Fade
How to keep a temp mail address permanently
- Decide before you sign upReserve the address before you use it, not after. Once a free address expires it cannot be brought back.
- Open Fade and go to reserved addressesIn Settings, open the reserved aliases section.
- Reserve the addressFade Pro holds up to three addresses that do not expire while the subscription is active.
- Name it after the jobGive each reserved address a purpose, for example one for shopping and one for newsletters, so mail stays sorted.
- Use it like any other addressPush notifications, automatic code detection and one-tap copy all work the same way.
Why free temp mail expires
Expiry is doing three jobs at once, which is why no reputable service offers a free address that lasts forever:
- It is the privacy mechanism. An inbox that deletes itself cannot be breached, subpoenaed or sold later. Retention is the risk, so the shortest retention is the safest.
- It keeps the address pool alive. Addresses get recycled. If nothing expired, the pool would exhaust and every remaining address would be a stale one already burned on a hundred blocklists.
- It costs something to hold. An address that lives forever is storage, delivery and abuse handling forever. Free tiers cannot carry that honestly.
The moment expiry becomes the problem
It is always the same story. You register with a disposable address, use the service happily for weeks, then get logged out on a new phone. The reset link goes to an inbox that stopped existing on day one. Nobody can help, because nobody can prove the address was ever yours.
The tell that you are about to walk into this: you are signing up for something you expect to open again. A shopping account with an order history. A forum you will post on. A trial you might convert. In every one of those cases you still do not want to give your real address, but you do need the address to be there tomorrow.
Reserved addresses
A reserved address is the middle option: still not your real inbox, still nothing about you attached to it, but it does not expire.
Fade Pro holds up to three reserved addresses that stay alive while the subscription is active, and lets you choose the username and domain rather than taking the generated one. Everything else works the way the free tier does: push notifications, automatic verification code detection, one-tap copy.
Reserve first, not after
A free address cannot be recovered once it has expired. Reserving is something you do before you paste the address into a signup form, not a rescue afterwards.
Reserved address, alias, or real inbox
| Free temp address | Reserved address | Forwarding alias | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lifetime | Minutes, extendable | Indefinite while subscribed | Until you switch it off |
| Where mail lands | The app | The app | Your real inbox |
| Can you reply? | No | No | Yes, on most services |
| Account recovery works? | No | Yes | Yes |
| Real inbox stays clean? | Yes | Yes | No, mail is forwarded in |
| Best for | One-off codes | Accounts you will reopen | Long-term, two-way |
The row that decides it is usually the last but one. A forwarding alias protects your identity but every message still ends up in the inbox you were trying to keep clean. A reserved address keeps the mail out of your way entirely and is still there when you need to sign in.
Using reserved addresses well
Three is a deliberate limit, and it works best if each one has a job:
- One for shopping. Order confirmations, delivery notices, returns. All the mail you occasionally need and never want.
- One for accounts. The services you sign into: forums, tools, trials you might keep.
- One for the noisy stuff. Newsletters, offers, whatever you want readable but never in front of you.
Anything genuinely one-shot still goes on a free disposable address, which is the right tool for a code you will never need again.
Common questions
Can I get a temp mail address back after it expires?
No. Once a free address expires, it and all of its mail are gone, and there is no way to restore it. If you need an address to persist, reserve it before you use it.
Is there a temp mail that lasts forever?
Not on a free tier from any reputable provider, because holding an address forever costs storage and abuse handling forever. Fade Pro reserves up to three addresses that do not expire while the subscription is active, which is the practical version of the same thing.
What is the difference between a reserved address and Hide My Email?
Hide My Email forwards to your real inbox, so the mail still arrives in the inbox you were trying to keep clean, and it only works within Apple's ecosystem. A Fade reserved address keeps the mail in a separate app, works anywhere you can paste an address, and receives without forwarding.