Keep a Temporary Inbox for 6 Months: How TempJar Works
5 November 2026 · TempJar
Short answer: pick a custom handle, set a password on it, and the inbox stays open for 6 months — no account, no sign-up, no email verification. The password is the whole mechanism. It is what turns an address that would otherwise vanish in a day into one you can reopen from any browser for half a year.
That is the part most temporary-email services never offer. The usual model is a random address with a countdown: ten minutes, an hour, a day, then gone. It works for a one-off code and fails the moment you need to come back — a second code, a password reset, a reply from the service you signed up for. TempJar's 6-month inbox exists for exactly that second visit.
Three inbox lifespans, one choice to make
TempJar gives you three kinds of inbox, and the difference between them is the password. The moment you land on the site, an auto inbox is already waiting: a random address, ready to copy, no form to fill. It lasts 24 hours in your browser, and it disappears if you never do anything with it. It is the fastest option and the shortest-lived one.
Create a custom handle instead — a name you choose, at least three characters — and set a password on it, and you get the 6-month inbox. The handle is yours to remember, the password is the only key, and the two together reopen the same inbox from any device. Nothing else is required: no account, no recovery email, no phone number.
The third option is the vault: claim a password inbox into a vault account and it never expires — the clock stops entirely, with its full history kept, including mail that arrived before you claimed it.
How the 6-month clock actually works
The clock starts the day you create the inbox and runs for 180 days. Opening the inbox does not reset it, receiving mail does not extend it, and there is no activity requirement to keep it alive. It is a fixed lifespan, not a use-it-or-lose-it timer, so an inbox you ignore for five months is still there in month five — and still expires on the same date it would have anyway.
Setting the password is the step people skip, and it is the step that matters. An auto inbox has no password, so there is nothing to reopen it with once the browser session is gone — the site warns you before you close it for exactly that reason. The password field sits in the inbox header, and once it is set the inbox becomes reopenable: handle, domain, password, from anywhere.
One warning that belongs here, because it is the only real catch: the password cannot be recovered. There is no reset link, no recovery email, and no support ticket that opens a password-locked inbox — that is deliberate, because a reset route would be a way in for anyone else too. Save the password in a password manager the moment you set it. A 6-month inbox with a lost password is a locked jar, not a kept one.
The one thing to do before the 6 months are up: decide whether the inbox still matters. If it does, claim it into a vault — that is the only move that stops the clock. If it does not, let it expire; nothing is lost that you still need.
What happens when the 6 months run out
The inbox expires and stops receiving mail. That is the honest version of expiry: the address goes quiet, and anything sent to it after the date is not delivered.
What does not happen is deletion. Your messages are stored and never auto-deleted, so an expired inbox still has its history behind it — and claiming it into a vault revives the same handle with that history intact. Expiry, in other words, is a closed door, not a demolished house. The way back in is the vault, and it works even after the inbox has already expired.
That matters most for the accounts you registered with the address. A password reset link sent to an expired inbox goes nowhere, so if any account behind the inbox still matters, claim it into a vault before the expiry date. After expiry the revival still works, but only through the vault.
When 6 months is the right length — and when it is not
Six months is right for the jobs temporary email is actually good at: a free trial you want to evaluate properly, a sign-up that might send a second code, a project that runs for a season, a newsletter you want to sample before committing your real address. Long enough that the inbox is still there when the service writes back; short enough that the address is not a permanent part of your identity.
And if the inbox turns out to matter more than you expected — the trial became the tool you use every day, the project is still running in month five — that is the moment to claim it into a vault. The vault does not change the address or the handle; it just removes the expiry date. Everything else stays exactly as it was.
How to set one up, step by step
- Pick a handle you will remember. At least three characters, something impersonal — a purpose, not your name. One handle per purpose keeps a noisy sender from following you everywhere.
- Choose a domain. The site offers the mail domains it operates; the default is fine for most jobs. The domain is part of the address, so note the full address, not just the handle.
- Set a password and save it immediately. Use the password field in the inbox header, then put the password in a password manager before you do anything else. This is the step that makes the inbox reopenable, and it is also the step that cannot be undone if skipped.
- Use the address, and come back the same way. Handle, domain, password — typed into the reopen box on any browser — brings back the same inbox with its messages.
- Before month six, decide. If the inbox still matters, claim it into a vault and the clock stops. If it does not, let it expire and move on.
Frequently asked questions
How do I keep a TempJar inbox for 6 months?
Create a custom handle and set a password on it. The password is what turns a throwaway address into a 6-month inbox: handle plus password reopens the same inbox from any browser, for 180 days from creation. No account and no sign-up are needed.
What happens when the 6 months run out?
The inbox expires and stops receiving mail, but it is not deleted. Your messages are kept, and the inbox can be revived by claiming it into a vault — the same handle comes back with its full history. If you claim it into a vault before it expires, it never expires at all.
Does the 6-month clock reset when I use the inbox?
No. The 180 days run from the day the inbox is created, and opening it or receiving mail does not extend it. The only way to stop the clock is to claim the inbox into a vault, which makes it never-expiring.
Try it free: Create your TempJar inbox → — pick a handle, set a password, save it in a password manager, and keep the inbox for 6 months.