Apple hides your email from apps and websites, but not the police

Apple has provided government agencies with the exact details of at least two customers who used one of the company’s secret codes designed to hide their emails from apps and websites.

“Hide My Email” is a feature that allows paying Apple iCloud+ customers to create anonymous email addresses that send messages to someone’s private email address. Apple says it isn’t read the messages that are sent. But court documents show that this email privacy policy won’t prevent law enforcement from finding out who has an anonymous iCloud email address.

According to court documents seen by TechCrunch, the FBI requested records from Apple earlier this month as part of an investigation into an email that allegedly threatened Alexis Wilkins, a friend of FBI director Kash Patel, whose relationship with Patel has been. commonly reported.

“In response to a legal request, Apple provided documents indicating that (Hide My Email address) is an email account associated with the Target Apple Account,” it said. evidence of a search warrantwho was first report and 404 Media (via Supreme Court).

Apple provided the account owner’s full name and email address, as well as records of 134 anonymous emails created using Hide My Email.

TechCrunch has seen a second search warrantwhen Apple provided information about a particular customer in response to a request from federal agents and Homeland Security Investigations, a unit within ICE. The search warrant sought records from Apple during its investigation into the alleged fraud scheme. An HSI agent, citing “information received from Apple” in January 2026, reported that a fraudster had created several anonymous emails through Hide My Email on several Apple accounts.

Apple likes it information about its use iCloud as end-to-end encryptionmeaning that no one but its customers can access their personal data, not even Apple. But not all customer data is out of the reach of the government, including information that Apple stores about its customers, such as their names, locations, payment information, and sensitive information, such as emails.

The ability of the police to obtain this information also determines the privacy limits of e-mails; Most e-mails that are sent, even today, are unedited and contain the clear information needed to send messages around the world.

Likewise, the need for end-to-end encrypted messaging apps, such as Signal, has become increasingly popular in an effort to protect private data from being viewed and hacked.

An Apple spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.