Spam guide › Email
Email habits that cut down junk mail
No filter catches everything. These habits keep your real address off spam lists in the first place, and make the spam that gets through easier to kill.
Use a different address for shopping and signups
Keep your main address for people, your bank and work. Give stores, contests, Wi-Fi logins and quote forms a second free address, or a tagged one (below). When that inbox fills with junk, your real one stays clean.
Tag your address so you can see who leaked it
Gmail, Outlook, iCloud and Proton let you add a tag: you+storename@gmail.com. Mail still arrives. If spam shows up addressed to a tag, you know exactly which company sold or leaked it, and you can filter that tag straight to the trash.
Mark spam as spam, don't just delete it
Pressing Report spam (or Junk) trains your email's filter and helps block the sender for everyone. Deleting teaches it nothing.
Only unsubscribe from companies you recognize
A real store's unsubscribe link works, and the law requires them to honor it. On obvious scam email, don't click anything, including unsubscribe: it can confirm your address is live. Report it as spam instead.
Never reply to spam
Even "please stop" tells the sender a real person reads this inbox, and that can lead to more spam.
Stop images from tracking you
Hidden images in marketing email report back when you open a message. In Apple Mail, turn on Protect Mail Activity (Settings › Apps › Mail › Privacy Protection). In Gmail, images are loaded through Google's servers, which hides your location; you can also choose Ask before displaying external images in settings.
Check whether your address is in a data breach
Search your email at haveibeenpwned.com. If it shows up, change the password for those accounts, and never reuse that password anywhere else.
Turn on two-step sign-in
Spam is annoying; a hacked inbox is worse. Turn on two-step verification for your email account so a leaked password alone isn't enough to get in.
Set up a filter for repeat offenders
If one sender or tag keeps coming back, create a rule that sends it straight to trash. In Gmail: open the email › ⋮ › Filter messages like these.
Or use a tool that makes aliases for you
Instead of tagging, alias tools give each site its own random address that forwards to you. Switch one off and the spam stops. Apple Hide My Email (with iCloud+), Proton Pass, SimpleLogin and Firefox Relay all do this, and most have a free option. Compare them.