Brave, an alternative to Chrome, has introduced a compelling feature that may encourage users to transition to its browser: email aliases. This functionality, revealed this week, lets Brave users register for websites and various online services without disclosing their personal email addresses.
To take advantage of this feature, users must first create a Brave account and provide their actual email address. Upon logging into the browser, a pop-up will appear whenever you click on an email input field, prompting you to use an alias instead. If the pop-up doesn’t show, you can right-click on the field to access the option manually. The alias will be populated in the form on the website, and any correspondence sent to that alias will be redirected to your main email account.
The company emphasizes that using an email alias can enhance privacy, as many websites utilize your email as a personal identifier, which can lead to targeted advertising. Major ad companies can link the email you provided with information they have, allowing them to track your purchases and browsing behavior.
Additionally, if a website you registered with gets hacked, the attackers could gain access to your primary email address, exposing it to potential misuse and data broker sales.
Brave has designed this feature to address these privacy concerns, ensuring that it does not read the contents of emails sent to an alias, only processing them for spam and virus protection. After forwarding the email, Brave removes it from its servers. All data within users’ Brave accounts is encrypted when stored, and any notes associated with an alias are saved locally unless the sync option is activated. If syncing is enabled, those notes will benefit from end-to-end encryption.
Since the email alias feature is new, Brave has advised that some forwarded emails might initially land in your spam folder. However, this situation should improve over time as Brave enhances its reputation as a mail service provider.
Currently, Brave offers users five complimentary email aliases, with plans to provide additional options for Premium users in the future.
