According to people familiar with the matter, Apple plans to adjust the "Hide My Email" privacy feature in its paid subscription service iCloud+, which may make it easier for websites and apps to identify and block users who register with anonymous email addresses.
The "Hide My Email" function currently generates a random email address under the @icloud.com domain name, which is used to replace the user's real email address and is used to register a website or application account. All emails from these anonymous addresses will eventually be forwarded to the user's real email address. This design works because these anonymous addresses are technically indistinguishable from regular Apple users' @icloud.com mailboxes, making it difficult for service providers to distinguish how genuine they are.
According to a notice issued by Apple to developers on Monday, in the next few weeks, the company will uniformly migrate anonymous email addresses generated through "Hide My Email" to the @private.icloud.com domain name. This means that when applications and websites receive an email address of this new domain name, it will be easier to determine that it is an "anonymous email address" and thus choose to refuse registration or impose additional restrictions.
Apple emphasized in the note that existing anonymous email addresses that have been generated will continue to be available and email forwarding will not be interrupted. However, the company reminds applications and email service providers to promptly update their filtering and delivery rules to ensure that users who rely on this feature can still receive emails normally.
This adjustment has caused dissatisfaction among some Apple users. Multiple users posted comments on Reddit criticizing that moving anonymous addresses to new domains would make it more difficult to use the service because the site would be able to tell at a glance which "hidden email addresses."
Apple has yet to provide a public explanation to the media for this change.
Earlier this year, in a case involving threatening emails involving the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, Apple handed over the real account information of users who generated anonymous addresses through the "Hide My Email" function at the request of law enforcement. The incident shows that even if users achieve email anonymity in front of apps and websites, service providers can still trace clues back to their true identity when facing police investigations.
At the same time, the Trump administration has continued to promote "de-anonymization" actions over the past year, requiring multiple technology companies to hand over user data through subpoenas and other means, including anonymous account information that criticizes Trump. Analysts believe that in such a political and law enforcement environment, Apple's adjustment to the "Hide My Email" domain name will inevitably be regarded by privacy advocates as another signal to weaken the user's anonymity space.