Top 2 Ways to Hide Your Real Email on Mobile and Desktop

Exposing your email address is like doxing your digital address to others, which can lead to a constant barrage of unexpected emails and spam. Luckily, there are ways to protect yourself and your real email address. This article will delve into the top two ways to hide your real email on mobile and desktop.

Many people don’t know how to hide their email address and often wonder how do they keep getting spam every day. One of the ways to combat that is to create aliases for your email ID. Aliases act and work as your original email address but without revealing your real email ID. Let’s take a look at how to hide your real email ID.

Use Hide My Email on iPhone and Mac

The iCloud’s Hide My Email feature lets you conceal your real email ID and use an alias instead without even installing an app. You can use it seamlessly on all Apple devices. Here’s how to use that feature on iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Hide My Email is a freemium feature; you can use it for free to sign in to apps masking your real email ID. However, if you wish to create an email alias on demand or send an email without showing your real email ID, you need an iCloud+ subscription.

Create Email Aliases Using Hide My Email

Creating and using email aliases using Hide My Email on your iPhone and Mac is very simple. Here are the steps to follow.

On iPhone

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap on your name/Apple ID.

Step 2: Tap iCloud.

Step 3: Scroll down and tap Hide My Email.

Step 4: Tap ‘+ Create New Address.’

Step 5: Type a label/name (and note) to help you remember this email address and its purpose. After that, tap Next.

Step 6: Tap Done.

Step 7: The iOS or iPadOS will redirect you to the Hide My Email page; tap on the newly created email address.

Step 8: Tap on the address and tap Copy. You can paste this email address to sign up with a website or service.

Additionally, you can also use Hide My Email to sign in to an app. A new random email will be created without revealing your real email ID with the name of the associated app. Here’s how it works.

Step 1: On the app sign-in page, tap the Apple logo.

Step 2: Tap and check the Hide My Email option and hit Continue. And that’s it.

On Mac

Step 1: Press Command + Spacebar to open the Spotlight search on your Mac and search for System Settings. Click on the result to open it.

Step 2: Go to your name/Apple ID in the System Settings on the left sidebar and click iCloud.

Step 3: Click Hide My Email under the iCloud+ section.

Step 4: Click on ‘+’ near the bottom left corner of the pop-up window.

Step 5: Type in a label and note for the newly created email address.

Step 6: Click Continue.

Step 7: Click Copy Address to copy the address to your clipboard, and then click Done. You can use this email address to sign up at a website or receive an email.

Send Emails Using Aliases With Hide My Email

Hide My Email also lets you send emails using your iPhone and Mac without revealing your real email ID. The process requires the Apple Mail app installed on your iPhone and Mac. Here are the steps to follow.

Apple Mail app comes pre-installed on all Apple devices. However, if you have deleted it from your iPhone, you can re-install it from the link below and then follow the steps.

Mail App for iPhone

On iPhone

Step 1: Launch the Mail app on your iPhone and tap the compose button at the bottom-right corner.

Step 2: Tap on your email to expand the From section.

Step 3: Again, tap on your email.

Step 4: Tap and select Hide My Email from the list.

Step 5: You will see a randomly created email in the from section; now, enter the email ID to whom you want to send the email and type your message and hit send.

On Mac

Step 1: Open the Mail app on your Mac.

Step 2: Go to the File option in the menu bar and click New Message.

Step 3: Compose your message, fill in the sender’s email ID and then click on your email ID in the from section.

Step 4: Click and select Hide My Email.

Step 5: A random email will replace your original email ID and click Send icon at the top.

Also Read: Learn how to create email aliases on Outlook, Yahoo mail, and Gmail.

Hide Your Real Email Using a Third-Party App/Service

If you are not into the Apple ecosystem, you can still mask your email address while mailing someone or signing up for a new service. There are many third-party apps or services which can help you do so. For example purposes, we’re using SimpleLogin, which is a freemium tool that lets you do that effectively. Let’s take a look at the steps to take.

Download SimpleLogin for Android

Download SimpleLogin for iOS

Create Email Aliases With SimpleLogin

You can use SimpleLogin to create 10 free aliases (or masked email address) for your email ID. Here’s how to do it.

On Mobile

Step 1: Open the SimpleLogin app on your smartphone and tap Create new account.

Step 2: Enter your email ID, type in a new password for SimpleLogin and tap Create account.

Tip: Enter the exact email ID while creating the account for which you want to create the aliases.

Step 3: A pop-up will appear on the screen; tap OK.

Step 4: Now, enter the activation code sent to your email using the number pad on the screen.

Step 5: The SimpleLogin app will open and tap the big ‘+’ button.

Step 6: Type a custom address for the alias and choose a domain. Then tap Create.

Tip: Choose a Public domain that’s free to use for all users.

Step 7: The alias will be created; tap Copy to copy it. And, you can use it to receive emails and sign up on any website without sacrificing your real email address.

On Windows or Mac

SimpleLogin on Web

Step 1: Open the SimpleLogin website in any browser and log in with your account. You can also create a new account by clicking on Sign up.

Step 2: Click ‘+ New Custom Alias’ to start.

Step 3: Type a custom name for the alias and click on domain to edit it.

Step 4: Click and select a public domain from the drop-down menu.

Step 5: Click Create.

Step 6: The newly created alias will show up in your dashboard; click on the alias to copy it into your clipboard.

You can use it anywhere to receive emails or sign up on any website without giving out your real email address.

Send Emails Using Aliases With SimpleLogin

You can easily receive emails on the aliases of your email. However, sending emails using these aliases is slightly trickier as compared to receiving them. Let’s take a look at the steps.

On Mobile

On Windows or Mac

SimpleLogin on Web

Step 1: Open the SimpleLogin website in any browser and click on Contacts under the alias you just created.

Step 2: Type the email address to whom you wish to send an email and click Create reverse-alias.

Step 3: Click Copy reverse-alias next to the contact you just created.

Step 4: Open the Gmail (or any other mail) in a browser and click Compose.

Tip: If you use an email app or client, you can also open that and follow along.

Step 5: Paste the reverse-alias in the To section of the new mail.

Step 6: Write the message and click Send. And that’s it.

Also Read: How to block or unblock emails in Gmail on iPhone, Android, and web.

Bonus: Create Unlimited Gmail Aliases

Did you know that you can create unlimited aliases using your Gmail ID? This alias works whenever you are signing up for an app or service or to receive an email. Let’s understand this with an example.

Suppose your Gmail ID is ‘YOURNAME@gmail.com.’ When you sign up for a newsletter, you will enter ‘YOURNAME’ followed by ‘+’ and ‘text’ (or ‘.’) and then @gmail.com. That’s how you can create numerous aliases using Gmail.

Quick Tip: You can use this trick to sign up at different websites by putting their website’s name after the ‘+’ or ‘.’ Plus, this will help you sort emails in your inbox. Plus, in case of spam or a data leak, you will be able to track the website responsible for that.

Alternatively, you may sign up on Facebook with ‘YOURNAME+facebook@gmail.com.’ After that, you will start receiving spam on this same alias that you used on Facebook.

Be Stealthy With Your Email

You can implement these two methods to hide your email ID and significantly reduce spam. Remember, the more you guard your real email ID, the safer and more secure your online experience will be. However, some services may not accept aliases and you might have to actually create a separate ID just for such sign ups.