Why Multiple Digital Identities Are Becoming a Modern Necessity
As our digital exposure grows, so does the need for safe digital navigation. Every sign-up, purchase, or online interaction involves personal details — email, phone, payment information, or even addresses. These pieces of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) often get shared further than we expect, contributing to spam, data broker profiles, targeted ads, and even identity theft.
Because of this, alias systems — once simple tools — have evolved into powerful ways for people to generate unlimited identities, protect privacy, and control how they interact online. Instead of reacting to privacy breaches, modern users want proactive protection that reduces exposure before data leaks or misuse happen.
This is where identity masking and online disguises come into play.
Understanding Digital Alias Systems & How They Protect Your Identity
What is an alias?
An alias is a substitute identity used in place of your real email, number, payment method, or address. It protects your real information during all forms of information sharing.
What is identity substitution?
Identity substitution enables users to operate online under Cloaked Identities or other managed personas — allowing complete separation between personal life and online activity.
What is a masked / virtual card?
A virtual card replaces your real card details to protect your financial data from leaks, fraud, or misuse. It can also simplify subscription management and reduce unwanted recurring charges.
The Current Identity-Masking Landscape: How Today’s Tools Differ
Email-only alias tools
Used for inbox management, spam reduction, and email cleaning. They keep inboxes organized and remove unnecessary noise.
Phone-number masking apps
Useful for marketplace listings, dating apps, gig workers, and scenarios where communication must remain separate.
Virtual payment card providers
Hide real payment details during purchases to prevent fraud, manage trials, and limit risk.
Browser relay extensions
Simple relay-based solutions for lightweight identity masking, particularly email.
All-in-one identity masking systems
These combine email, phone, payment, address aliasing, encrypted password storage, TOTP/OTP generators, and data storage into one highly secure environment.
The Identity-Masking Tools We’re Evaluating
SimpleLogin – Email aliasing (Proton ecosystem)
AnonAddy – Open-source email aliasing
Firefox Relay – Browser-based email masking
IronVest – Email, phone, and masked payments
Cloaked – Multi-channel identity masking with AutoCloak AI, password manager with encrypted storage, and proactive privacy tools like Identity Scan and Data Removal
Feature Comparison Matrix
How Each Competitor Approaches Identity Masking
SimpleLogin
Great for email aliasing and foundational privacy protection. However, the lack of phone aliases, masked payments, or identity theft protection limits its scope for users seeking full identity replacement.
AnonAddy
Highly flexible for technical users, especially those comfortable managing their own data storage. As an email-only solution, it prioritizes customization over breadth of features.
Firefox Relay
Perfect for quick, easy email masking. Best for users who want an instant solution but not a deeper privacy stack.
IronVest
Provides email aliases, phone numbers, virtual cards, and some privacy features. Good breadth, but experiences may differ across feature categories, and automation is limited compared to multi-channel suites.
Cloaked
Cloaked provides a complete identity substitution ecosystem, including:
Tools for safe digital navigation and reduced exposure
Cloaked’s focus is proactive privacy, not reactive monitoring — reducing the chances of misuse, breaches, or exposure before they happen.
Best Use Cases
If you just want cleaner inboxes and reduced spam
SimpleLogin, AnonAddy, and Firefox Relay offer great value for removing spam and keeping a happy inbox.
If you need phone aliasing or masked payments
IronVest fits users who want broader identity masking but don’t need deep automation or integrated PII protection.
If you want a complete identity system for all online interactions
Cloaked is ideal when you want everything — email, phone, payments, address, passwords, OTP, identity scans — all connected, all private, and all built to work together.
Users who:
Manage many accounts
Want to separate professional/personal identities
Have experienced data breaches
Share information across multiple platforms
Need ongoing opt-out guides, data cleanup, or privacy protection
…benefit most from Cloaked’s fully unified identity-safety design.
Where Each Tool Excels
SimpleLogin — Best for simple, privacy-focused email aliasing
AnonAddy — Best for power users wanting customization
Firefox Relay — Best for casual masking with minimal setup
IronVest — Best for multi-feature identity masking without deep automation
Final Thoughts: Choosing the Right Identity Protection Tool
Alias tools are no longer optional — they’re essential for controlling your digital footprint, limiting the spread of your personal data, and shielding against constant exposure from information sharing, tracking, and breaches.
If your priority is a clean inbox → email alias tools are perfect.
If you need a few extra layers → hybrid tools offer email + phone + payments.
But if you want proactive privacy, the ability to generate identities instantly, automate your protection, scan for exposures, and reduce PII across every channel — then an all-in-one suite like Cloaked provides unmatched depth and convenience.
Cloaked’s design connects all identity elements — email, phone, passwords, OTP, masked cards, address aliases — into one seamless privacy experience, making online safety effortless and sustainable.
If you want a simpler, safer way to navigate the internet with complete control over your digital identities, you can explore Cloaked here:
FAQs About Multiple Digital Identities & Alias Tools
Frequently Asked Questions
Multiple digital identities mean using different aliases for your email, phone, payment cards, or addresses across platforms. Instead of sharing your real details everywhere, you distribute your information across controlled identities to reduce exposure and protect your privacy.
Every signup collects personal data that can be shared, sold, or breached. Multiple identities limit how far data spreads, reduce spam, prevent cross-site tracking, and lower the risk of identity theft.
An alias is a substitute identity — such as a masked email, virtual phone number, or virtual payment card — used instead of your real information to preserve privacy and limit data exposure.
Alias systems hide your real information during sign-ups, communication, and purchases. This blocks data brokers, advertisers, and attackers from collecting your true details and reduces the fallout from breaches.
Email aliasing only masks your inbox. Full identity masking extends protection to phone numbers, payments, addresses, passwords, OTP codes, and browsing — creating complete separation between your real identity and online activity.
Tools like SimpleLogin, AnonAddy, Firefox Relay, IronVest, and Cloaked offer email aliases, though feature depth varies significantly beyond inbox protection.
Virtual cards prevent merchants from storing your real card number, reduce fraud risk, simplify subscription control, and limit financial damage if a company is breached.
Cloaked provides multi-channel masking — email, phone, payments, and addresses — plus encrypted password storage, AI-powered identity tools, data removal, identity monitoring, and up to $1M in identity theft insurance. Most competitors focus only on email.
SimpleLogin, AnonAddy, and Firefox Relay are excellent for lightweight inbox protection and spam reduction if email is your primary concern.
People managing many accounts, working across platforms, recovering from data breaches, or seeking proactive privacy protection gain the most value from full-suite identity systems.
At Cloaked, we believe the best way to protect your personal information is to keep it private before it ever gets out. That’s why we help you remove your data from people-search sites that expose your home address, phone number, SSN, and other personal details. And to keep your info private going forward, Cloaked lets you create unique, secure emails and phone numbers with one click - so you sign up for new experiences without giving away your real info. With Cloaked, your privacy isn’t a setting - it’s the default. Take back control of your personal data with thousands of Cloaked users.
*Disclaimer: You agree not to use any aspect of the Cloaked Services for FCRA purposes.
.png)
