Working with Apple Mail Privacy Protection

Apple introduced "Mail Privacy Protection" (MPP) with the release of iOS 15 on September 14, 2021.

This feature prevents senders from using invisible pixels to collect information about users. This means the sender no longer knows when a user opens an email. MPP hides the user's IP address, making it difficult to link it to other online activities or determine the user's location.

To better understand how this feature in iOS has impacted email practices, watch the following video.

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Note

Watch more videos on using iOS 15 in the free Engagement Mini Masterclass from Bloomreach Academy.

Impact of MPP

MPP affects only Apple Mail users who have enabled this privacy feature.

As a result, email opens are significantly over-reported. Apple pre-loads or pre-fetches images when emails are delivered. This process triggers the image tracking pixel, which counts as an "open," leading to "false opens."

This issue affects both iOS and macOS, impacting all devices, including desktops and mobile devices.

Fake opens can occur for any email address linked to Apple Mail, such as Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail accounts— not just iCloud accounts provided by Apple.

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Important

MPP doesn't affect "delivery", "bounce" and "click" metrics.

Apple mail segmentation dashboard

Since Apple devices account for approximately 52% of all email opens, Bloomreach offers a solution that shows real email campaign open rates without misleading increases.

Visit our Use case center and download Apple mail segmentation dashboard for your direct use. This tool helps you group your customers into reliable categories, making it easier to differentiate between real and fake open rates from your campaigns.

With this segmentation dashboard, you will be able to:

• Report and target your campaigns effectively.
• Gain insights from a campaign analysis that separates metrics between MPP and non-MPP subscribers.
• See more accurate open rates, click-through rates, and spam complaint rates, both in total and unique.