The change button generates a new address. Your current address is remembered in your browser, so if you come back to Boxo on the same device, you find the same inbox.
| Point | How Boxo works |
|---|---|
| Message lifetime | Removed from the inbox 3 hours after arrival, permanently erased within 24 h |
| Capacity | The 50 most recent messages per address |
| Sending | Not possible: Boxo is receive-only |
| Sign-up | None, no password |
| Email content | Scripts, forms and risky elements removed before display |
This is the most important point. A Boxo inbox is protected by no password: anyone who knows the address can read the messages it receives. That is what makes the service instant, but it comes with a few rules:
In short, Boxo is for sign-ups that don't matter, not for your digital identity.
Your main email address is often the login for dozens of accounts. Each time you give it to a little-known site, you take three risks: spam, because many sites share or sell their lists; data breaches, since stolen address databases circulate and fuel phishing; and tracking, because one address lets companies link your accounts together. A disposable address breaks that link for every service that has no need to contact you again.
Some services keep lists of temporary email domains and block them at sign-up, especially social networks, banks and e-commerce platforms. This isn't a flaw in Boxo: those sites want to be able to reach you long term. When that happens, it's a good sign the account deserves your real address, or an alias from your email provider.
For accounts you keep, there is a middle ground: aliases. Gmail, for example, accepts name+shop@gmail.com, which lands in your usual inbox and lets you filter messages or spot who shared your address. Apple's "Hide My Email" and several email providers also offer relay addresses. Boxo remains the simplest option for things that are truly one-off.
Incoming messages may contain HTML. Before displaying them, Boxo strips scripts, forms, embedded frames and attributes that could trigger an action. Links remain clickable but open without passing information about Boxo to the destination site. Stay alert all the same: an email received on a disposable address can be phishing like any other.
A disposable email address is useful when a site only needs to write to you once. As soon as it will need to reach you again next month or next year, it is the wrong tool. The table below covers the most common cases.
| Situation | Best choice |
|---|---|
| Downloading a guide, a template or a free trial | Disposable address |
| Reading an article or joining a Wi-Fi network that asks for an email | Disposable address |
| Testing the emails sent by a site or app you are building | Disposable address |
| An online shop you will order from again, a forum you visit often | Alias or second mailbox |
| Bank, taxes, health, insurance, phone provider, employer | Your main address, with two-factor authentication |
| Invoices, warranties, tickets or any document you need to keep | Never a disposable address |
On almost every site, your email address is how you recover the account: if you forget the password, the reset link is sent there. With a disposable address, that link lands in an inbox with no password, which anyone who knows the address can open. You lose access to the account, and someone else could take it over. The same goes for an invoice or an order confirmation: three hours later, the message is gone from the inbox.
| Feature | Disposable address (Boxo) | Alias | Second mailbox |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup | Instant, no sign-up | In your email provider's settings | Creating a full account |
| Lifetime | Messages visible for 3 hours | As long as you keep it | Permanent |
| Who can read it | Anyone who knows the address | Only you | Only you |
| Account recovery | Not possible | Yes | Yes |
| Sending email | No | Depends on the provider | Yes |
| Best for | A one-off sign-up | Spotting who sold or leaked your address | Keeping shopping and newsletters away from personal mail |
If you have already given your real address to a site that floods you with messages, you can ask it to delete your data. In the European Union and the United Kingdom, the GDPR gives you this right (Article 17), and the company must normally reply within one month. Elsewhere, check your local data protection law: many include a similar right. With a disposable address, the question hardly arises: the site never had your real address.
No, Boxo is receive-only. It is a temporary inbox for receiving a code or a link, not for correspondence.
They disappear from the inbox three hours after they arrive and are permanently erased within 24 hours; in between, only the site operator can view them, to fight abuse. Each address keeps at most its 50 most recent messages.
Yes, if they know the address: Boxo inboxes have no password. Never receive sensitive information there, and prefer a random address that is hard to guess.
Yes, completely, with no sign-up and no usage limit. The service is funded by the advertising shown on the site.
Check that the copied address is complete and wait a minute or two: some sites send their emails with a delay. If the site rejects temporary addresses, the message will never be sent.
Temp mail is a temporary email address created in one click, with no sign-up, that receives messages for a short time. It is used to get a verification code, a confirmation link or a download without giving out your real address, so the spam that often follows never reaches you.
For low-stakes messages, yes: Boxo strips scripts and forms, blocks tracking pixels and discards attachments. But the inbox can be read by anyone who knows the address, so never use it for anything personal, financial or that you need to keep.
On the same browser, yes: Boxo remembers it and reopens it on each visit. It only accepts mail if it was opened on the site in the last 24 hours, though, and each message disappears after 3 hours. For long-term use, an alias is the better choice.
Emails received here are deleted automatically after a few hours.