Apple says it will change its Hide My Email feature—an iCloud+ tool that generates @icloud.com addresses that forward to a real inbox—by moving newly generated addresses to @private.icloud.com. The update, coming in the coming weeks, could make it easier for a
On Monday, Apple told developers it plans to shift how its Hide My Email feature works—an iCloud+ privacy tool used by paying customers to create anonymous-looking addresses when they open online accounts.
The change is coming in the coming weeks. Apple will move anonymously generated email addresses from the @icloud.com domain to @private.icloud.com. Those new addresses then forward messages to a person’s real email address.
Right now, Hide My Email addresses don’t stand out from regular Apple users because both use the @icloud.com domain. That’s part of why the service has worked the way it’s supposed to: messages sent to the “private” address can still be treated like normal iCloud traffic.
Under Apple’s plan, apps and websites may get a new, simpler signal. With addresses now branded as @private.icloud.com, it could become easier for some services to recognize and block sign-ups that use anonymously generated addresses.
Apple says existing Hide My Email addresses will continue to function and forward mail without interruption. The company also tells app and email providers that they will have to update filtering so emails to customers who rely on the feature continue to get through.
Not everyone is convinced the switch will help consumers. Several Apple users criticized the change on Reddit, arguing that moving the service to a “private” domain would make Hide My Email harder to use.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment about the change or explain why it made the move.
The issue has extra weight because of what anonymous email addresses have been used for in the past. Earlier this year. TechCrunch reported that Apple turned over the real account information of a user who generated an anonymized email address using Hide My Email to send an allegedly threatening email to the girlfriend of the FBI director Kash Patel.
While Apple’s developer note focuses on domain labeling and mail routing. the broader backdrop is a government push to identify people behind anonymity. The Trump administration has made efforts over the past year to unmask anonymous accounts—using subpoenas to demand that tech companies turn over information about users. including those of Trump’s critics.
In that setting, the shift from @icloud.com to @private.icloud.com lands like a quiet trade: existing addresses keep working, but new ones carry a telltale domain that could make anonymity easier to detect—and easier to block.
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