Email address, the recipient will see the unique, randomly generated iCloud address instead of your real email. If you turn it off, any services using it won't work and it's likely they will just email you to your real email address anyway.

May 2022 - Twitter

Marketer view

Email marketer from SimpleLogin Forum says that SimpleLogin is an alternative to Hide My Email, that provides more control over aliases, including custom domains and subdomains. They explain you can use the service to create aliases for subscriptions and forward emails without revealing your main address.

February 2024 - SimpleLogin Forum

Marketer view

Email marketer from EmailToolTester writes that services like Hide My Email allow users to mask email address, which forwards to their real inbox. Also discusses benefits of using alternatives such as SimpleLogin that allow you to have more control.

December 2023 - EmailToolTester

Marketer view

Email marketer from Privacy.com says that Privacy.com is an alternative to Hide My Email, and provides more control over aliases, including custom domains and subdomains. They explain you can use the service to create aliases for subscriptions and forward emails without revealing your main address.

February 2023 - Privacy.com Forum

Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit shares their experiences with using Hide My Email for various online services and highlights a potential issue where some websites might not accept the randomly generated email addresses due to format validation problems. They also mention that occasionally emails sent to the Hide My Email address can end up in the spam folder.

March 2024 - Reddit

Marketer view

Email marketer from DuckDuckGo Blog writes that services like Hide My Email allow users to share a masked email address, which forwards to their real inbox. If the masked address starts receiving spam, the user can simply disable it, preventing further unwanted emails.

October 2022 - DuckDuckGo Blog

What the experts say
4Expert opinions

iCloud's Hide My Email feature strips out sender information, preventing direct replies in some cases. While you can reply to emails sent to a Hide My Email address, sending mail directly to that address may not be possible. Furthermore, some sign-up forms may reject these addresses, resulting in a 'Delivery not authorized' error. The feature serves as a good disposable email address for protecting your primary inbox from spam.

Key opinions

Sender Information Stripping: iCloud's Hide My Email removes sender information, impacting reply functionality.
Limited Sending Capability: Sending mail directly to a Hide My Email address may be restricted.
Sign-Up Issues: Some sign-up forms may reject Hide My Email addresses, leading to delivery errors.
Spam Protection: Hide My Email acts as a disposable address, shielding your primary inbox from spam.

Key considerations

Reply Limitations: Consider the potential limitations when expecting direct replies to a Hide My Email address.
Sending Restrictions: Be aware that sending mail directly to a Hide My Email address might not always be possible.
Address Acceptance: Test Hide My Email addresses on crucial sign-up forms to ensure they are accepted.
Disposable Nature: Understand that Hide My Email functions best as a temporary, disposable address for spam prevention.

Expert view

Expert from Spam Resource discusses how services like iCloud's Hide My Email provide disposable email addresses that forward to your real inbox, thus protecting it from spam. These are good for burner addresses.

April 2022 - Spam Resource

Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks says you can reply to the iCloud Hide My Email address, but he couldn’t use that address to send mail to himself.

July 2021 - Email Geeks

Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks explains that iCloud strips out the whole address and doesn’t even leave the sender in as a reply-to.

June 2023 - Email Geeks

Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks tried to sign up for a newsletter using an iCloud Hide My Email address and it bounced with a '550 5.7.1 Delivery not authorized' error.

March 2022 - Email Geeks

What the documentation says
6Technical articles

iCloud's Hide My Email feature creates unique, random email addresses that forward to a user's personal inbox, protecting their real email address from being shared. These addresses can be created, disabled, or renamed via iCloud settings. Disabling an address prevents further forwarding, causing emails to bounce. When used with custom domains, proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are necessary for correct reply behavior.

Key findings

Email Masking: Hide My Email generates unique, random email addresses.
Forwarding Functionality: Masked addresses forward emails to the user's personal inbox.
Address Management: Users can create, disable, and rename addresses through iCloud settings.
Disabling Addresses: Disabled addresses cause emails to bounce.
Custom Domain Configuration: Proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are crucial when using custom domains.

Key considerations

Privacy Protection: Understand that Hide My Email protects your real email address.
Address Control: Take advantage of the ability to manage and disable addresses.
Custom Domain Setup: Ensure correct DNS records when using Hide My Email with a custom domain.
Bounce Handling: Be aware that disabling an address will cause emails to bounce back to senders.
iCloud+ Feature: Note that Hide My Email is part of the iCloud+ subscription.

Technical article

Documentation from Apple lists Hide My Email as a privacy feature to create unique, random email addresses when emailing or signing up online. This can be disabled on a per-address basis.

January 2023 - Apple Support

Technical article

Documentation from Apple Support details how to disable a Hide My Email address, preventing it from forwarding emails to your primary inbox. This is useful for stopping unwanted communications from a specific source. It will just bounce if any emails are sent to it.

December 2024 - Apple Support

Technical article

Documentation from Apple lists Hide My Email as part of iCloud+ features. It helps users keep their personal email address private by creating unique, random addresses when emailing or signing up online. This can be disabled on a per-address basis.

August 2022 - Apple

Technical article

Documentation from Fastmail Support explains that when using Hide My Email with a custom domain, replies might show the iCloud address if the custom domain is not properly configured for sending. Requires correct SPF, DKIM and DMARC records.

December 2022 - Fastmail Support

Technical article

Documentation from Apple Support explains that Hide My Email allows users to create unique, random email addresses that forward to their personal inbox. This protects their real email address from being shared with websites or apps.

November 2023 - Apple Support

Technical article

Documentation from Apple Support details how to manage Hide My Email addresses. Users can create, disable, and rename Hide My Email addresses from within the iCloud settings. Each address can be managed individually. If disabled it will stop any future mail.

November 2021 - Apple Support

Can't see sent "hide my email" or get replies - TidBITS Talk - TidBITS ...

I was testing the “hide my email” icloud feature. I sent email to my main account and it arrived and I replied. But… I don’t see that email in my icloud account sent mailbox. And my reply to the hide my email account doesn’t arrive. What might I be doing wrong?

TidBITS Talk