Google’s continuous campaign to close the security and privacy gap between Android and iPhone, as well as the larger Google and Apple ecosystems, has just taken a new twist. For the 2 billion Gmail users, this might completely change how they use email.
Apple’s Hide My Email feature allows customers to keep their personal email addresses private, away from information brokers that sell lists of email addresses and phone numbers, which fuel global spam and cold calling.
Now it appears that Google has decided to follow suit—a surprise decision that was not announced among the other privacy and security changes this year. According to Android Authority, “Sure, Gmail is an absolute champ at filtering out spam, but every time you share your email with someone even a little bit shady, do you feel like you’re playing with fire and risking a whole bunch of unwanted contact? Google may just have a solution in the works, at least by the looks of our latest teardown.”
“With Hide My Email,” Apple explains, “you can generate unique, random email addresses that forward to your personal email account, so you don’t have to share your real email address when filling out forms or signing up for newsletters on the web, or when sending email.”
While this allows users to forward these ghost email addresses to any email address linked with their iCloud account, it is most useful when combined with Apple’s Mail and Safari apps. This allows you to send messages directly from those shielded addresses, as well as create a ghost email address anytime you’re prompted for one in a Safari form.
Tearing down the new 24.45.33 APK release of Google Play Services, “and upon cracking it open,” the website explains it has discovered “a whole boatload of strings referencing and in support of something called ‘Shielded Email’.”
The system is designed “to create single-use or limited-use email aliases that will forward messages along to your primary account.” While “we could imagine that something like this might be pretty useful in Chrome,” which would mirror Apple’s approach, the current reveal is focused on “specifically addressing apps that ask for your email address,” which is why it was discovered in a Play update.
Again, as with Apple and iPhone, while this is unlikely to be restricted to Gmail, Google will only have complete control over its operation and the use of such shielded emails where it owns the email platform, which is Gmail.
This is a laudable step by Google, and if it gains traction in the same way that Apple’s Hide My Email did, it will be a tremendous benefit to Android users, the majority of whom will have one or more Gmail addresses linked with their accounts.
As noted, “the experience looks to be integrated with Android’s autofill and presumably the Google Password Manager… It remains to be seen whether Google will charge for Shielded Email. Besides encouraging people to sign up for Google One, making it paid could be a way to make sure functionality isn’t abused.”
Following the implementation of live threat detection and spam call alerts, it is apparent that the security and privacy gap is narrowing. The only question for Android users is how quickly these updates will roll out and which device OEMs will receive them. However, based on what we’ve seen this week, this new update will most likely be released first to Pixels, which is another source of concern for Samsung users who are now waiting for new features.
Why You Need A New Email Address After Google’s Gmail Decision
