~ 5 min read
Anonymous Email using DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo
Why Create a @duck.com address
Create a @duck.com email address to send and receive anonymous email. You can also use this email address to sign up for websites and services without revealing your personal email address.
How to create an anonymous email address
- Go to DuckDuckGo
- Install Browser Extension
- Navigate to duckduckgo.com/email
- Create @duck.com email address
A few words from DuckDuckGo
We’ve removed the waitlist for DuckDuckGo Email Protection, making the beta open for everyone to try. Get your @duck.com email address today!
Email Protection
DuckDuckGo Email Protection is a free email forwarding service that removes multiple types of hidden email trackers and lets you create unlimited unique private email addresses on the fly without switching email providers or apps.
Why Block Email Trackers or Hide Your Email Address? Have you ever entered your email for a loyalty program or coupon and started getting emails from companies you didn’t subscribe to? Or noticed ads following you around after clicking on an email link? You’re not alone! There are multiple ways companies can use your email to track you, target you with ads, and influence what you see online. They can even share your personal information with third parties – all without your knowledge.
Email trackers
Companies embed trackers in images and links within email messages, letting them collect information like when you’ve opened a message, where you were when you opened it, and what device you were using. In our closed Email Protection beta, we found that approximately 85% of beta testers’ emails contained hidden email trackers! Very sneaky. Companies can use this information to build a profile about you.
Email trackers can collect information like when you’ve opened a message, where you were when you opened it, and what device you were using. And because your email addresses are connected to so much of what you do online – making purchases, using social media, and more – tracking companies can also effectively use your personal email address as a profiling identifier. In fact, many companies are so hungry for your personal email address that they’ll actually pull it from online forms you haven’t even submitted yet! Beyond sending you more emails, companies often upload your email address to Facebook and Google to target you with creepy ads across apps and websites.
Personal Duck Address (example: [email protected]):
Any emails sent here will be stripped of email trackers on our block list and then forwarded to whatever personal email address you provide, arriving at your regular inbox. Within forwarded emails, we’ll tell you how many trackers we’ve removed, what company appears to be behind them, and other helpful information.
Unique Private Duck Addresses (example: [email protected]):
When you are browsing different websites, DuckDuckGo automatically detects email fields so you have the option to generate a unique Private Duck Address for additional protection against email address profiling. Just like your Personal Duck Address, Private Duck Addresses also forward privacy-enhanced emails to your personal inbox. Using a new Private Duck Address every time you’re asked to submit an email address makes it much harder for companies to track you. They can also be individually deactivated at any time, for example if you start receiving spam to one of them.Many users have loved the Email Protection beta so far, with millions of more-private emails being forwarded weekly. It’s email privacy, simplified – and we’re thrilled to open the beta for everyone to try it out!
Updates to DuckDuckGo Email Protection
Since launching DuckDuckGo Email Protection into private waitlist beta, we’ve been continuously making improvements based on feedback.
Link Tracking Protection
In addition to blocking trackers in images, scripts, and other media directly embedded in emails, we can now detect and remove a growing number of the trackers embedded in email links.
How this helps: Say you click on an email link to check out a new pair of shoes. Who you are (in the form of your email address or other identifiers) can be embedded in that link and then sent to other companies from the loaded shoe retailer website to follow you around the web. Link Tracking Protection helps protect against this scenario. Smarter Encryption: We’ve started using the same Smarter Encryption (HTTPS Upgrading) that’s at work in our search engine and apps to upgrade insecure (unencrypted, HTTP) links in emails to secure (encrypted, HTTPS) links when they’re on our upgradable list.
Try the toggle above to see Link Tracking Protection and Smarter Encryption in action!
Replying from your Duck Addresses
You can now reply to emails from all your Duck Addresses. When you get an email to a Duck Address, you can just hit ‘Reply,’ type your message, and send it off. Your email will then be delivered from your Duck Address instead of your personal address.
How this helps:
Say you’re moving and want to request a price quote, but you don’t want the moving company to have your personal email address. You can communicate back and forth using a Private Duck Address instead of your personal address. Note: Although we’re hiding as much personal information as we can, DuckDuckGo doesn’t create the message itself, so we can’t guarantee the email will not include your forwarding address or any other personal identifier. Self-Service Dashboard: Want to update your forwarding address? Or even delete your account? You can now make changes to your Duck account whenever you want, saving you time and effort.