Later this summer, Apple has announced it will unify the email domains used by “Sign in with Apple” and iCloud+ “Hide My Email” under a single, shared domain: private.icloud.com.
New addresses generated for both features will be issued on the new domain. For example:
• Sign in with Apple addresses, previously issued on privaterelay.appleid.com, will be issued on private.icloud.com.
• iCloud+ Hide My Email addresses, previously issued on icloud.com, will be issued on private.icloud.com.
Existing addresses on the legacy domains will continue to work and forward mail to users without interruption.
What developers need to do:
• Developers with apps or websites that use Sign in with Apple should ensure that their account systems, email validation logic, and allowlists accept addresses on the new private.icloud.com domain in addition to existing domains: privaterelay.appleid.com and icloud.com.
• Email service providers should update any domain-based filtering, suppression lists, or routing rules that explicitly enumerate relay domains so that the new private.icloud.com domain is included.
Learn more about Sign in with Apple here and communicating using Private Email Relay Service here.
MacDailyNews Note: Ugh! Both “Sign in with Apple” and Hide My Email aliases will now be issued on the @private.icloud.com subdomain instead of the regular @icloud.com addresses.
This will allow services and spammers easily block every single Hide My Email alias in one shot without touching users’ actual iCloud mailboxes.
For privacy-conscious iCloud+ subscribers, this is a real step backward. One of the quiet strengths of Hide My Email has been that many services hesitated to outright ban iCloud addresses because doing so risked blocking legitimate users. That protection is now evaporating. Once @private.icloud.com addresses start getting widely blocked, Hide My Email risks turning into just another disposable alias service that serious sites simply refuse to accept — no different from the free 10-minute mail services.
It’s disappointing to see Apple undermine one of its own privacy tools in this way. The company has spent years positioning iCloud+ as a premium privacy offering. This move feels like it prioritizes spam-fighting convenience over user privacy and long-term trust.
We sincerely hope someone at Apple reconsiders before this change fully rolls out. There’s still real value in keeping Hide My Email aliases under the main iCloud domain.
Practical note for users: If you rely on iCloud+ Hide My Email, act quickly. You can still generate aliases on the regular @icloud.com domain for now. The change hasn’t landed yet, and Apple’s current rate limit is at least 30 aliases per hour. Create what you need while you still can!
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Whoever created Hide My Email was a true Apple Star. Whoever at Apple wants to destroy it is a rotten crapple.
100% agree, privacy is going away very soon.
Ditto the post above, this is another craptastic way that Apple can systematically turn its loyal fans into loyal ‘tools’ for revenue. When spammers are paying Apple to undue its security and Apple listens to them instead of its users, you feel betrayed. Time to move to ProtonMail.
This is true destruction of a precious AAPL moat.
Of all the times to make this happen…w/ the tidal wave of coming AI bots. Inexplicable.
Any solid public AAPL explanation?
I still use my me.com email for regular stuff, and that goes back a way. I’ve never seen another user of that feature.
Tell me someone, probably several, was promoted beyond their aptitude without telling me you promoted someone beyond their aptitude.
If a company decides “we won’t accept your Apple relay email”, that’s their loss.
You don’t lose privacy.
You don’t lose security.
You don’t lose anything except access to a service that clearly doesn’t value you.