In the last couple of years, streaming services have become incredibly popular. This has led many people to choose to broadcast themselves while playing games so that their friends and followers can watch them go about their daily lives. Some streamers have large followings and make a living off of it.
There are even Twitch partner programs where streamers can get paid for the number of views they get or the number of subscribers they have.
It seems like a perfect system for watching your favorite games being played. But it does come with its downsides.
Many gamers are hesitant to share their personal information, such as their email address, to prevent being harassed or stalked. Luckily, there are ways around this so that you can enjoy streams without worrying about your privacy being breached. Keep reading to learn more!
So can you hide your email address from Twitch streamers? Yes, you can hide your email address from Twitch streamers. You can log into your Twitch account to check if your email address is hidden. It should be by default.
It’s good to know that you can hide your email address from other users. But there’s a lot more to learn. In the following section, I’ll look at:
- How Twitch works
- How to hide your email address
- How to hide your IP address or
Let’s look at the first topic on this list, how Twitch works and how that might affect your email address security.
What is Twitch, and How Does it Work?
Twitch is a live streaming service that allows people to broadcast their gameplay to the internet. This can be done through a desktop computer or mobile device.
The service is owned by Amazon and had around 60 million monthly active users as of December 2018.
Anyone can sign up for Twitch and start streaming their gameplay. The service is free to use, but subscription options are also available. You can create an account and start broadcasting once you have set up an account. You will then be able to share your broadcast with anyone who has a Twitch account.
They can then watch your stream, and you can get feedback from your viewers. Twitch is an excellent service for broadcasting gameplay to millions of viewers. It is a popular service, and it is also fairly easy to use. However, Twitch is not perfect. There are several ways that your information can be accessed by Twitch. For example, if you have a Twitch account and sign up for a new email address, Twitch will use that email address to send you messages. It is important to note that your Twitch account will remain active even if the email address is changed.
Twitch has several ways that this information can be accessed. If you have an account on Twitch, they can see your email address, and they can also see your username and password. They can also see what games you have watching on Twitch. This information is useful for them because it can help you find games you’d love to watch. However, because this information is used by the Twitch algorithm and staff, your data, such as your email address, is inherently less secure.
In this section, you learned what Twitch is and why it is inherently less secure because of its very nature. Like many other services like Twitch, it does an admirable job of protecting your data. And 99.9999% of the time, you’ll have nothing to worry about. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take precautions.
In the next section, you’ll learn whether or not you can hide your email from streamers.
Can You Hide Your Email address from streamers?
This is probably the most common question regarding privacy on Twitch. Fortunately, you can hide your email address from all but the Twitch staff. This is what the official Twitch support page has to say about this:
“It is important to note that while Twitch hides your email, we cannot prevent anyone from finding your email address by searching the internet.”
If you want to check if your email address is hidden, follow the following method.
- Sign into your account
- Click on your profile image at the top right of the screen.
- When the new menu unfolds, click on settings.
- At the top of the setting menu, click on the “Security & Privacy” tab.
- You should see your email address at the top of the security page. If the email address is partially hidden by asterisk stars, then your email address is hidden from view.
Your email address should be secure.
Can you hide your IP address from streamers?
Yes, you can hide your IP address from Twitch. This is useful if you are worried about someone on the internet being able to track what you are doing online.
If you interact with another person online, such as playing a game with them or watching a sporting event, posting comments on the internet and watching Twitch, etc., your IP address will be recorded.
Your IP address is the equivalent of your physical location when using the internet.
Basically, there are millions of computers looking at your activity and recording your IP address. This can then be used to find out where you live, your physical location, what you do, etc.
With your IP address hidden, no one will be able to see where you are located. This is useful if you have a family member who is worried about them being stalked online. They can hide their IP address and not worry about anyone finding out where they live.
You can hide your IP address by using a VPN. There are several advantages to using a VPN, including:
Appear in a different location: A VPN is a service that will hide your IP from the internet by making your computer appear to be located in another country.
Privacy: Using a VPN service will prevent most major sites (and a majority of minor ones) from tracking your activity. This goes for things like social media, email, and even your browsing history.
Anonymity: With VPNs, you can choose to be “anonymous” and hide your IP address from websites and services that collect that information. This prevents most websites from being able to collect your personal information and sell it to advertisers or other third parties.
There are several VPNs you can use. However, I recommend NordVPN as they win yearly awards for excellent service and high reviews on review sites. There’s not much more you can ask for from software, really.
What can Twitch streamers see on my account?
Twitch streamers can see a lot of information about your account, including what games you play, what level you are in the game, which settings you are using, etc. They can also see your friend list.
You can also see what channels your friends are watching if they are broadcasting, and what the channel description is. Anyone who views your account will see whatever information you share on Twitch.
Be careful what you show on your account because this will appear in searches and on the internet. The settings menu also allows you to choose what information should be public and private.
This is good if you are a streamer who wants to keep certain aspects of your account private. For example, you may want to hide your real-life information but display your internet activity on Twitch.
Conclusion
Twitch is a great service, but it does have its downsides. This is why you need to be careful and do everything you can to protect your privacy on Twitch. This includes hiding your email address, using a VPN while streaming, and other tricks to hide your identity while on Twitch. Ensure you are protecting your information so you can enjoy Twitch and not worry about unwanted attention from others.
Don’t leave your data in the hands of others. Have a strategy for protecting your privacy and online security by regularly checking privacy settings, changing passwords, and setting VPN networks to protect you.