Gmail may get a feature that will make temporary email services obsolete

You’d think after so many years, tech companies would have found a way to make disposable email services obsolete. We’ve had decades of having to sign up for shady-looking websites and not wanting to hand over our emails in fear that they’d bombard us with spam until kingdom come. Fortunately, it seems that Google is working on a way to build temporary email addresses directly into Gmail, so you’ll never have to make one again.

Gmail may be getting disposable emails built into the service

Photo: Brady Snyder

As spotted by Android Authority, the latest update to the Gmail Android app includes code that references “Shielded Mode.” By the looks of the code, the feature will allow you to set up a temporary email account, which will begin to forward all the mail it receives to your main address. If a service begins spamming your temporary account, you can tell Google that you don’t want the mail forwarded anymore, and all of that spam will end up in the digital void.

Not only would this feature be a great way to avoid a clogged-up spam folder, but it would also be great to prevent tracking. Plus, if the temporary email you gave ends up being part of a data breach, you can cut ties with it so hackers can’t get into your account. However, as cool as this feature would be, it’s still very much an “if” rather than a “when”; all we have as proof of its existence is some placeholder text. Here’s hoping Google finds a way to pull this off; it would make another excellent addition to the things Google does to protect your privacy online.