Google might be working on a new "Shielded Emails" feature

Google has been ramping up its focus on security recently, rolling out significant updates across its suite of apps. From much-needed changes to Google Messages to the new Play Protect Live Threat Detection, the company is clearly prioritizing user safety.

Now, it seems Gmail may soon get a new feature designed to combat spam even more effectively: temporary email addresses.

Android Authority uncovered this potential update through an APK teardown of the latest 24.45.33 release of Google Play Services. Among the code, they found a feature called "Shielded Email" that could allow users to generate temporary email addresses for use in specific situations, helping protect their primary inboxes from unwanted messages.

What is Google's "Shielded Emails" feature

While details are still scarce, the feature appears to let users create a temporary email address that can be used for things like signing up for websites or services, without exposing their primary Gmail account. Emails sent to these temporary addresses would then be forwarded to the user’s inbox, shielding it from spam, promotional emails, and other unsolicited messages.

This feature could serve as a significant step in further improving Gmail’s already impressive spam filtering capabilities, which reportedly block over 100 million spam messages daily. However, the implementation details remain unclear, as the feature is still a work in progress.

How will Google's "Shielded Emails" feature be available

There are a few possibilities for how this feature might be rolled out. One speculation is that it could be tied to a Google One subscription, much like how Apple offers its "Hide My Email" feature to iCloud+ users.

Or, Google may provide Shielded Email as a free feature. But, it could come with some limitations—perhaps restricting the number of temporary email addresses a user can generate.

Some have raised concerns about how Google might handle these temporary addresses. For instance, many platforms today can identify disposable email addresses based on their domain extensions (e.g., @mailinator.com). It’s unclear whether Google would assign these temporary emails a special domain (like @gmail.com) or something else entirely.

Why is Google's "Shielded Emails" feature important?

Either way, this feature could greatly improve Gmail’s already sophisticated spam filtering system if implemented. With the addition of AI-powered categorization and Shielded Email, Gmail could become an even cleaner environment for users, filtering out spam better.

While it’s still uncertain whether this feature will be officially launched, the idea is something that's been expected for a while, especially with so many third-party apps available to offer the same service.

Google’s continued commitment to user security and its history of refining Gmail’s spam filtering, suggests that Shielded Email could be an exciting new tool for keeping inboxes clutter-free.

For now, all we can do is wait for further updates and hope that this feature makes its way to Gmail soon.