This is a huge selling point. Private email relays often get blocked, the only lasting solution is to put them on the same domain as, and in the same format as, a significant number of non-private email addresses. As far as I’m aware the only other provider doing this is Fastmail.

Comments about lock-in aren’t wrong, but it has to be this way. You can make arbitrary email addresses at your own domain, but anybody who feels like it can trivially automatically detect that those are all you.

Personally I use unique at own domain only where I’m identifying myself anyway, like my bank, and Fastmail masked email where I’m not. For most things it’s not actually that terrible to accept a small risk that they’re offline for a day between your being booted without warning and you changing your email address with them.

Using icloud.com domain for legit and hidden adresses is such a typical Apple strategy of holding their own users and "others" (ie. other web services, other users etc) hostage simultaneously. But at least here it is actually a good reason that works for the user.

I wish I could set up "Sign in with Apple" on a blog without paying $99/yr for a developer license.

I'm glad they listened - I use this feature extensively and would like to continue to

Can someone explain the backstory behind this? I'm reading some of the comments here and I feel like I'm missing something here.

Apple had been on a steady path of bad decisions since a few years, I'm glad to see they reverted at least on this one.

Now if they could completely remove liquid glass...

One of the best things about it. Also being able to add several emails per custom domain for free.

Whole thing is 99c a month. Makes Gmail seem like a joke in comparison.

Until you get an email from an iCloud address on Gmail and see it go right to spam haha. Suddenly Gmail is cheap again

I use hide my email and single use credit card numbers all the time, its a fantastic system combined with some basic email forwarding rules.

Yes, vendor lock in sucks, but I have $20k worth of apple hardware already so that ship has sailed and overall Im pretty happy with it.

it will still be on "private.icloud.com". Just as filterable...

I've noticed a chilling new trend of apple listening to the community.

I don't understand how this changes anything. IIRC, the complaints were about Apple making the Hide My Email addresses different than regular ones.

They're now saying the new domain will be private.icloud.com. Isn't it just as targetable?

this opens some crazy "apple developer" dialog on my mac rather than a web page. I had to crank up chrome to read it. And it makes no sense, I have no clue what a sign on with apple address is. I guess I'm glad my hide my email addresses won't change because that would be a PITA.

iCloud Hide My Email sharing the same domain with normal email (icloud.com) is the reason why I use iCloud over other email alias services like simplelogin and addy.

Good. What else can really be said? Only way for it to work and not be trivially blocked is to mix with legit emails.

I'm a bit confused - when i see these signups, they look like this to me:

rtwnj6tj7@privaterelay.appleid.com

Good. This would have made blocking them trivial.

Good! Was there ever a compelling reason why they went for this switch initially?

That was a stupid idea (the prev one)

thank god -.-