Temp mail FAQ: straight answers about disposable email

A free Mail Vanish address has no timer: it keeps working while mail keeps arriving, or until you burn it for a fresh one. An address that gets no new mail for 7 days is deleted automatically, even one saved to a free account. Its messages auto-delete after 24 hours, and an address nobody opens for 30 days is removed automatically unless it is saved to an account. Want a countdown instead? 10 minute mail self-destructs on a timer. Private Emails addresses never expire.

No. The free temp mail inbox works the moment the page loads. An account is only needed for the paid Private Emails plan.

No. Once you burn an address, or a 10 minute mail timer runs out, the address and every message in it are deleted for good - deletion is the feature. If you need mail kept longer, use a Private Emails address instead.

For throwaway signups, it is safer than exposing your real address. Mail Vanish blocks remote images and tracking pixels by default and strips scripts from every message. Just never use a temporary address for accounts you may need to recover later.

No one reads your messages. Anyone who knows a public address could open its inbox, so a temp address is for throwaway mail, not secrets - but Mail Vanish keeps no copy of a message once it is deleted. For a PIN-protected, private inbox, use a Private Emails address.

Anything you must be able to recover: banking, government services, your primary app accounts. Temporary email is for the throwaway signups everything else demands.

Yes. Verification links and one-time passcodes (OTP) arrive in the inbox live, usually within seconds, so you can confirm a throwaway signup without using your real address. Codes are the single most common use for temporary email.

No. Mail Vanish inboxes are receive-only. That keeps the service fast and prevents the abuse that gets disposable domains blocklisted.

Some sites block known disposable email domains. Switching to another Mail Vanish domain from the picker often works; Private Emails uses premium domains that are not in public pools.

Yes. Every inbox accepts attachments up to 25 MB. Downloads are streamed through our servers with content-type validation.

Private Emails gives you permanent addresses you own on premium domains, a PIN-protected inbox, verified forwarding to your real email, and reserved custom prefixes. Mail is kept for your plan's full retention period instead of 24 hours.