Apple Mail privacy changes—what does this mean for email?

1. Apple Mail will hide the IP address of the device it is accessed on, meaning that senders of marketing emails cannot track where an email is sent and whether it is read or opened.
2. Apple will roll out a mechanism to randomly preload image pixels on email recipients' handsets, meaning your true opens will be obfuscated with randomized false opens.
3. This will make using pixels unreliable. You may still get data from the pixel events, but this will not be the information you had previously that would have included that a recipient has opened the email.
4. Apple is not changing the way links within an email are tracked, so an open event can still be inferred when a recipient clicks on a link in your email.

Apple will present users with an opt-in page that will get the user to opt in to "Protect Mail Activity". If selected it will hide the user's IP address and privately load all content. Protect Mail Activity will not be turned on by default; users will have to actively opt in. Apple is quoting that 96% of users will opt in to the blocking service, as these were the statistics they saw with the App Store privacy features.

If a customer is using Gmail or another email service, will this be affected?

Yes, if they open your emails through the Apple Mail app on iOS 15 and have opted in to Protect Mail Activity.

No, if they opened your email in the Gmail app, for example, or other service provider apps on an Apple device but not in Apple Mail. Protect Mail Activity is only effective on the Apple Mail app and not other provider apps, even when used on an Apple device.

Will the business be able to see click data?

Yes. You will still be able to measure and see click data from your emails even if Protect Mail Activity is active. Apple is not blocking this data.

• Understand the impact this has on your marketing efforts.
• Determine how many of your customers use Apple Mail to read your emails. The impact might not be as large as you think.
• Filter out your Apple open statistics. This will give you a good understanding of your opens based on other email providers, and you can use this as a benchmark moving forward.
• Focus on your click data for true engagement. Ensure that you are tracking your click data and looking at benchmarks to show the success of a campaign.
• Keep focused on the quality of your data and sender reputation. This will help you understand if there is a deliverability issue over and above opens.
• Create segments and audiences for both Apple Mail and other providers so you can see the difference in opens and understand how your customers are engaging.
• Focus on personalization and one-to-one communication with your customers. If you are delivering relevant communications, customers will engage by clicking through.
• Communicate with your customers. Let them know how you use their data and why they need to hear from you, and build confidence that you are doing the right thing.