The cross-platform Hide My Email alternative
Apple's Hide My Email is locked to iCloud+, Safari, and Apple Mail. EmailAlias works in every browser, on every OS, with reply-from-alias, sender-risk alerts, and a free tier that doesn't require a storage subscription.
Why people pick EmailAlias over Hide My Email
Works outside the Apple walled garden
Hide My Email needs an active iCloud+ subscription and is most usable inside Safari and Apple Mail. EmailAlias has first-class browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Vivaldi, and Arc — and the dashboard works on any OS, no Apple ID required.
Reply from your alias
Hide My Email is one-way: when you reply to a forwarded message, recipients see your real iCloud email. EmailAlias Premium lets you reply directly from the alias — the recipient sees only the alias, your real address never leaks, and the thread stays coherent.
Real free tier
Hide My Email requires a paid iCloud+ plan (starting at $0.99/mo) to use at all. EmailAlias Free gives you 10 aliases, basic forwarding, and the weekly high-risk exposure digest with no credit card and no storage commitment.
Suspicious-sender intelligence
Apple's pitch is anonymity to the sender — that's it. EmailAlias also scores every inbound sender for phishing risk (TLD reputation, typosquatting, suspicious keywords) and alerts you the moment a high-risk sender lands on one of your aliases.
Feature comparison
Pricing side-by-side
Apple bundles Hide My Email with iCloud+ storage tiers — you can't buy it standalone. EmailAlias has a free tier and standalone Premium that doesn't require any other subscription.
Free plan
Paid plan
iCloud+ pricing reflects Apple's publicly listed tiers (US pricing). Local prices vary by region — verify on apple.com before subscribing.
How to switch from Hide My Email in 5 steps
Most users finish in under 20 minutes. You don't need to cancel iCloud+ to migrate — the @icloud.com aliases just become unused.
- 1
Inventory your existing Hide My Email aliases
On macOS: System Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Hide My Email. On iOS: Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Hide My Email. Note each alias, the service you gave it to, and whether it forwards to your primary Apple ID email or a custom address.
- 2
Create your EmailAlias account
Sign up at emailalias.io with the same destination inbox you currently use. Premium gets a 7-day free trial — start that if you'll want custom domains or send/reply features.
- 3
Re-create the aliases on EmailAlias
For each Hide My Email alias, mint a fresh EmailAlias on @emailalias.io (or your custom domain) and label it with the service name. If you used Hide My Email's custom-domain feature, you can move the domain to EmailAlias by repointing MX records and re-creating the same local-parts.
- 4
Update each service to the new alias
Log into each service and change the email on file from your @icloud.com alias to the new EmailAlias one. Most services only require an email change confirmation — no full account migration. Add the EmailAlias browser extension first so you can generate aliases inline on any future signups.
- 5
Deactivate your Hide My Email aliases
Once your EmailAlias dashboard shows traffic on each new alias and no traffic on the old ones (2–4 weeks of overlap is the safe window), deactivate the @icloud.com aliases in iCloud settings. You don't have to cancel iCloud+ — Hide My Email just becomes unused.
Frequently asked questions
The questions we get most often from people moving over from Apple Hide My Email.
Can I move my aliases between providers?
Aliases on a shared provider domain (e.g. @emailalias.io) aren't portable — they live on our domain and stay with us. Aliases on a custom domain (yourdomain.com) are fully portable: you keep the domain, point its MX records at a new provider, re-create the same local-parts on their side, and the addresses keep working — provided the new provider supports custom local-parts (most do; some only issue random codes). Custom domains are a Premium feature on EmailAlias, but for anyone who plans to use aliases long-term, it's vendor-independence insurance worth having.
What does Premium include?
Unlimited aliases, up to 5 custom domains, unlimited verified forwarding inboxes (so each alias can route to the right mailbox), send & reply from any alias, real-time leak detection with exposure analytics, and priority processing — all for $4/month or $35/year (save 27%).
What happens if a service I signed up for gets breached?
Because each service has its own unique alias, you'll know exactly which service leaked your data — when spam or phishing hits that alias, the source is obvious. Our exposure intelligence engine also flags suspicious senders in real time. Disable the affected alias and your real email stays safe.
Do I need a paid iCloud+ plan to use Hide My Email?
Yes. Hide My Email is bundled with iCloud+ — there is no standalone free tier. The cheapest entry point is the 50GB iCloud+ plan at $0.99/mo, which includes Hide My Email plus storage and Private Relay. If you don't want to pay for Apple storage you don't need, EmailAlias has a free tier with 10 aliases and no credit card required.
Does Hide My Email work on Windows, Android, or Linux?
Not fully. You can read forwarded mail anywhere (it goes to your iCloud inbox), but creating, managing, and deactivating Hide My Email aliases requires Apple's first-party UI — iCloud.com in a browser is the only cross-platform option, and the iCloud.com flow lacks inline alias generation on signup forms. EmailAlias has browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Vivaldi, and Arc, and works the same on every operating system.
Can I reply from a Hide My Email alias?
No. Hide My Email is one-way forwarding — when you reply to a forwarded message, the recipient sees your real Apple ID email address, defeating the purpose of the alias. EmailAlias supports reply-from-alias on Premium: the recipient sees the message as coming from the alias, and your real address is never exposed.
Does Hide My Email tell me if a sender is suspicious?
No. Apple's privacy story focuses on hiding your address; it doesn't score senders for phishing risk or alert you when a high-risk domain hits an alias. EmailAlias runs continuous risk scoring on every inbound message — flagging risky TLDs, typosquatting domains, and known phishing signals — and surfaces the results in a dashboard you actually see.
What happens to my aliases if I leave the Apple ecosystem?
Your @icloud.com aliases stop working when you cancel iCloud+ or lose access to your Apple ID. That's a hard lock-in. With EmailAlias, your aliases either live on our domain (portable inside EmailAlias) or on your own custom domain (fully portable to any provider). Vendor independence is one of the main reasons users migrate.
More questions? See the full FAQ.
The Hide My Email features Apple doesn't ship
Cross-platform aliases, reply-from-alias, sender-risk alerts, custom domains — without a forced iCloud subscription. Start your 7-day free trial.