Summary
Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) significantly alters how email "opens" are reported. The vast majority of experts agree that these proxy opens, which involve Apple's servers pre-fetching email content, do not confirm actual human inbox delivery or interaction. Instead, they primarily indicate that Apple's server retrieved the content, often before a user even sees the email. Crucially, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are highly sophisticated; they can generally distinguish these automated fetches from genuine user engagement. Therefore, proxy opens have minimal to no direct influence on an ISP's perception of sender reputation or on deliverability to the inbox. ISPs rely on a much broader set of signals, such as clicks, conversions, replies, bounce rates, and complaint rates, to assess a sender's trustworthiness.
Key findings
- Proxy Opens Don't Confirm Human Interaction: Apple Mail Privacy Protection's proxy opens indicate content pre-fetching by Apple's servers, not actual human inbox delivery or engagement.
- Minimal ISP Influence: Internet Service Providers are sophisticated and largely disregard proxy opens for sender reputation assessment, differentiating them from genuine user interaction.
- ISP Reputation Based on Broader Signals: Sender reputation and deliverability are primarily determined by factors like clicks, conversions, replies, bounce rates, and complaint rates, not automated proxy opens.
- Open Rate Reliability Reduced: Apple Mail Privacy Protection has made traditional open rates less reliable as a direct measure of human engagement, requiring marketers to adapt their tracking methods.
Key considerations
- Shift Focus to Engagement Metrics: Marketers should prioritize and analyze other engagement metrics, such as clicks, conversions, and replies, for more accurate insights into subscriber behavior and deliverability.
- Segmentation with Caveats: While proxy opens do not confirm human engagement, they can suggest an email reached the inbox and can still be used for segmentation, understanding their limitations as a true engagement signal.
- Deliverability Not Directly Affected by MPP: Apple Mail Privacy Protection itself does not directly impact whether an email lands in the inbox; deliverability is still governed by overall sender reputation and adherence to best practices.
- ISPs Distinguish Automated Fetches: Trust that Internet Service Providers are advanced enough to differentiate between automated proxy fetches and genuine user engagement, meaning inflated open rates will not necessarily improve your sender reputation.
What email marketers say
11 marketer opinions
While Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) leads to automated 'proxy opens,' these do not reliably confirm that an email was actually delivered to a recipient's inbox for human viewing. The pre-fetching process often occurs on Apple's servers even before a user sees the email. Critically, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are highly sophisticated and differentiate these system-generated fetches from genuine user engagement. Consequently, proxy opens have minimal to no direct influence on an ISP's assessment of sender reputation or overall email deliverability. ISPs instead prioritize a comprehensive suite of authentic engagement signals, such as clicks, conversions, unsubscribes, and complaint rates, to determine a sender's trustworthiness.
Key opinions
- No Human Inbox Delivery Confirmation: Apple MPP's proxy opens are server-side fetches and do not reliably indicate an email was delivered to or viewed by a human in their inbox.
- ISPs Ignore Proxy Opens for Reputation: Internet Service Providers possess advanced capabilities to distinguish automated pre-fetches from genuine user interaction, rendering proxy opens largely irrelevant for sender reputation assessment.
- Genuine Engagement Drives Deliverability: ISP deliverability decisions and sender reputation are primarily shaped by authentic user actions like clicks, conversions, replies, and crucially, low complaint and bounce rates.
- Diminished Open Rate Accuracy: The advent of Apple MPP has significantly reduced the accuracy of traditional open rates as a reliable metric for direct human engagement and inbox success.
Key considerations
- Prioritize Action-Based Metrics: Marketers should shift their analytical focus to more reliable engagement metrics, such as clicks, conversions, and replies, which truly reflect subscriber interest and deliverability success.
- Understand Proxy Open Limitations: While proxy opens might suggest an email wasn't routed to spam, they should not be misinterpreted as confirmation of human viewing or direct engagement for segmentation or re-engagement strategies.
- Focus on Holistic Reputation Factors: To improve deliverability, concentrate on foundational sender reputation elements like maintaining low spam complaints, managing bounce rates, and fostering positive user interactions beyond mere opens.
- Educate Stakeholders on MPP Impact: It's essential for marketing teams to understand and communicate that inflated open rates due to MPP do not equate to increased human engagement or improved ISP standing.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that proxy opens, such as those from Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), generally indicate an email has reached the recipient's inbox rather than the spam folder, because spam placement does not trigger image pre-fetching. ISPs do not directly observe image loads; these are sender-side metrics used as a crude proxy for recipient interaction. An image load suggests the email was delivered, potentially viewed by a human, and that the Mailbox Provider believes the user wants or won't object to the email. This signal can be used by senders for segmentation, acknowledging that while it's not 'true' engagement data, it's the best available proxy.
25 Jan 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Email marketer from Mailgun Blog explains that Apple MPP pre-fetches email content, making open rates less reliable as a direct measure of human engagement. While this affects marketers' ability to track opens, sophisticated ISPs are generally capable of distinguishing these pre-fetches from genuine user interaction, so the direct influence on ISP perception of sender reputation based on these proxy opens is minimal.
30 Jun 2025 - Mailgun
What the experts say
2 expert opinions
Email deliverability experts agree that Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) 'proxy opens,' which involve Apple's servers automatically pre-fetching message content, do not reliably confirm that an email has been delivered to a recipient's inbox for human viewing. These automated actions simply indicate a server-side content fetch, not genuine user interaction. Importantly, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are highly capable of distinguishing these system-generated requests from actual user engagement. They are aware of the specific IP addresses Apple uses for pre-fetching and consequently disregard proxy opens when assessing sender reputation or determining inbox placement. Therefore, MPP has no bearing on actual email deliverability or an ISP's perception of a sender's trustworthiness.
