Apple Lawsuit Claims ‘Hide My Email’ Feature Fails To Actually Hide User Email Addresses

A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that Apple has failed to disclose that its Hide My Email feature, which purportedly conceals users’ email addresses from third parties, does not work as advertised, given that any email address disguised by the feature can be unhidden by “almost anyone.”

The 40-page lawsuit asserts that although Apple advertises that Hide My Email generates a private, unique relay address that hides a user’s actual email address from businesses and forwards incoming messages to their inbox, the feature is hampered by a vulnerability that allows practically anyone to link a Hide My Email alias to a real email address.

The suit alleges that Apple, despite its brand identity as a company committed to user privacy, has been “fully aware” of the Hide My Email flaw for “over a year,” thanks in part to a cybersecurity researcher, yet has not fixed the issue while continuing to represent to consumers that Hide My Email will actually hide their email addresses from third parties.

The class action lawsuit accuses Apple of misleading millions of customers while profiting off its promises of privacy.

“As of the filing of this Complaint, the vulnerability remains unremediated and Hide My Email continues to be sold as a core feature of Apple’s privacy-protective ecosystem and of iCloud+ subscriptions,” the case says.

Hide My Email does not perform as advertised, class action lawsuit claims

According to the class action lawsuit, Apple has spent significant amounts of money advertising its commitment to privacy, with slogans like “Privacy. That’s Apple,” and describing privacy as “a fundamental human right” and a “core value” of the company. As part of Apple’s push to differentiate itself from competitors by focusing on user privacy, the tech giant introduced Hide My Email in 2019, with a paid version launched for iCloud+ in 2021, the suit says.

Per the complaint, Hide My Email is available as a free feature for Apple users who sign into a participating webpage with their email address. The feature is included as a “core component” of a paid iCloud+ subscription, which allows a user to generate an unlimited number of private relay addresses, the case states. Ultimately, Hide My Email is touted as a layer of protection against spam emails, unwanted tracking, the sale of personal information to data brokers, and more.

“Consumers use the feature to sign up for sensitive accounts and websites without linking them to their real identity, to avoid harassment, and to maintain their privacy, among other reasons,” the complaint explains. “The value of the feature depends on one thing being true—that the random alias cannot be traced back to the user’s real email address.”

The lawsuit says that despite Apple’s privacy representations, cybersecurity researchers have found that every email address purportedly hidden by Hide My Email can be unhidden in mere “moments,” even by an ordinary person without insider access or privileges. In fact, independent testing found that 100 percent of the alias relay addresses were “exploitable,” the suit says.

Per the case, researchers first reported the flaw in June 2025, and while Apple acknowledged the report, the company “took no action for nearly a year” while continuing to represent that Hide My Email does what its name says. Researchers finally went public with information about the Hide My Email vulnerability in July 2026, after a year of “inaction” and “concealment” and no security update from Apple, the lawsuit claims.

Apple continues to profit from misleading privacy claims, lawsuit says

The class action suit alleges that despite the warning provided by researchers, Apple has failed to disable or pause the Hide My Email privacy feature, warn consumers about the vulnerability, or amend its representations of enhanced user privacy.

According to the complaint, Hide My Email comes with every paid tier of iCloud+, which ranges from $0.99 per month to $59.99 per month, and is heavily marketed as a core feature of the service, with claims that a user’s personal email address is kept private, that only a specific app or website can utilize the relay email address, and that Apple deletes relay messages “within seconds” of delivery.

The suit argues that consumers increasingly consider privacy when making purchases, and Apple has wielded its supposedly enhanced privacy features as a “business advantage.” As the case tells it, consumers paid for iCloud+ subscriptions based on Apple’s misleading privacy claims, and Apple hardware buyers paid a premium price for products falsely marketed as have robust privacy protections.

The lawsuit calls the consequences of Hide My Email’s inoperability “serious,” noting that once a user’s real email address is exposed, it can be cross-referenced with public information to determine their name, location and other personal details, essentially defeating the purpose of the Hide My Email feature.

“An essential function consumers paid for—keeping the personal email address hidden and private—did not work,” the complaint stresses.

Who is covered by the Apple class action lawsuit?

The Apple class action lawsuit looks to cover all United States residents who, within the applicable statute of limitation period, purchased an Apple product and/or an iCloud+ subscription and used the Hide My Email feature.

How do I sign up for the Apple class action lawsuit?

Generally, you don’t need to do anything to join or sign up for a class action lawsuit when it is initially filed. Should the case be resolved with a class action settlement, settlement class members will typically receive written notice of the deal via mail and/or email with instructions on any next steps and details about their legal rights.

If you’ve purchased an Apple product and used the Hide My Email feature, or just want to stay informed about class action lawsuit and class action settlement news, sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter.

Check out ClassAction.org’s free legal resources to learn how to start a class action lawsuit.