What a temporary email address is
A temporary email address is a real, deliverable address on a domain that accepts mail for every local part, paired with a short lifetime. Anything sent to it lands in the inbox above within seconds. When the countdown ends, the address stops receiving and its contents are deleted.
When to use one
- A download gate that wants an address before handing over a file.
- A one-time verification code for something you will not log into again.
- A forum or trial you want to try without joining a mailing list.
- Manual QA of your own signup and password-reset mail.
When not to use one
Anything with account recovery attached — banking, government portals, work tools, cloud storage, domain registrars. Once the inbox expires there is no way to receive a reset link, and no archive to restore. A permanent alias is the right tool there.
What this service will not do
- It will not send mail. Every inbox is receive-only.
- It will not keep your messages. Expiry deletes them, including attachments.
- It will not make you anonymous. It compartmentalises an address; it does not hide your connection.