Apple’s Hide My Email change could make anonymous sign-ups easier to spot
Apple is moving Hide My Email to a new domain
Apple is changing one of its iCloud+ privacy tools in a way that could make it easier for websites and apps to identify people trying to sign up anonymously.
Hide My Email lets paying iCloud+ subscribers create forwarding addresses that mask their real email address when registering for online accounts. Until now, those generated addresses have used the same @icloud.com domain as regular Apple email accounts, making them difficult to distinguish from standard user addresses.
That is about to change. In a note to developers on Monday, Apple said it will move anonymously generated addresses to @private.icloud.com in the coming weeks. The shift effectively tags those addresses as private, which could allow services to block them more easily when they want to prevent anonymous registrations.
Apple said existing addresses will continue to work and forward mail without interruption. But it also warned that app makers and email providers may need to update their filtering systems so messages to customers using the feature keep getting through.
The change drew criticism from some Apple users on Reddit, who said it would make the service harder to use for privacy-minded sign-ups.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment from TechCrunch or explain why it is making the change.
The update comes after TechCrunch reported earlier this year that Apple turned over the real account information behind a Hide My Email address used to send an allegedly threatening email to the girlfriend of FBI director Kash Patel. It also lands amid broader pressure from the Trump administration to identify anonymous accounts, including those belonging to critics, through subpoenas directed at tech companies.
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