Hajra Naz
These days, nearly every online service demands your email address, whether you are.
- Signing up for an app
- Subscribing to a newsletter
- Redeeming a discount.
But here’s a trick: you don’t have to use your real email. Instead, you can opt for an email mask.
More and more services now offer disposable, masked email addresses that forward messages to your real inbox. Experts say this is a game-changer for protecting your privacy and security.
How Email Masking Works
The concept is simple: an email masking service generates a randomized alias, which acts as a stand-in for your actual address. These temporary emails might look like a random mix of letters, numbers, or unrelated words. Any emails sent to the alias will be automatically forwarded to your real inbox, without revealing your actual address.
Several services offer this feature, including DuckDuckGo’s Email Protection, Mozilla’s Firefox Relay, FastMail, and Addy.io. Proton Mail also provides masking via its password manager and SimpleLogin tool.
When users sign up for services in Safari or the Mail app, “Hide My Email,” which is available to those with iCloud+ or Apple One subscriptions, creates random aliases automatically.
You may still manually create masked addresses in iCloud settings if you’re using a different browser.
Why It Matters
Most email masking services have free and premium tiers, with some limitations on free plans, such as only receiving emails but not replying. However, being able to send replies from your masked email can be crucial. Proton CEO Andy Yen says.
“Newsletters might not require replies, but if you use a masked email for an online purchase and need to follow up on your order, the ability to respond is essential.”
Most providers offer a dashboard where you can manage multiple email aliases. If one starts attracting spam, you can disable it with a click.
When to Use an Email Mask
Email masking is ideal for situations where you want extra privacy or protection against data leaks and spam.
Mozilla’s Santiago Andrigo suggests two key scenarios for using email masks:
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When you don’t trust a website with your real email. If you start getting spam, you can easily block messages from the alias.
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When signing up for sensitive services. For example, if you join an online community related to a health condition or minority group, an email mask can prevent your real identity from being exposed in case of a data breach.
Risks of Using Your Real Email
Handing out your real email address comes with risks.
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Marketers and data brokers might collect and sell it, building a profile of you for advertising or more invasive purposes.
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It could land on spam lists, leading to phishing scams and junk mail.
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If a website is hacked, attackers could steal your login credentials and personal data.
Using strong, unique passwords with a password manager is a good practice. But, according to Yen, “The real problem isn’t just password leaks—it’s your email getting exposed.”
Changing a leaked password is easy, but replacing your email address is much harder—unless you’re using a mask.
Ineffective Alternatives
There are other ways to manage online privacy, but they’re not always effective.
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Creating a throwaway email on Gmail or Yahoo. This works, but it is time-consuming.
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Adding a plus sign (+) and extra text to your Gmail address. This helps with filtering, but doesn’t hide your real email—anyone can strip out the extra characters and still see your original address.
Is Email Masking Secure?
Masked email services act as a middleman, relaying emails through their servers. So, how can you be sure your messages remain private?
Look for providers with strong privacy policies and clear terms. Proton Mail explicitly states that they don’t store messages. Firefox Relay deletes undelivered emails within three days.
Apple guarantees that all emails are erased from its servers upon delivery and that it neither reads nor processes any transmitted emails.
Selecting a reliable service is crucial if privacy is a top concern.
