Apple has reversed a planned change to Hide My Email that would have moved generated addresses from @icloud.com to @private.icloud.com. The company now says iCloud+ Hide My Email addresses will remain on @icloud.com after reviewing community feedback.
Hide My Email is available to paying iCloud+ users and creates unique, random email addresses that forward messages to a user’s personal inbox. Apple says the feature lets people avoid sharing their real email address when filling out forms, signing up for newsletters, or using supported apps and websites.
Apple Drops Planned Domain Change
Earlier this year, Apple said it planned to move both Sign in with Apple and iCloud+ Hide My Email addresses to a shared private.icloud.com domain. Users criticized the proposal on social media and Reddit, arguing that websites could more easily identify and reject those masked addresses during account sign-ups.
Apple confirmed the reversal in an August 24 developer update, saying Hide My Email addresses will remain on icloud.com. The company said the decision followed further consideration and community feedback.
Apple is still changing the domain used by Sign in with Apple. New addresses created through that service later this year will use private.icloud.com instead of privaterelay.appleid.com, while existing addresses will continue forwarding mail without interruption.
Hide My Email Keeps Users’ Real Addresses Private
With Hide My Email, users can create disposable addresses that route messages to an email address associated with their Apple Account. The generated address can then be deactivated, reactivated, or replaced without exposing the underlying personal address.
The service does not make users anonymous from Apple itself. As previously reported, Apple can identify the account connected to a masked address when responding to valid law enforcement requests.
Apple did not provide any additional explanation for reversing the domain plan. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, who first reported the reversal, said Apple employees had objected to the proposed change internally.
Earlier this year, 404 Media also reported a Hide My Email bug that could expose users’ real email addresses when messages were rejected as spam. Apple later fixed the issue more than a year after it was first notified about the vulnerability.
Featured image credits: Wikimedia Commons
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