You want to peek at something behind a registration wall — a PDF download, a demo, a forum thread. You don't need an account, you just need to get past the email verification. So you create yet another throwaway Gmail, wait for the confirmation link, then never touch it again.

There's a cleaner way: temporary email addresses — ready in seconds, no account needed, gone after a few hours.

Guerrilla Mail

Guerrilla Mail is the simplest option. Open the site, copy the generated address, use it. Any mail delivered there appears immediately — no refresh needed. The inbox is session-based: close the tab and it's gone.

You can also compose outgoing mail from the temporary address, which is occasionally useful for replying to confirmation emails.

Dropmail

Dropmail goes further. It's the better choice when you need the address to last or to actually receive something reliably.

What Dropmail offers beyond a basic inbox:

  • Forwarding to your real address — emails land in your normal inbox, so you don't need to keep a Dropmail tab open. Cancel forwarding at any time.
  • Recovery key — save it and you can return to the same address later, even from a different device or browser session
  • Two domain types — permanent domains for longer-lived addresses, rotating domains for short-term use
  • Telegram bot — receive emails directly in Telegram without opening a browser
  • Android app — manage temporary addresses from your phone

No registration, no premium tier needed for any of the above.

Apple Hide My Email

If you're on Apple devices with an iCloud+ subscription (included with any paid iCloud storage plan starting at 50 GB), you already have a built-in option: Hide My Email.

It generates a unique, random address that forwards to your real inbox — permanently, until you deactivate it. No separate app, no website to visit. It's integrated directly into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS:

  • Safari autofill — when you fill in an email field on a website, Safari offers to generate a hidden address automatically
  • Settings → iCloud → Hide My Email — create and manage all your addresses in one place, see which ones are active, deactivate or delete any of them
  • Sign in with Apple — when you use "Sign in with Apple" and choose to hide your email, Hide My Email generates the address automatically

The key difference from Guerrilla Mail and Dropmail: these addresses are permanent aliases tied to your Apple ID, not throwaway inboxes. You control them, you can disable them, and mail always arrives in your real inbox. It's the most seamless option if you're already in the Apple ecosystem — no friction, no extra tools.

The catch: it requires a paid iCloud+ plan and only works on Apple devices.

When to use which

Use Guerrilla Mail when you just need a confirmation link and will close the tab in two minutes.

Use Dropmail when you need the address to survive beyond the browser session, or when you want emails forwarded somewhere you'll actually see them.

Use Apple Hide My Email when you're on iPhone/Mac, have iCloud+, and want zero-friction address generation built into the OS — no separate tools, permanent and manageable aliases.