Once you have Hide My Email set up, you don't have to log in again. I just forward to another email account that is not on iCloud. The unique email address I generated is saved in 1Password.
You have to pay for icloud for the rest of your life though.
I personally had issues with Apple overbilling me and not fixing it, and have shifted away from icloud and it's a huge problem for me, because while most accounts will let me change my email, some accounts will not.
I registered a throwaway domain for $10 and i'm using that domain that's the combination of two random english words dot com, and now I use simpleloginolyourall, but I own the alias domain and I can always redirect it with a catchall if I ever want to switch services or use the address with a different alias email provider.
To be fair, it's not currently that bad, because the minimum price for hidemyemail is a few bucks a month, but apple can always change that and it's far easier to pay for a domain then when you want to switch email providers in the future.
> You have to pay for icloud for the rest of your life though.
Isn't that true for all email providers nowadays? I used to have free email inbox with my domain, but not anymore. The cheapest layer for iCloud+ is $1/month.
Yeah, but it's better to be locked to paying a domain that you can migrate between providers for competition, than apple who's devices you may not use in the future or can change their pricing however they like.
It's better to own and not to rent in my opinion. Although, I appreciate the privacy arguments either way. Maybe use icloud hide my email for the things you want to keep the most private?
From what I have heard, you lose access to reply to emails received through Hide My Email if you stop paying. You still receive the emails. When you use "Sign in with Apple" you use an anonymized email as well, and those don't require you to pay.
It is a bit of a hassle saving the generated mail address, since it’s hidden away in the settings and from there you have to copy to your password manager.
How seamless is logging in on non-Apple devices?