How to keep spam out of your real inbox
The best spam filter is not giving your address out in the first place. These habits keep your real inbox quiet.
Give out your real email less often
Every site that has your address can email you, share it, or leak it. Before typing your real email, ask whether you will need this site again. If not, use a disposable address. If you will, consider an alias.
Use a different address for different jobs
- Real address: people you know, banks, government, work.
- Aliases: shops and services you use regularly.
- Temporary email: one-time downloads, coupons, and sign-ups.
If an alias starts getting spam, you know which site leaked it, and you can switch it off. See disposable email vs aliases.
Don’t confirm your address to spammers
- Turn off automatic image loading in your email app. Images can tell senders you opened the message. More in email tracking pixels.
- Don’t reply to spam, even to say stop.
- Only use unsubscribe links from companies you actually signed up with. In obvious spam, they can confirm your address is live.
Check if your address has leaked
Breach-notification services can tell you if your email appeared in a known data breach. If it has, change the password for that site and anywhere you reused it, and turn on two-factor authentication.
Keep your address off public pages
Addresses written on public websites are collected by bots. Use a contact form, or write it in a way bots don’t easily read.