Guide
How long does temp mail last?
Temp mail lasts as long as its service allows: timed services end an address after a set number of minutes, while here there is no timer, but the provider may recycle an address at any time. So you can often reuse a temporary address later the same day, but you should never count on it. This guide explains what decides the lifespan and how to plan around it.
By Bathan DevUpdated 4 min read
Timed temp mail and how its expiry works
Timed temp mail expires when its countdown reaches zero, and the address and its mail go with it. Services built around a timer, often called 10 minute mail, give you an address that works for a fixed period, often around ten minutes as the name suggests. Some let you add time before the clock runs out. When it stops, the inbox is gone and anything sent afterwards has nowhere to land.
The upside is certainty. You know exactly how long you have, and you know nothing lingers afterwards. The downside is the same certainty: a slow verification email, or a second code you need tomorrow, arrives too late. There is more on that trade-off in the comparison with 10 minute mail.
A timed address and an address here fail in different ways. One ends on schedule and tells you so; the other has no schedule at all and can end without notice. Neither is meant to hold anything you will need next month.
How long temp mail lasts here
There is no countdown here, but there is no guarantee either. An address does not stop working after a set time. It is a real gmail.com or googlemail.com address on a shared account, and it keeps receiving mail for as long as the provider keeps it in service.
The provider may recycle an address at any time, and nothing promises how long that will be. In practice an address will often still be there when you come back later the same day, but you cannot know in advance when it will go, and you will not be warned.
That makes it less predictable than a timer, not more permanent. The safe way to treat any temporary address, here or elsewhere, is as something that could end the moment you look away.
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Get temp mailReusing a temporary email from your saved addresses
You can reuse a temporary email by reopening it from your recent addresses, which this browser remembers. Up to 25 recent addresses are kept in the browser’s local storage. Open one from the list and press Refresh to check its inbox again, as long as the provider has not recycled it. Nothing is stored in an account, because there is no account.
The list lives only in that browser. Another browser, another device or a private window will not have it, and clearing the site’s data removes it for good. It holds only your 25 most recent addresses, so one you used a while ago can drop off the list.
So the list is a convenience, not storage. If an address matters enough that you want to keep it, that is a sign it should not have been temporary. On a shared computer, clear it when you are done, since anyone using the same browser can see it.
How long mail stays in a temporary inbox
Mail stays in a temporary inbox for as long as the address does, but you only ever see the latest of it. The inbox list shows up to 20 messages, and it is checked when you press Refresh or come back to the tab, not pushed to you as mail arrives. On a busy shared address, newer mail can push an older message out of view.
Shared inboxes also keep mail from before you arrived. Anything that came in before you generated the address is listed separately as Earlier mail, so you can tell what was sent to you from what was sent to whoever used the address before. It is also a plain sign that the address was never made for you alone.
Nothing here deletes mail on a timer. Whether a message is still there when you come back depends on two things: the address still being in service, and how much other mail has arrived since.
How to plan around a temporary address
Plan as if the address will vanish the moment you close the tab, and it can never catch you out. Copy a verification code as soon as it arrives and use it straight away; most expire within minutes anyway. Download any attachment you want to keep, and copy anything else you need from a message, rather than counting on it still being there next week.
Never tie anything long-lived to a temporary address. An account you mean to keep, a subscription you pay for or anything that might need a password reset belongs on your own email, and when to use your real email instead sets out where that line falls.
For everything else, an address that has gone is easy to replace: generate a new temporary address and carry on.
Questions
Do my saved addresses carry over to another device?
No. They are kept in the local storage of the browser you used, so another browser or device starts with an empty list.
Are saved addresses kept in a private or incognito window?
Only while the window is open. Private windows usually discard site data when they close, and the list goes with it.
What happens to mail sent after an address is recycled?
You will not see it. Once an address has been recycled, mail sent to it no longer reaches your inbox here, which is why nothing lasting should depend on one.