Apple Mail Privacy Protection

Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) blocks tracking pixels, hides IP addresses, and stops you from linking email opens to user activity. MPP only affects Apple Mail users who enable this privacy feature. Here's how to adapt your measurement strategy.

What MPP prevents

MPP prevents senders from tracking users through email. It blocks three key behaviors:

• Open tracking: You can't detect when someone opens an email.
• IP address collection: You can't see where users are located because MPP hides their IP address.
• Activity linking: You can't connect email engagement to other behavior.

How MPP affects your email data

MPP affects all Apple devices using Apple Mail, including iOS and macOS.

How MPP affects your data

This creates the following reporting issues:

• Inflated open rates: Apple preloads images on delivery, triggering your tracking pixel even if the email is never opened. These false opens inflate your open rate.
• All email providers: MPP applies to any address (Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail) if it's accessed through Apple Mail.

What MPP doesn't affect

MPP doesn't affect delivery, bounce, or click metrics. These remain reliable for measuring campaign performance.

📘

Note

Use clicks and other non-open metrics to track real engagement from Apple Mail users.

How open rate calculations handle MPP

Some dashboards exclude MPP opens when calculating open rates. This removes both real and inflated opens from affected users and devices. Since MPP inflates open tracking, these opens may not reflect real behavior.

Segment your data

Apple devices account for about 52% of all email opens (Litmus, 2021). Use segmentation to separate MPP-influenced data from real user activity.

Use the Apple Mail segmentation dashboard

1. Go to the Use Case Center.
2. Download the Apple Mail segmentation dashboard.
3. Import the dashboard into your account.

This dashboard helps you:

• Identify subscribers using Apple Mail Privacy Protection based on device data.
• Differentiate between real and inflated open rates for accurate reporting.
• Segment your email list by activity and engagement, including click data for Apple Mail users.
• Review campaign performance metrics with a specific breakdown for Apple Mail users.
• Adjust your targeting and improve email list health based on engagement data.

Adjust your email strategy

Adapt how you measure and act on email engagement:

• Focus on clicks: Use click-through rates as your main engagement metric.
• Segment by MPP: Create separate segments for MPP and non-MPP users.
• Test send times: Since open data from MPP users is unreliable, test different send times using click rate as your success metric instead.
• Review automation triggers: Avoid using "email opened" as a trigger for automated campaigns targeting Apple Mail users.