{"id":30225,"date":"2021-09-20T17:33:05","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T21:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?p=30225"},"modified":"2025-12-08T11:57:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T16:57:52","slug":"apple-mail-privacy-protection-for-marketers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/apple-mail-privacy-protection-for-marketers","title":{"rendered":"Apple\u2019s Mail Privacy Protection Is Here: What It Actually Means for Email Marketers and What to Do Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t
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Apple announced Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) at their annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC21) on June 7th, sending the email community into a tizzy with speculation about the death of the open rate and more.<\/p>\n

MPP is finally in effect as of today.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So now that we\u2019re here, what is the reality of how MPP actually works and its impact on email? I asked our engineering team who has been testing the beta and now the public release.<\/p>\n

What is Mail Privacy Protection?<\/h2>\n

According to Apple<\/a>, \u201cMail Privacy Protection hides your IP address, so senders can\u2019t link it to your other online activity or determine your location. And it prevents senders from seeing if and when you\u2019ve opened their email.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of September 20, 2021, MPP is available for the Mail app on iOS 15 and iPadOS 15<\/strong> devices. It is not currently available for Macbooks\u2014but will be when macOS Monterey launches later this year (the exact date hasn\u2019t been announced yet).<\/p>\n

MPP affects any email opened from the Apple Mail app on any device\u2014no matter which email service is used such as Gmail or a work account. However, this doesn\u2019t affect other email apps used on Apple devices like the Gmail app on an iPhone.<\/p>\n

How does it work?<\/h3>\n

When someone first opens up the Apple Mail app, they\u2019ll get a message prompting them to either \u201cProtect Mail activity\u201d or \u201cDon\u2019t protect Mail activity\u201d (neither are pre-selected).<\/p>\n\"Apple\n

So, this is not<\/em> turned on by default. People will have to actively make a choice. (Except, if you happen to not have Apple Mail as your default email client, Mail Privacy Protection will be turned on by default in your settings before you ever launch the Mail app.) Whatever choice is made is then automatically synced to all devices associated with the same Apple ID.<\/p>\n

When someone selects the \u201cProtect Mail activity\u201d option, here\u2019s what happens: Apple first routes emails through a proxy server to pre-load message content\u2014including tracking pixels\u2014before serving to readers. Even if readers don\u2019t actually open those emails.<\/p>\n

Expect this to be refined as Apple continues to improve MPP, but right now, the way this works is:<\/p>\n

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  1. When the subscriber\u2019s Apple Mail app starts up, it triggers a download of the email to their device from their email host (e.g., Yahoo or Google).<\/li>\n
  2. At indeterminate intervals (could be immediately or could be a couple days later), Apple downloads all of the images in the email, creating a copy of the images to a new location on the Apple Privacy Cache. The download is triggered by a proxy server with an IP address assigned to the general region of the subscriber, masking their specific geolocation. In our testing, subscribers must be connected to a wireless network with the Mail app running in the background for this to happen.<\/li>\n
  3. This caching process requires Apple to request the images from the email service provider (ESP)\u2014including the open tracking pixel\u2014which makes the ESP think the email has been opened.<\/li>\n
  4. If the subscriber actually<\/em> opens the email, it triggers a request to download and display the email\u2019s images, but instead of coming from the sender\u2019s web host or ESP server, they\u2019re coming from the Apple Cache. So, you won\u2019t see the real open.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Because of this, you can\u2019t tell who opened your emails, when, and where via Apple Mail.<\/p>\n

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    \"Icon<\/td>\n\n

    Want to stay up to date on all things MPP?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Check out (and bookmark) our Mail Privacy Protection hub for the latest on how this measure is affecting email marketing along with the resources you need to keep your program humming.<\/p>\n

    Stay in the know<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

    How many of your subscribers are affected?<\/h3>\n

    Our annual email client market share data<\/a> shows Apple iPhone (iOS Mail), Apple Mail (macOS Mail), and Apple iPad (iPadOS Mail) with over 46% of combined email opens in 2020. Their share of email opens has since grown to 49.8% at the end of August this year.<\/p>\n

    \"August
    Source: Email Client Market Share in August 2021<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Based on iOS 14 adoption rates<\/a>, expect iOS 15 to be adopted pretty quickly. We foresee a third of iPhones to have iOS 15 within the first week, 50% within the first month, 75% within the first two months, and 90% six months after launch. iPadOS 15 adoption will likely follow a similar trajectory.<\/p>\n

    macOS Monterey adoption (whenever that\u2019s released) is probably going to be slower and lower based on previous macOS market share data<\/a>. Our prediction? A quarter of Macs will have macOS Monterey one month after it launches, 50% after seven months, and 65% after a year.<\/p>\n

    Of those who are on iOS 15, iPadOS 15, or macOS Monterey: Mail Privacy Protection adoption is forecasted to be near 100%. Looking at the 96% of people not allowing ad tracking<\/a> from Apple\u2019s App Tracking Transparency tool and the language around the Mail Privacy Protection options, it\u2019s highly likely people will also opt out of email tracking at that rate. I mean, who\u2019s going to want to essentially say, \u201cDon\u2019t protect me\u201d?<\/p>\n

    What this means for email marketers<\/h2>\n

    Privacy has become a big issue in recent years, not just in the email industry.<\/p>\n

    This brings to mind the European Union\u2019s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which gives people the right to remove their personal data, therefore anonymizing it to marketers. Then came the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) with its own privacy protections. And most recently, there\u2019s been talk about the loss of third-party cookies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Something like MPP was just a matter of time.<\/p>\n

    Is the open rate dead?<\/h3>\n

    If your audience makeup is skewed toward Apple Mail users, your open rate will be over-inflated as more and more people upgrade to the latest OS versions and activate Mail Privacy Protection.<\/p>\n

    MPP just went into effect today, but we predict an inflated Apple Mail open rate of around 75%<\/strong> at peak adoption. This is an extremely rough guess at this point since we\u2019re only on Day 1. What we do know is that the inflated open rate will definitely not<\/em> be near 100% (our previous guess) since there are some instances in which emails are not being cached\u2014and therefore not firing off the open tracking pixel. We\u2019ll update this later as we continue to gather more data.<\/p>\n

    UPDATE: October 7, 2021<\/strong>
    \nWe spoke with our friends over at Constant Contact, and they gave us quick insight into what they’re seeing.<\/p>\n\"Photo\u201cWe regularly review and publish the     average email industry rates for Constant Contact small business customers<\/a>. With Apple\u2019s recent iOS 15 update on September 20 including Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), we compared the average email open rate across all industries in August and September. At this time, our data shows no change in open rate. Both months come in at 17.6%. We will continue to monitor the impact of Apple\u2019s MPP in the coming months as more people adopt iOS 15 and opt-in to MPP.\u201d<\/p>\n

    – Dave Charest<\/strong>
    \nDirector, Content Marketing at Constant Contact<\/p>\n

    If you look at our analysis of September’s email client market share (coming soon!), we share a similar story about the impact of MPP (so far).<\/p>\n

    Many marketers have already considered the open rate a vanity metric, but we disagree. However, we believe you shouldn\u2019t rely on opens as your sole performance metric.<\/p>\n

    So, while it might not be time to put the open rate to rest yet, it\u2019s a great reminder to include\u2014and perhaps emphasize\u2014other metrics instead such as clicks and conversions in your reporting.<\/p>\n

    What about campaigns and imagery powered by opens?<\/h3>\n

    Beyond a simple metric, the almighty open is also commonly used for:<\/p>\n