How to enable email privacy protection to stop tracking (iOS 15)

In iOS 15, you can enable Mail privacy protection! This is a new feature that aims to prevent email tracking. When enabled, it hides your IP address, preventing senders from determining your location and tracking your online activity. It also hides information that can show trackers if and when you’ve opened an email.

How to activate email privacy protection

• The first time you open the Apple Messaging app after updating the iPhone or iPad to iOS 15 / iPadOS 15, the Mail privacy protection the start screen is displayed.
• Press on Learn more… to read detailed information about this feature.
• You have to choose if you want:
  – Protect email activity (Hide IP address and privately load all remote content)
  – Do not protect Mail activity (View IP address and load any remote content directly to your device)
• Tap Protect messaging activity and tap Carry on.

Enable message privacy protection in settings

If you accidentally chose not to protect your email activity, you can cancel it in Settings.
How? ‘Or’ What: Search Settings -> Mail -> Privacy protection and activate Protect email activity.

How to hide the IP address in mail

You can also opt for a Partial privacy protection.
How? ‘Or’ What: Disable this new feature in the settings and its two main components can be changed independently:
– Hide IP address and just hide your location while still letting senders see if you’ve opened or read and sent an email.
– Block all content remotely if you need to share your location, but want to block tracking pixels instead.

Made: Tracking pixels are secretly inserted into an email using an image and are able to report if and when a message is opened. I wrote more about it here.

Mail privacy protection explained

If you want to know more about this new iOS 15 privacy feature, you can check out the screenshots available below:

Have you enabled email privacy protection on your iPhone? Do you have any questions about this? Use the comments section and share your comments.

Related: Privacy is again an important focus in iOS 15. This comes after a series of privacy-focused features were introduced by its predecessor. Check out 10 of them here.