What is it? Well, I believe the definition is quite clear. Temporary emails are disposable email addresses that often have a set expiration of a few minutes, hours, or even days, allowing you to receive emails without compromising your real address or serving as aliases. In short, it’s an extremely practical and quick way to protect your online privacy.
Most of these services are free and do not require registration. They can be used from the Web, via any browser, both from computers and smartphones or tablets, and in some cases, dedicated mobile apps are also available. So, how about we take a look together at a list of the most reliable and comprehensive solutions currently available? I assure you, you will have plenty of options! Happy reading.
Preliminary Information
Before diving into the details and pointing out the best solutions for creating a temporary email, there are a few preliminary information you should know.
As I mentioned earlier, a temporary email is a temporary email service with a deadline ranging from a few minutes to a few days, which allows you to receive emails without providing your actual address.
Another type of service is one that creates an alias of your real email address, allowing you to receive emails sent to the fictitious account in your “real” email inbox without revealing the latter.
For this reason, using a temporary email is undoubtedly a great solution for signing up for forums, blogs, e-commerce sites, etc., that you want to use occasionally or for which it is better not to provide your actual email address to avoid ending up with an inbox full of spam, newsletters, and other unwanted content.
However, keep in mind that using a temporary email service should not be considered for handling sensitive data, for which it is always best to refer to your real email address to avoid losing personal data or having them viewed by other users who generate the same temporary email address.
Free Temporary Email
At this point, I would say we can finally get to the point, as they say, and discover what I believe to be the best services for free temporary email currently available. You will find them listed below.
YOPmail
If you are looking for a quick and easy solution for creating an Italian temporary email, one of the first services I recommend trying is YOPmail. No registration is required to use it, and it supports a wide range of different addresses: not just those with the yopmail.com domain, but also courriel.fr.nf, @hide.biz.st, and others. The content of generated mailboxes is stored for eight days and does not require registration.
To use YOPmail, go to the home page of the service and type the first part of the email address you want to use in the field under Choose a Temporary Email Address, then click the button with the arrow next to it.
If you prefer to use a random email address, select the option Random found on the top bar, and one will be generated immediately, visible in the Your Auto-Generated Email Address section in the middle. If you don’t like it, you can change it by pressing the New button below, and if you like it and want to access the mailbox, click the Check Mail button below it.
After doing all this, check the box next to I am not a robot and complete any requested actions to pass the security check, then you will finally find yourself at the mercy of your temporary email inbox, with the list of received messages on the left. The content of the email box updates automatically, but you can also manually refresh by clicking the circular arrow button in the upper left.
To read a specific message, simply click on it, while to delete, forward, print it, or view its content in text format, use the appropriate buttons at the top.
Another point worth noting is that YOPmail boxes can communicate with each other, making the service also usable as temporary email for sending. By clicking the pencil button on the inbox screen, you can create a new email message and send it to another YOPmail box. Unfortunately, it is not possible to send messages to addresses other than those offered by the service.
I also want to point out the possibility of using an alternative email address to the temporary one to receive the messages addressed to it. You can see it next to the Alias option at the top and copy it to the clipboard by pressing the button with the two sheets next to it.
Also note that the service allows you to use different domains, choosing from existing ones or adding new ones. If you are interested in proceeding this way, select the Domains option found on the bar at the top of the screen.
10 Minute Mail
Another temporary email service I want to suggest using is 10 Minute Mail. It’s a solution that, as the name implies, allows you to create a temporary email account lasting ten minutes, at the end of which all content in the mailbox is deleted. If necessary, however, you can extend the longevity of the obtained disposable email address by another ten minutes by pressing a specific button. It’s completely free, no registration is required, and the interface is translated into Italian.
To use 10 Minute Mail, visit the service home page, and in the center-top field, you will immediately see the temporary email address assigned to you, while on the right is the Inbox box indicating the number of received emails.
If you need to copy the obtained email address to your computer’s clipboard, click the button with the two sheets next to it. Further down is a countdown indicating the remaining time, and below that is the 10 more minutes! button to request more usage time.
At the bottom of the screen, you will also find the area dedicated to incoming mail. To read a specific message, simply click on it. You can also reply to the received emails, forward them, and delete them by clicking the appropriate buttons.
AnonAddy
Among the secure temporary email services worth considering is undoubtedly AnonAddy. It’s an easy-to-use open-source service that, unlike the solutions I’ve already proposed, allows you to create an alias of your real email address to provide when necessary. Essentially it’s free, but you can optionally subscribe to one of the paid plans available (with prices starting from €1/month) for more storage space and unlock additional functions.
