Apple Hide My Email settings

Sharing your personal email address can expose your real email to data leaks and data sharing. 

Thankfully, Apple allows you to keep your personal email address private with its Hide My Email feature.

Below, we’ll cover everything you need to know about Hide My Email settings. 

What is the Apple Hide My Email feature?

Hide My Email lets you create random email addresses to keep your real one private. This feature can be useful when signing up for new online accounts or emailing someone you don’t know. 

Emails generated using this feature end in @iCloud and work with all Apple services. Emails sent to the random email address generated using the Hide My Email feature can be forwarded to your iCloud Mail address or any email address so you can view and respond to them without compromising your privacy. 

Where do I find the Hide My Email settings?

On iPhone and iPad

Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Hide My Email.

On Mac

Click the Apple menu  > System Settings  > click [your name] > click iCloud on the right > click Hide My Email.

Note: You need to be signed in with your Apple ID. If you don’t have an Apple ID, you need to create one first.

Manage your previously created emails in iCloud settings

On iPhone and iPad

Deactivate a Hide My Email address 

If you deactivate a Hide My Email address, it will no longer forward emails to you. This is a handy feature if you want to stop receiving emails from a specific website or app without needing to unsubscribe.

Here’s how: 

1. Go to the “Hide My Email” settings.
2. Tap an address you want to remove. 
3. Tap “deactivate email address.”

Change which personal email address to forward to

Perhaps your current email is overwhelmed with spam, or you want a more professional-sounding email. Whatever the reason, you might want to change your email in the future. If that happens, this option allows you to update the forwarding address for your Hide My Email emails.

Here’s how: 

1. Go to the “Hide My Email” settings.
2. Scroll down to the bottom and tap “forward to.” 
3. Enter a new email address. 

Copy a forwarding address to use elsewhere 

Hide My Email addresses are randomly generated and hard to remember. Thankfully, you can easily copy and use them elsewhere. Using the same address for multiple websites allows you to disable and stop emails from multiple sources with one click.

Here’s how: 

1. Go to the “Hide My Email” settings.
2. Tap an address you want to copy.
3. Press and hold the “Hide My Email” section.
4. Tap “copy.”

To use that address elsewhere, press and hold in a text field, then tap “paste.”

On Mac

On a Mac, there are a few more things you can do. 

Edit labels

Labeling helps you keep track of which email addresses are used for which services or contacts. This way, you can quickly identify the purpose of each address, manage your subscriptions, and unsubscribe from those you no longer wish to receive.

To edit labels:

1. Go to the “Hide My Email” settings.
2. Select an address you want to add a label to.
3. Click “edit.” 
4. Create a label and click “done.”

Edit notes

Notes are useful to add more information about the purpose of the subscription or the date you signed up for it. 

To edit notes:

1. Go to the “Hide My Email” settings. 
2. Select an address you want to add a note to. 
3. Click “edit.” 
4. Add a note and click “done.”

Deactivate an address

If you no longer need an address, you can deactivate it. 

To deactivate an address: 

1. Go to the “Hide My Email” settings.
2. Select an address you want to deactivate.
3. Click “deactivate email address.”
4. Click “deactivate” to confirm. 

Reactivate an inactive address

You can also reactivate an inactive email address.

To reactivate an address:

1. Go to the “Hide My Email” settings.
2. Click the options button in the lower-left corner.
3. Click “show inactive addresses.”
4. Select an inactive address and click “reactivate address.”
5. Click “reactivate” again and then “done.”

Delete an inactive address 

You can also take it one step further than deactivation and delete email addresses you no longer need. 

To delete an inactive address:

1. Go to the  “Hide My Email” settings.
2. Click the “options” button in the lower-left corner. 
3. Click “show inactive addresses.”
4. Select the address you want to delete and click “delete address.”
5. Click “delete” again and then “done.”

Choose a personal email address to forward to

There are many reasons you may want to change the address your emails get forwarded to. You can change them at any time.

To set a forwarding address:

1. Go to the “Hide My Email” settings.
2. Click the “options” button.
3. Click “change forwarding address.”
4. Enter an address and click “done.”

How to use Hide My Email on Mac (macOS 12 or later)

There are three ways to use Hide My Email on Mac:

• Automatically create a new address in Safari
• Automatically create a new address in Mail
• Manually create a new address in iCloud settings.

Note: To use Hide My Email you need to be signed in to your device. 

See below how to manage emails previously created in iCloud settings.

Automatically create a new address in Safari

1. Open Safari.
2. Go to the website you need to enter the email address.
3. Tap on the email field.
4. Tap Hide My Email at the top of your keyboard.

Note: You can either generate a new, unique email address or use one that you’ve already created. 

Automatically create a new address in Mail

1. Open Mail.
2. Open a new email window.
3. Open the pop-up menu in the “from” field.
4. Click “Hide My Email.”

Manually create a new address in iCloud settings

1. Click on your name or Apple ID in the sidebar. 
2. Click “iCloud.”
3. Select “Hide My Email” (or “options” next to “Hide My Email” if you’re using macOS 12).

Automatically create a new address in Wallet & Apple Pay settings (macOS Sonoma or later)

1. Open the system settings.
2. In the sidebar, click “Wallet & Apple Pay.”
3. Enable “Hide My Email.”

How to use Hide My Email on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Automatically create a new address in Safari

1. Open Safari.
2. Go to the website you need to enter the email address.
3. Tap on the email field.
4. Tap “Hide My Email” at the top of your keyboard.

Automatically create a new address in Mail (iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2, or later)

1. Open the Apple Mail app.
2. Open a new email window.
3. Tap “from.”
4. Tap “Hide My Email.”

Automatically create a new address with Apple Pay (iOS 17, iPadOS 17, or later)

1. Select Apple Pay as your payment method during a purchase.
2. Tap “contact” in the payment sheet (only available if the app or website requires an email).
3. Tap “Hide My Email.”

Automatically create a new address with supported third-party apps (iOS 16, iPadOS 16, or later)

1. Open the app.
2. Tap the email field where the app requires an email address. 
3. Tap “Hide My Email” at the top of your keyboard. 

Wallet & Apple Pay settings (iOS 17, iPadOS 17, or later)

1. Open the Settings app. 
2. Tap “Wallet & Apple Pay.”
3. Tap “email.”
4. Enable “Hide My Email.”

Manually create a new address in iCloud settings

1. Tap “Hide My Email.”
2. Open the Settings app.
3. Tap your name.
4. Tap “iCloud.”

FAQ