Do you want to create a disposable email address? Do you want to remain discreet on the web and are therefore looking for tools to create temporary email addresses? In this article, we will present the 3 best tools for creating ephemeral mailboxes and some practical use cases.
What is a disposable email address?
As its name suggests, a disposable email address is an email address with a limited lifespan, often ephemeral, and which is not intended to be used for more than a few days by its user.
There are two types of disposable email addresses:
- Ephemeral email addresses which are limited in time (minutes, hours, days) but allow you to receive and consult the messages received directly on the site on which they were created;
- Temporary email addresses that temporarily redirect received emails to the user’s real email address.
Depending on the tools used to create it, this type of address can be active from a few minutes to a few days or else be limited in the number of transfers carried out if the choice of tool used to create it works on the basis of a number of temporary transfers defined to his real email address.
The 3 best tools to create temporary email addresses
If you are wondering how to create a disposable email address, know that there are dozens of free online services that will allow you to create one in just a few minutes, all anonymously.
Here is a selection of the 3 best tools.
1- Maildrop
Maildrop is a free and open source online solution that allows you to create a temporary email in seconds. The site is very easy to use.
To create a temporary email with Maildrop, just enter in the free text field next to maildrop.cc the name of the disposable email address you want to create then click on ” View Inbox ” to access the temporary mailbox just created.
If you think you have received emails on this new address but nothing is displayed, just click on “Reload” to reload the list of emails received .
This service is 100% free and almost without advertising, it is undoubtedly the best free online service of this type in our opinion.
2- YopMail
YopMail is one of the best free services to create a disposable email address .
To use it, simply enter the name of the ephemeral address you want to create in the section “ Enter the disposable email of your choice ” then click on the arrow. When you click, the mailbox will be automatically created and you can start receiving emails on it (and consult them directly on yopmail.com ).
With this online tool, emails are kept for 8 days and no registration is required .
If you leave YopMail and wish to consult the messages received within 8 days, 2 solutions:
- Enter the email address initially created where you originally created it to access the inbox
- You can also access it directly by going to this web address: https://YOPmail.com? and replacing ” » by the name of your temporary email address
If no messages are displayed when you are sure there are, simply refresh the inbox by clicking on the dedicated button.
YopMail addresses only allow receiving emails and not sending emails .
Warning : the email addresses created with Yopmail are accessible by anyone because they are not protected by a password, it is therefore advisable to choose fairly complicated address names to prevent anyone from being able to access the emails. received.
3- Trashmail
The operation of TrashMail is based on the temporary redirection of emails . Concretely, you create an ephemeral email address via TrashMail (with the extension @mailgano.com or @trashmail.es ) which will redirect incoming emails to your real email address in due time.
As soon as the transfer limit is reached or the validity time of the address is reached, the address automatically self-destructs without leaving any traces and the email redirections stop.
From the moment the email address no longer exists, all emails that attempt to reach it will be systematically and automatically rejected by TrashMail.
An ephemeral email address, what can it actually be used for?
If you want to create an ephemeral email address, there is a good chance that you already have your idea of the purpose of its use.
This type of email address can really come in handy in many cases, here are a few:
1- Make online quotes from competitors while remaining undetectable
What better way to benchmark your competitors’ prices than to contact them by email and ask them for a quote for their service?
The concern is that by using your personal or corporate email address, you will be quickly identifiable.
With a temporary email address, you can perform online price research and quotes incognito .
2- Create social media profiles without disclosing your real email address to them
When you create a profile on social networks, an email address is systematically requested, but in reality, once connected and your account validated (an email validation is often required now), you will receive dozens of emails every day to encourage you to return to the social network in question. If you have several accounts, you can quickly find yourself having to deal with dozens of unwanted emails every day.
To avoid having to deal with all these emails or having to unsubscribe from all of these alerts, using a temporary email address will allow you not to be spammed and especially not to pollute your main mailbox.
Be careful however, we recommend that you do not use a temporary email address for your main personal social accounts because in the event of a problem accessing your account or hacking your account, it will be impossible for you to recover it .
3- Create accounts on third-party sites without risking being spammed with their commercial emails
Just like social networks, many sites require you to register to be able to access free content, a free white paper, free video training or even a promo code.
To avoid receiving too many sales or canvassing emails after getting what you are looking for, choosing to use a disposable email in this case can again save you email processing time .
4- Get price estimates that require adding an email address
Many online quote or online price comparison services require you to add an email address in order to view price estimates or get online quote results.
Opting for the use of a disposable email address will allow you to obtain the desired information without the risk of being contacted again later.
When not to use an ephemeral email address?
If you create an account on a site that asks you for personal data and you are obliged to provide your real details, we advise you not to use a disposable email address which will be less secure than a standard email address, which you can make it more secure, as shown here for a Gmail account in particular.
Indeed, in this case, you might as well create a fake Gmail account for free and properly secure its access.
Being much less secure than traditional email services because most of them do not require a password to access them, disposable email boxes should therefore generally not be used for services to which you will share personal data .
FAQ: What are the limitations and alternatives to disposable emails?
What are the limitations and precautions when using disposable email addresses?
The use of disposable e-mail addresses has several limitations and requires taking certain precautions to ensure the protection of privacy and online security:
- These temporary email addresses are generally not intended for long-term use, which means that they may become inaccessible or be deleted after a certain period of time. It is therefore important not to use them for important communications or to store sensitive information.
- Disposable email address providers may be less secure than traditional email providers, which could make transmitted data more vulnerable to cyberattacks. It is therefore essential to choose the right temporary e-mail address service and not to share confidential information via these addresses.
- It is important to follow the terms of use of websites and not to use disposable email addresses for illegal or unethical activities.
What are alternatives to disposable email addresses to manage spam and unwanted emails with your real email address?
Alternatives that can be used to manage spam and junk emails without resorting to disposable email addresses are:
- The use of spam filters :
Most traditional email providers offer powerful spam filters that sort and eliminate unwanted messages before they reach your main inbox.
- Creation of aliases or secondary e-mail addresses :
Some email services, such as Gmail or Outlook, allow you to create aliases or secondary email addresses associated with your main account . These addresses can be used for registrations for websites or newsletters and can be deactivated or deleted at any time.
- Use of a consent management service :
Platforms like Leave Me Alone or Unroll.Me allow managing and controlling subscriptions to newsletters and mailing lists . These services help you easily unsubscribe from unwanted emails and keep your inbox clean
What are the legal and ethical risks of using temporary email addresses?
The use of temporary email addresses to circumvent restrictions or obligations may lead to risks:
From a legal point of view, this practice may violate the terms of use of websites and lead to sanctions, such as the suspension or deletion of the user account. Additionally, using disposable email addresses to register for paid services without permission or to access copyrighted content may constitute fraud or copyright infringement.
Ethically, using temporary email addresses to circumvent restrictions can undermine companies’ efforts to maintain the security and quality of their services . For example, the misuse of disposable email addresses to create fake accounts or to avoid usage limits can overload servers, reduce the quality of service for other users and lead to additional costs for companies.
