Apple to change Hide My Email feature, reducing privacy
▼ Summary
– Apple will move its Hide My Email anonymous addresses from @icloud.com to @private.icloud.com, making it easier for apps and websites to detect and block anonymous sign-ups.
– The feature currently works because the anonymous addresses are indistinguishable from regular @icloud.com user email addresses.
– Existing anonymous email addresses will continue to function and forward mail without interruption, but app and email providers must update filtering to ensure delivery.
– Apple users on Reddit criticized the change, saying it would make the service harder to use.
– The change follows a report that Apple turned over a user’s real account info from Hide My Email in response to a law enforcement request, amid Trump administration efforts to unmask anonymous accounts.
Apple is rolling out a significant change to its Hide My Email feature, a move that could make it easier for apps and websites to block anonymous sign-ups. The feature, available to iCloud+ subscribers, currently generates random @icloud.com email addresses that forward messages to a user’s real inbox. Because these addresses are indistinguishable from standard Apple user emails, they offer a seamless layer of privacy.
In a developer note released Monday, Apple announced that newly created anonymous email addresses will soon use the domain @private.icloud.com. This shift, expected within weeks, essentially alerts third-party services that an email address is anonymized, giving them the ability to reject sign-ups from users seeking to protect their real identities.
Existing anonymized email addresses will continue to function and forward mail without interruption, Apple confirmed. However, the company advised that app and email providers must update their filtering systems to ensure messages to customers using the feature are not blocked.
The change has drawn criticism from Apple users on Reddit, who argue it undermines the core utility of the service. Many expressed concern that it will become harder to use the feature for its intended purpose of maintaining privacy.
Apple did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment on the rationale behind the domain change.
This development follows a report from earlier this year, in which TechCrunch revealed that Apple provided the real account information of a user who used Hide My Email to send an allegedly threatening email to the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel. The Trump administration has also intensified efforts to unmask anonymous accounts, using subpoenas to compel tech companies to disclose user information, including those of political critics.
(Source: TechCrunch)
