Nothing changes for existing users of the two services. If you already use a service, you don’t have to worry about messages no longer arriving or registration failing. Apple ensures that existing addresses under the old domain continue to work. App developers and website operators, on the other hand, should ensure that the domain “private.icloud.com” is accepted for account creation and address validation.
Practical Services
Sign in with Apple is available to anyone with an Apple account. Use is voluntary, but for several years it was mandatory for app providers under certain conditions: anyone who offered registration via a social media account had to allow an alternative registration via an Apple account. Since 2024, Apple has relaxed this regulation a little and also allowed data-saving OAuth providers. “Hide my email”, on the other hand, is part of the “iCloud+” function package and is therefore tied to a paid subscription: new addresses can only be created by those who subscribe to at least the 50 GB storage extension for around one euro per month. If the subscription ends, you will continue to receive messages, but you will no longer be able to reply with the anonymized address.
When creating user accounts, iCloud+ offers to create a service-specific email address.