Introduced in iOS 15, Hide my email is a feature of iCloud+ that does exactly what it says: you can create an alternate email address for each individual service you sign up for and easily cut off said email whenever you want. It prevents advertisers from having your primary email address and gives you better control of your inbox – a total win-win.
That said, despite being introduced 5 years ago, the feature hasn’t progressed as much as it realistically could have. Here are my suggestions for how Apple could improve Hide My Email.
Mostly only exists in the settings
Apple has long believed that certain features should not be heavily exposed to the user, but would simply exist in the background. That was the case with iCloud Keychain for a long time, until finally has its own application in iOS 18.
The same goes for Hide my email. If an app gives you the option to generate a new email on the keyboard, you can use it. This works great in Safari, system apps, and certain third-party apps, but it’s not available everywhere. On macOS, it’s even scarcer.
It might not make the most sense for Hide My Email to be its own app, but it might make sense as part of Passwords. Either way, it would be nice if the feature were a little easier to access, so it’s easier to create emails in places that don’t natively expose keyboard integration.
Chrome Support
Apple has had a iCloud Passwords Extension in Chrome for quite some time now, and believe it or not, it has gotten a lot better over the years. It gained support for passcodes, added support for iCloud 2FA codes, and even integrated autofill from its Messages app.
It would also be nice if the Chrome extension allowed you to generate a new Hide My Email address in any email field, similar to how it works in Safari. Ultimately, you have to pay to use the service, so I see no reason why Apple couldn’t make it work well with Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers.
Support for personalized emails
Lastly, and this is more of a vanity feature, I think it would be cool if Hide My Email allowed you to use custom domains. Each email is an @icloud.com email address at this time.
Apple allows you use your own domains with iCloud Mail, so in theory Apple could set up aliases using your domain that link to iCloud Hide My Email. I suppose this would have less privacy aspects, but would still allow you to easily remove senders from your inbox when necessary, while being able to use whatever domain you want.
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