What Is Temporary Email?

A temporary email address is a working inbox that nobody has to create an account for and that stops existing after a short, fixed period. You do not choose it, you do not own it, and you cannot send from it. You can only read what arrives before the timer runs out.

How it differs from a normal mailbox

When it is genuinely the right tool

1. A one-time verification code. You need to prove an address exists, once. Read the code, close the tab.
2. A gated download. A whitepaper or coupon behind an email form, where the follow-up sequence is the real product.
3. Testing your own product. A genuinely external inbox to confirm your signup mail arrives and renders. See the testing guide.
4. A site you do not trust with your address. If the list leaks, what leaks expires within the hour.

When it is the wrong tool

Anything with account recovery, anything you will need to read again, anything financial or legal. The failure mode is not subtle: when the inbox expires, the account attached to it becomes unrecoverable.

The terminology

"Temp mail", "disposable email", "throwaway address", "10-minute mail" and "burner email" all describe the same mechanism. "Email alias" does not — an alias is permanent and forwards to a mailbox you own, which is a different tool for a different job (compared here).

Where the address comes from

Nothing is reserved in advance. The receiving domain accepts mail for every possible address through a catch-all mailbox, so any random local part works the instant it is generated. The mechanics guide walks through the whole path a message takes.

Questions

Keep reading

• How Temporary Email Works
• Is Temporary Email Safe?
• Why Websites Block Temporary Email
• Using Temporary Email for Verification Codes
• Temporary Email for Testing Signup and Email Flows
• Temporary Email vs Email Aliases: Which Should You Use?
• How to Use a Temporary Email Address
• Temporary Email and Privacy: What It Actually Hides
• Generate a free temporary email address