How to stop emails tracking you on a Mac

When you open most newsletters and sales emails, the sender finds out. They usually learn when you opened it, roughly where you were and what device you used. None of this needs your permission, and it's done with an image you can't see.

How email tracking works

The sender puts a tiny image, often a single transparent pixel, into the email. The image is stored on their server with an address unique to you. When your mail app loads the image, their server logs it:

• That you opened the email, and how many times
• When you opened it
• Your IP address, which gives a rough location
• Your mail app and device

Links are often tracked the same way, through a redirect that records the click before sending you on.

Block tracking in Apple Mail

Apple Mail has a setting called Mail Privacy Protection:

1. Open Mail, then Settings (⌘ + ,).
2. Click Privacy.
3. Turn on Protect Mail Activity.

It hides your IP address and loads remote images privately in the background, so the sender can't tell when you actually opened the email. The trade-off is that images still download, just not in a way that reveals you.

Block tracking in Gmail

Gmail loads images through Google's own servers, which hides your IP address and location. But the sender can still see *when* the image loaded, which means when you opened the email. To stop that too:

1. Open Gmail's Settings, then See all settings.
2. On the General tab, find Images.
3. Choose Ask before displaying external images.
4. Click Save Changes.

Now images only load when you click to show them.

How Dusk handles it

Dusk never loads anything from the sender's servers. Every remote image, font and tracking pixel is blocked, and HTML email is shown with scripts turned off, so senders can't see when you open their email. There's no setting to get wrong. You still get the point of each email, because Dusk sums up every message in one line using the AI on your Mac.

Does blocking images break emails?

Sometimes. Emails that are mostly images, such as some newsletters and promotions, can look sparse. Emails from people, receipts and most notifications are text and read fine. In Apple Mail and Gmail you can still choose to load images for a single email you trust.

Questions

Can senders really see when I open their email?

Usually, yes. Most marketing and sales emails include a tracking pixel that reports when it's loaded.

Does Gmail block email tracking?

Partly. Gmail hides your IP address by loading images through Google's servers, but senders can still see when you opened the email unless you set Gmail to ask before displaying external images.

What is Mail Privacy Protection?

A setting in Apple Mail, called Protect Mail Activity, that hides your IP address and loads remote content privately so senders can't tell when you opened an email.