Don’t be fooled: This Apple privacy feature won’t protect your identity

A 26-year-old man found out the hard way that Apple’s Hide My Email feature didn’t conceal his identity when he threatened the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel in February.

Apparently, that anti-anonymous loophole doesn’t just work for federal officials. New information suggests that Apple’s Hide My Email doesn’t hide anyone’s identity, even from websites and marketers as it was originally intended.

Your real address and name may be visible.

So what went wrong?

Hide My Email’s privacy problem

Apple unveiled Hide My Email in 2021 as part of its extended iCloud+ paid subscription. During its WWDC keynote event, then-VP of Apple Cloud Services, Mike Abbott, said, “We’ve all had moments where we’ve thought twice about sharing our personal email address, like when we’re filling out a form