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Reddit allows more anonymity than most other social media websites, particularly by allowing burner or throwaway accounts without using an email address. Lately, though, Reddit has made it harder to spot how to create these anonymous accounts—but you can still create throwaway Reddit accounts on desktop and on mobile.
What is a burner Reddit account, and why do you need one?
Even though Reddit lets you create anonymous accounts, it keeps your entire post and comment history public. Anyone can visit your Reddit profile and see every single post or comment you’ve ever made, which can make it hard to hide your identity, political affiliations, hobbies, and other sensitive information that you might not want random strangers to access.
To mitigate that problem, lots of people frequently create new anonymous accounts to start afresh on Reddit. These accounts are called “burner” or “throwaway” accounts. If your friends or family members know about your primary Reddit account, it’s a good idea to create a throwaway to post about things you’d rather keep private.
People often prefer not to link their email address to their throwaway Reddit accounts. Linking your email address to your Reddit account will allow you to enable security features such as two-factor authentication, and let you access account recovery options; however, if your Reddit account gets hacked, it exposes your email address, too.
How to make a burner Reddit account without an email address
Screenshot: Pranay Parab
Reddit has made it hard to spot how to create throwaway accounts. However, it’s still fairly easy to create Reddit accounts without an email address. On desktop, open Reddit.com and click the blue Sign Up button in the top-right corner of the page.
Screenshot: Pranay Parab
This will take you to Reddit’s registration page. Click Continue—there’s no need to type your email address—the field is optional even though Reddit tries its best to pretend otherwise. If you use Old Reddit, click Next instead.
Screenshot: Pranay Parab
On the next page, you can type your username and password, and check the captcha box. When you’re done, click Sign Up.
Screenshot: Pranay Parab
That’s it, and your anonymous Reddit account has been created. Click Finish on the bottom-right corner to start browsing Reddit.
If you’re trying to do this on mobile, be aware that you can’t sign up without an email address on any of Reddit’s apps or on its mobile website. Your best bet is to open Reddit.com on any mobile browser and use the Request Desktop Website option to load the desktop version and follow the steps listed above.
