Apple backtracks on Hide My Email domain shift after privacy backlash, keeps aliases on iCloud.com

Apple has reversed course on a planned change that would have moved iCloud+ Hide My Email addresses to a new domain shared with Sign in with Apple, citing community feedback. New Sign in with Apple private relay addresses will still switch domains later this year, but Hide My Email will stay on the familiar icloud.com domain that regular iCloud accounts use.

The original plan and the outcry

In mid-June 2026, Apple told developers it would unify the email domains for both features under a single shared domain: private.icloud.com. New Sign in with Apple addresses (then issued on privaterelay.appleid.com) and new Hide My Email addresses (then issued on icloud.com) would both move to the new domain. Existing addresses would continue working and forwarding mail without interruption.

The change for Hide My Email drew sharp criticism. Because Hide My Email aliases currently share the icloud.com domain with ordinary iCloud email addresses, services cannot easily block the disposable aliases at the domain level without also risking legitimate iCloud users. Moving them to a distinct, easily identifiable domain like private.icloud.com would have made it trivial for websites and apps to detect and reject those addresses during sign-ups, undercutting a key privacy benefit of the iCloud+ feature. Privacy-focused users and commentators argued the move risked “ruining” the usefulness of the aliases.

Apple’s update

On August 24, 2026, Apple published a developer note stating that, “after further consideration and reviewing community feedback, iCloud+ Hide My Email addresses will remain on icloud.com.” New Sign in with Apple addresses will still begin issuing on private.icloud.com later this year; existing privaterelay.appleid.com addresses will continue to forward mail without interruption.

Developers whose apps or websites use Sign in with Apple are asked to ensure their account systems, email validation logic, and allowlists accept addresses on both the new private.icloud.com domain and the legacy privaterelay.appleid.com domain.

Why it matters

Hide My Email lets iCloud+ subscribers generate unique, disposable addresses that forward to their real inbox and can be deactivated at any time. Keeping those addresses on icloud.com preserves the camouflage that makes domain-level blocking impractical. The partial reversal shows Apple responding to user and community concerns about a change that would have made a popular privacy tool easier to circumvent.

Sign in with Apple’s domain update is more of a housekeeping shift (aligning with broader Apple Account naming and infrastructure) and carries less risk of widespread blocking, since those addresses were already on a distinct private-relay domain.

For most users, existing Hide My Email aliases remain unchanged and fully functional. Developers simply need to update allowlists for the upcoming Sign in with Apple domain transition.
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MacDailyNews Take: Thanks for listening, Apple!

See also: Apple is poised to ruin ‘Hide My Email’ aliases – June 17, 2026

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