Apple Mail Now Blocks Email Tracking. Here’s What It Means for You

Nothing makes you more paranoid about privacy than working in a marketing department. Trust me on this. For example, did you know that marketers track every time you open an email newsletter—and where you were when you did it?

Apple caused a small panic among marketers in September 2021 by effectively making this tracking impossible in the default Mail app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. I, personally, switched to Apple Mail as soon as the feature was announced. You might feel the same way, but marketers feel as though they've lost a useful tool.

"If I start a conversation with somebody and they're not responding to me, I'm going to stop talking to them at some point," says Simon Poulton, vice president of digital intelligence at marketing agency Wpromote. "But if someone is nodding along, I'm going to keep talking." Tracking email opens, to Poulton, is a way for marketers to see who is, and isn't, listening—and adjust their strategy accordingly. Privacy advocates feel differently. Bill Budington, senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says tracking is bad for privacy, and he's pleased that “Apple Mail now provides tools to take your privacy back.”