Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need an account?

No. The address at the top of the home page works immediately. An account adds three things: up to ten addresses at once, private domains that are not published anywhere, and attachments.

How long does my address last?

A guest mailbox runs for a day, counted from whenever you last touched it rather than from when it was made. Asking for a fresh address ends the previous one on the spot. Sign in and the clock becomes a week, renewed at every login.

Can I choose the address myself?

Yes. Type a name in the field under the address and pick a domain if you want a particular one. Reserved names such as abuse and postmaster are not available, since notes about the domain itself have to land somewhere we read.

Can I send mail from this address?

No, and that will not change. Addresses here receive only. A service that let anonymous visitors send would be used for spam within days, its domains would stop being accepted everywhere shortly afterwards, and incoming mail would die along with them. Refusing to carry outbound mail is precisely what keeps these addresses usable for everybody else.

Why does a website refuse my address?

It checks the domain against a list of known disposable services. Pick a different domain from the list and try again, which usually works. Those lists are built by looking at services like this one, so any published domain ends up on them eventually.

The verification code never arrived. What now?

Try a different domain first, which resolves it most of the time. Keep the tab open while you wait, since the inbox updates by itself. Do not press for a new address while waiting, as that deletes the mailbox the message is coming to.

Can other people read my mailbox?

Without an account, yes. Anyone who knows or guesses the address can open it. That is the trade for having no password and no signup. Mailboxes belonging to a registered account are private.

Can I get a deleted message back?

No. Deletion is immediate and complete, and there is no backup to restore from. That is deliberate: a service that could restore your mail on request could be compelled to produce somebody else's.

Do I need to refresh the page?

No. The page holds an open connection and new mail appears on its own, usually within seconds of being sent.

Are attachments supported?

With an account. Files up to five megabytes are stored and can be downloaded. Executable file types are refused and never stored at all.

Is it really free?

Yes, entirely. Nothing here costs money, registering costs nothing either, and no paid tier waits behind either of them. Advertising covers the bill, placed clear of the working parts of the page and never disguised as one of them.

Can I use it for my bank, or for work?

No. Use a permanent mailbox for anything you might need to recover: banking, government, employment, healthcare, domains, shopping accounts. A recovery address that expires tonight is not a recovery address.

What happens to mail sent after my address expires?

It is discarded without being stored, and the sender is not told. We do not reply that an address is unknown, because that reply would confirm which addresses exist.

Can somebody else get my old address later?

Yes, eventually. Deleted addresses return to the pool. This is unlikely with a random address and more likely with a name you chose yourself, and it is another reason not to use one for anything lasting.

Do you read my messages?

No. Messages are stored so we can show them to you and deleted on schedule. They are not scanned for advertising and not passed to anyone.

Which domain should I pick?

Without an account you get the site domain and no choice, and that is deliberate: every domain shown to anonymous visitors is scraped and added to blocklists within days, so keeping the rest hidden is what keeps them working. After registering you get the whole pool, and if a form refuses one, another usually passes.

Why does an account get more domains?

Because domains that are never displayed publicly stay accepted far longer. There is no way to stop a scraper reading a public page, so the only defence is not putting the domains on one. Registration is that boundary.

Can I use the same address on two devices?

Yes, without an account: type the address on the second device and the same messages appear. That works because guest mailboxes are open by address, which is the same property that lets anybody else read them. With an account, mailboxes are private and tied to your sign in.

What happens if I close the tab?

Nothing. The mailbox belongs to your browser, not to the tab, and it is there when you come back. It disappears if you clear browsing data, use a private window, or switch browsers.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes, and most people use it that way. Use the copy button rather than typing the address by hand: a mistyped address on a small keyboard is the most common reason a code never arrives.

Is there an API?

Not on this site. Unrestricted automated access is what turns a service like this into a spam tool, and refusing it is part of why the domains here keep being accepted by signup forms. If your automated tests need throwaway mailboxes, point them at a mail catcher running beside the application instead: it is faster than any network service and it never shares state with strangers.

Why does asking for a new address delete the old one?

Because a guest mailbox has no owner. There is no account to attach it to, so the only thing tying a mailbox to you is the token in your browser, and one token holds one mailbox. Keeping the previous mailboxes alive would mean keeping mail nobody is watching, which is exactly the pile this service exists to avoid. Register if you need several at once: an account holds ten and none of them destroy each other.

Why do some codes arrive instantly and others take minutes?

The delay is almost always on the sending side. Large services queue confirmation mail rather than sending it the moment you press the button, and that queue moves at different speeds depending on the hour. Delivery to this service takes seconds once the message actually leaves the sender: the page holds an open connection, so a message appears without any refresh. If several minutes pass, the likelier explanation is that the form rejected the domain and never sent anything.

Does the advertising here see my mail?

No. Ads are ordinary blocks placed in the page layout, and they have no access to the mailbox: message bodies are rendered inside an isolated frame with scripts disabled, and nothing outside that frame can read what is in it. The room for each ad is measured out before it arrives, so the page never jumps underneath you mid sentence. Ads are how a free service that stores nothing pays for itself, and that is the whole extent of their involvement.

Is using a temporary address against a site's rules?

It depends on the site, and the honest answer is that some terms of service do require a real address. Where a site simply wants a working way to send you a code, a disposable address satisfies that. Where it wants an address that can recover your account later, using a temporary one hurts you first: nobody else is harmed when a reset link lands in a mailbox that stopped existing weeks ago. The line is not moral, it is practical, and it is drawn in when you need a real address.