Protect Your Inbox from Spam with Anonymous Email Forwarding

Spam: Is there a more invasive nuisance to regularly plague your inbox? Spam comes in many forms (e.g., chain emails, advertisements, money scams, etc.) with the most common trait being that they are unsolicited. Named for a Monty Python sketch in which unwanted Spam, the canned food item, is served in every dish, email spam is anything but a comedy. If anything, it’s more of a circle of hell, in this article we will take you to explore how to protect your inbox from spam with anonymous email forwarding.

A Safer Haven for Your Inbox

One way to avoid spam is by opening a different email address whenever you need to provide one for, say, buying something online. This ensures your “real” email address does not receive ads from the company or others who might obtain your details because of this purchase. You can get temporary email addresses, lasting as short as 10 minutes. (One popular service to try is 10 Minute Mail.) But signing up for separate email addresses for everything is a cumbersome process.

Protect Your Email Address with a Forwarding Service

This is where anonymous email and alias forwarding services like AnonAddy and SimpleLogin come in. Recently, Apple launched its own, called Hide My Email. At the most basic level, these services allow you to create and manage numerous “alias” email addresses that forward to your inbox. These email alias services differ from temporary email addresses in that an email alias will last for however long you need it to.

AnonAddy

Free: $0 USD/year, unlimited standard aliases, 20 shared domain aliases, 2 recipients
Lite: $12 USD/year, unlimited standard aliases, 70 shared domain aliases, 1 custom domain, 5 recipients
Pro: $36-48 USD/year, unlimited standard aliases, unlimited shared domain aliases, 10 custom domains, 30 recipients, 3 additional usernames
Browser extensions: Chrome and Firefox
Smartphone apps: Android (Google Play and F-Droid) and iOS
Company: privacy policy, security outline, and roadmap

Founded by UK-based developer Will Browning, AnonAddy was developed to provide an affordable, open-source, ad-free, encrypted, and multi-alias email forwarding service to thwart spam.

SimpleLogin

Free: $0 USD/year, 15 aliases, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited reply/send from alias, 1 mailbox
Premium: $30-36 USD/year, unlimited aliases, unlimited custom domains, 50 directories/usernames
Enterprise: Dedicated server & database, single sign-on
Browser extensions: Chrome and Firefox
Smartphone apps: Android (Google Play and F-Droid) and iOS
Company: privacy policy, security overview, and roadmap

Founded by French-based developers SimpleLogin SAS, SimpleLogin was developed to provide a simple experience for protecting email addresses. SimpleLogin is open source, encrypted, private, and affordable.

Apple’s Hide My Email

iCloud+ account required: $0.99 USD, $2.99 USD, or $9.99 USD per month
Available on: iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Hide My Email is a service provided by Apple that allows you to create unique, random email addresses that keeps your actual email address hidden. The service is available on iOS 15 for the iPhone, iPad, macOS, and on iCloud.com.

Managing Your Aliases

Now here comes the fun part. Say one of the aliases you’ve created starts receiving spam. You now have the ability to deactivate said alias with the flick of a switch. AnonAddy will then discard any future emails that attempt to come through to that alias. If you decide to delete that alias altogether, AnonAddy will outright reject any future emails.