Apple has reversed a planned change to its Hide My Email feature that would have shifted new masked addresses to the @private.icloud.com domain.
The change, announced in June, would have made it easier for websites to identify when users were signing up with a masked address instead of a standard @icloud.com address.
Hide My Email is included with iCloud+ and lets users generate random email addresses to keep their real addresses private. If websites could identify the masked domain, they could block those addresses during signup.
Apple disclosed the reversal in a developer note posted on its website on Monday. The company did not give a reason for the decision.
Daring Fireball’s John Gruber reported that employees on the Hide My Email team had “strong objections” to the planned change. Users had also objected to the move in Reddit discussions.
Apple still plans to use the @private.icloud.com domain for new Sign in with Apple relay addresses later this year. That change does not create the same privacy issue because websites already know users are signing in through Apple’s login system.
Earlier this year, Apple patched a Hide My Email bug that exposed users’ real email addresses behind masked accounts. 404 Media reported that Apple had known about the exploit for at least a year before fixing it, and patched it after the publication’s report gained traction.
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