Apple Reverses Hide My Email Domain Change After Privacy Backlash

Apple has reversed a planned change to its iCloud+ Hide My Email feature and will keep masked addresses on the @icloud.com domain instead of moving them to @private.icloud.com. The company changed course after users warned that the new domain would make disposable aliases easier for websites and apps to identify and potentially block during account creation, weakening one of the feature’s core privacy benefits. Apple said it made the decision after reviewing community feedback.

The reversal applies to Hide My Email aliases, which generate disposable forwarding addresses for iCloud+ users, but Apple still plans to migrate Sign in with Apple relay addresses from @privaterelay.appleid.com to @private.icloud.com later in 2026. Developers have been told to allow the new domain, while older relay addresses will continue forwarding without interruption. Reporting also noted that although Hide My Email obscures a user’s real address from services, Apple can still identify the account behind an alias for law-enforcement requests, and the feature previously faced scrutiny over a bug that exposed real email addresses in some spam-rejection scenarios before Apple fixed it.