Google is working on a Shielded Email feature equivalent to Apple’s ‘Hide my Email’ feature, which essentially protects your email ID from spam. The feature will hide your email and create a temporary one that will forward emails to your original email ID. Here’s everything to know about it.
As spotted by Android Authority in an APK teardown of the version 24.45.33 release of Google Play Services, Google is working on a Shielded Email feature. This feature consists of a system that allows you to create single-use or limited-use email aliases that forward messages to your primary account. While this feature could be useful in Chrome, Google appears to be designing it specifically to handle situations where apps request your email address.
Shielded Email will likely be available when creating new accounts in Android apps. Google highlights that this feature “can protect you from online tracking and data breaches.” Emails will be forwarded to your primary account, and you can “turn off forwarding at any time in your Google Account” if spam becomes an issue. Further, Google could integrate the feature with Android’s autofill service and the Google Password Manager as well.
As of now, it’s unclear whether Google will charge for the feature or it will be made available free of cost. In Apple’s case, the company charges for the ‘Hide my Email’ feature as it is bundled with the iCloud+ subscription.
In related news to Google, the company has also introduced Google Calendar integration within Gemini in Gmail so users could easily ask the AI-powered assistant to create events via the Gmail App itself. This integration is in addition to the ability of Gemini to connect with other Workspace apps like Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive, helping users complete tasks without ever leaving Gmail.