{"id":211215,"date":"2026-02-08T01:48:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T06:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/08\/i-pay-for-icloud-not-for-storage-but-for-this-perk-instead\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T05:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T10:50:10","slug":"i-pay-for-icloud-not-for-storage-but-for-this-perk-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/08\/i-pay-for-icloud-not-for-storage-but-for-this-perk-instead\/","title":{"rendered":"I pay for iCloud not for storage, but for this perk instead"},"content":{"rendered":"

I pay for iCloud not for storage, but for this perk instead<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/phones\/iphones\/i-pay-for-icloud-not-for-storage-but-for-this-perk-instead<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-02-08 01:48:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.tomsguide.com<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ve been part of the Apple ecosystem for years now, and there are plenty of things that keep me in the walled garden. From Continuity features between my devices to better app performance and the broader ecosystem, and even iCloud to an extent. Yes, the cloud storage service.<\/p>\n

While iCloud costs extra if you want to use it properly, it does justify itself in some ways. Perks like having your iPhone backed up daily and your photos synced across devices are genuinely useful. But, for me, the biggest reason iCloud feels worth it is a feature Apple quietly introduced a few years ago.<\/p>\n

The feature I’m talking about is Hide My Email. It takes your privacy to the next level, and if you know how to use it well, you can even turn it into an advantage when signing up for new subscriptions.<\/p>\n


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Hide My Email isn’t talked about enough<\/h2>\n

Apple revamped iCloud from a standalone cloud backup and storage service into iCloud Plus back in 2021. With iCloud Plus, Apple turned iCloud into more than just storage by adding features like Private Relay, which protects your privacy while browsing, and iCloud Mail with support for email addresses with custom domains.<\/p>\n

But the feature that really made an impact since it was first announced is Hide My Email. In simple terms, Hide My Email masks your primary email address and replaces it with a randomly generated one. Then, any emails sent to that random address are automatically forwarded to your main email address.<\/p>\n

\n

(Image credit: Tom’s Guide \/ Sanuj Bhatia)<\/span><\/p>\n

It essentially gives you a burner email address that forwards everything to your actual email. This lets you keep your primary address private while using the randomly generated one instead. It’s perfect for filling out online forms, signing up for new services, or sharing your email when you would rather not reveal your real one.<\/p>\n

Even better, it uses an @icloud address, so it does not look phishy while still keeping your identity safe.<\/p>\n

Get instant access to breaking news, the…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I pay for iCloud not for storage, but for this perk instead https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/phones\/iphones\/i-pay-for-icloud-not-for-storage-but-for-this-perk-instead Publish Date:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":211216,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/jMEUqESodHhyYscZ7dEVjF-2560-80.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iphone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211215"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211217,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211215\/revisions\/211217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}