To use AnonAddy, go to the relevant home page and click the Get Started Now button in the center, then fill in the proposed form by typing the initial part of the temporary email address you want to use in the Username field, the password you want to associate with it in the Password field, and your real email address in the Your Real Email Address and Confirm Email Address fields, then check the box next to I accept the terms and privacy policy at the bottom, decide whether to receive updates from the service by selecting or leaving unchecked the box next to Receive updates on new features and click the Register button.
In the screen that now appears, click the Accept and Send Verification Email button, then access your real email inbox, open the message sent from AnonAddy, and click the Verify Email Address button present in it to confirm the registration procedure.
After that, you will be presented with the AnonAddy dashboard, and you can create your email alias by clicking on the Aliases option in the left sidebar menu and the Create Alias button in the upper right corner.
In the box that opens, choose the domain you want to use for the disposable email from the Alias Domain menu and the format of the alias from the Alias Format menu, then type a description of the alias you are about to create in the Description field if you wish, and select your real email address where you want to receive messages sent from the alias from the Recipients menu, then press the Create Alias button.
Later, you will be able to see the newly created alias in the new box displayed on the screen, under the Your New Alias is option and you can copy it to the clipboard by clicking the Copy button. To close the box, press the Close button.
I also want to point out that by accessing the Aliases section from the left sidebar of the service, you can manage the alias after creating it by disabling or deleting it, etc.
If you’re interested, I want to point out that AnonAddy is also available as a smartphone and tablet app, for both Android devices (also on alternative stores) and iOS/iPadOS. The operation is practically identical to that of the website.
Other Temporary Email Solutions
NOne of the solutions for creating a valid temporary email I’ve already mentioned particularly convinced you, and you would therefore like me to suggest other solutions of this type? Done! You can find additional services of this kind in the list that follows.
- MailDrop — a reliable free web service without registration for creating temporary email addresses that allows you to generate mail accounts with the @maildrop.cc domain, which can be kept active for an unlimited number of days. It also has a pleasant user interface.
- Guerrilla Mail — one of the longest-lasting and most used temporary email services in the world, allowing both to receive and send emails, thus falling into the category of temporary email sending services as well. It’s free, does not require registration, and supports various types of addresses, including @sharklasers.com, @grr.la, spam4.me, and guerrillamail.org.
- Emkei’s Mailer — an online free service accessible without registration that allows sending anonymous emails to any email inbox, providing users with the ability to choose and customize the name and address of the sender, subject, and body of the message. It also supports rich text and attachments.
- Fake Mail Generator — a service that, as the name suggests, allows you to generate a temporary email box with various domains: @armyspy.com, @jourrapide.com, @cuvox.de, gustr.com, and many more. It has an automatic expiration set to 24 hours, is free, and does not require registration.
- MintMail — a simple disposable email service, free of charge and operating without registration, which can be used simply by visiting the site and obtaining the assigned address. It has the particularity of providing two temporary email addresses at a time, functioning simultaneously.
- Temp Mail — another service for temporary email, very easy to use, free and without registration, which allows obtaining a randomly assigned disposable email box. Note that a premium paid version is also available (at a cost of $10/month), which allows unlocking the use of up to 10 email addresses simultaneously and obtain additional features. There is also an app for smartphones and tablets Android (also on alternative stores) and iOS/iPadOS.
Temporary Email: Gmail
Would you like to understand if there is a system to create a temporary email with the Gmail domain? The answer is unfortunately negative. However, there is good news: the service allows you to create aliases of your email address, which is extremely useful instead of a disposable email.
To do this, simply add the suffix +[something] to the part of your email address before the @ symbol (for example, if your email address is [email protected], you could use the alias [email protected]) and use it as needed. All emails received at the alias will automatically appear in your Gmail inbox.
Another method is to use an existing email address as an alias on Gmail. This way, you can send and receive messages from a secondary email, perhaps not directly associated with you, and divert everything within Gmail.
Temporary Email: Hotmail
If you have a Hotmail or Outlook email account, I’m happy to inform you that if you need to use a temporary email, you do not necessarily need to rely on third-party solutions, as you can also use the alias system provided directly by the email service.
To create an alias for your email account, go to this page and log in to your account (if necessary). Then select the option Create a new email address and add it as an alias, enter a name for your new email in the dedicated field, choose your preferred domain from outlook.com or outlook.it from the adjacent drop-down menu, and click the Add alias button.
If, instead, you want to add an existing email address as an alias for Outlook, select the option Add an existing email address as a Microsoft account alias, enter it in the dedicated field, and again click the Add alias button.
Temporary Email: Facebook
Would you like to register on Facebook using a temporary email service? I’m sorry to disappoint you, but the famous social network by Mark Zuckerberg, like many other websites, does not accept the use of almost any such service.
Consequently, if you really want to access Facebook without having to provide your real email address, you might consider creating a second email address, or you might decide to use services that allow the creation of an alias, as already mentioned in the previous lines.