Key opinions
- Proxy Opens Don't Confirm Delivery: Apple MPP's automated proxy opens indicate server-side content retrieval, not reliable confirmation of an email reaching a human's inbox or being viewed.
- ISPs Disregard for Reputation: Internet Service Providers possess the capability to differentiate automated pre-fetches from genuine user actions, thus disregarding proxy opens in sender reputation assessments.
- No Impact on Deliverability: The mechanics of Apple Mail Privacy Protection do not influence whether an email is actually delivered to the inbox or is perceived positively by ISPs.
Key considerations
- Rethink Open Rate Metrics: Marketers should shift their analytical focus away from open rates alone and prioritize more reliable engagement metrics, such as clicks, conversions, and replies.
- Trust ISP Intelligence: Recognize that ISPs are sophisticated enough to discern automated fetches from authentic user engagement, meaning inflated open rates will not artificially boost your sender reputation.
- Maintain Core Deliverability Practices: Continue to focus on fundamental deliverability practices like managing bounce rates, minimizing complaints, and fostering true user engagement, as these are key to inbox placement.
Expert view
Expert from Spam Resource shares that Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) automatically downloads all message content, including tracking pixels, meaning these 'proxy opens' do not reliably confirm email inbox delivery as they occur without the recipient opening the message. Al Iverson suggests that filtering providers, or ISPs, will likely distinguish between a real open and a privacy protection open, implying they will not count these automated actions towards sender reputation or positive email activity.
14 Feb 2023 - Spam Resource
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that Apple MPP's proxy opens do not confirm email inbox delivery; they only indicate that the Apple proxy server fetched images. Laura Atkins clarifies that these automated opens will not influence ISP perception or sender reputation, as ISPs are aware of the specific IPs Apple uses for these pre-fetches and will disregard them as true engagement signals. She further states that MPP will not change whether mail gets delivered or reaches the inbox.
20 Apr 2025 - Word to the Wise
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
The consensus among email marketing platforms is that Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) generates automated 'proxy opens' by pre-loading email content through Apple's servers. This process does not signify that an email has been delivered to a recipient's inbox for human viewing or that any user interaction has occurred. It simply indicates a server-side content retrieval. Critically, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are highly sophisticated and differentiate these automated fetches from genuine user engagement. Therefore, these proxy opens do not influence ISP perception of sender reputation or directly impact email deliverability to the inbox. ISPs continue to rely on a broad spectrum of authentic engagement signals, including clicks, conversions, replies, and comprehensive sender history, to assess trustworthiness.
Key findings
- Proxy Opens Not Human Interaction: Apple MPP's proxy opens result from server-side content pre-loading and do not confirm human inbox delivery or user engagement.
- ISPs Disregard Automated Fetches: Internet Service Providers possess advanced capabilities to differentiate automated pre-fetches from genuine user interactions, thus ignoring proxy opens for reputation.
- No Impact on ISP Perception: These automated proxy opens do not influence an ISP's assessment of sender reputation or directly affect email deliverability to the inbox.
- Deliverability Based on True Engagement: ISP decisions on deliverability and sender reputation are driven by a broad range of authentic signals, such as clicks, conversions, replies, and complaint rates.
Key considerations
- Prioritize Actionable Engagement Metrics: Marketers should shift focus from unreliable open rates to more accurate indicators of subscriber interest, such as clicks, conversions, and direct replies.
- Trust ISP Sophistication: Acknowledge that Internet Service Providers are adept at identifying and disregarding automated proxy opens when evaluating sender reputation, meaning inflated open rates won't artificially improve standing.
- Focus on Core Deliverability Fundamentals: Maintain strong sender reputation by adhering to email best practices, including list hygiene, consistent sending volume, and fostering genuine user interaction, as these remain critical for inbox placement.
Technical article
Documentation from Twilio SendGrid explains that Apple Mail Privacy Protection pre-loads all remote email content, effectively marking every email as 'opened' by Apple's proxy servers. This 'open' does not confirm a human inbox delivery or interaction. Instead, it signifies that Apple's server retrieved the content. ISPs rely on a multitude of signals beyond open rates, such as clicks, conversions, and direct replies, for sender reputation, suggesting that these proxy opens do not significantly influence ISP perception of deliverability.
22 Apr 2022 - SendGrid
Technical article
Documentation from Postmark explains that Apple Mail Privacy Protection pre-loads email images via a private relay, rendering open rates unreliable for measuring genuine user engagement. These proxy opens originate from Apple's servers, not end-users, and therefore do not confirm actual user receipt of an email in their inbox or interaction with it. Postmark clarifies that ISP reputation relies on a broader set of signals, including bounce rates, complaint rates, and explicit user engagement like clicks and replies, rather than these automated proxy opens.
4 Sep 2021 - Postmark
Do email clicks improve inbox deliverability?
How do Apple Mail user settings impact email deliverability and spam filtering?
How does Apple Mail Privacy impact IP warmup strategy and open rate tracking?
How does Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) affect the tracking of email opens and clicks, and how are machine opens categorized?
How does WHOIS privacy impact email deliverability and mailbox provider perception?
Will Apple MPP or Gmail machine opens occur on emails delivered to spam?
