Summary
Emails sent through Apple Private Relay addresses sometimes land in spam folders, even when direct sends to the original email address are delivered successfully to the inbox. This issue primarily affects emails destined for providers like Gmail, where Apple's privacy-enhancing services may inadvertently impact sender reputation and message filtering. The core of the problem appears to stem from how Apple Private Relay handles email authentication and headers, essentially masking the original sender's reputation behind Apple's own.
Key findings
- Authentication rewriting: Emails sent via Apple Private Relay are signed with Apple's own SPF and DKIM records, leading to a passing DMARC authentication for Apple's domain (e.g., privaterelay.appleid.com). This rewriting of headers means the original sender's authentication is not directly visible to the receiving server.
- Shared reputation risk: Senders utilizing Apple Private Relay effectively share the reputation of Apple's relay service. If other senders using the same relay infrastructure engage in activities deemed spammy, it can negatively impact the deliverability of all emails flowing through it, regardless of the individual sender's practices.
- Inconsistent filtering: The problem is often observed when sending to specific receiving domains like Gmail, even when direct emails to the original address receive perfect inbox placement. This suggests that Gmail's filters might be reacting to the shared reputation or the specific characteristics of the relayed emails.
- Header modifications: Beyond authentication, Apple Private Relay might also modify or omit other standard email headers, such as List-Unsubscribe, which can influence spam filtering decisions by providers like Gmail.
Key considerations
- Review authentication: While Apple handles authentication for relayed emails, ensure your sending infrastructure's primary SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are correctly configured. This ensures a strong foundational sender reputation.
- Monitor deliverability rates: Keep a close eye on your deliverability to Apple Private Relay addresses specifically, as well as your overall inbox placement.
- Communicate with users: Advise users who sign up with Apple Private Relay to check their spam or junk folders and to move your emails to their inbox. This positive interaction can help train mail filters.
- Review Apple's documentation: Familiarize yourself with Apple's guidelines for developers using Sign in with Apple's private email relay service to ensure compliance and understanding of their policies.
What email marketers say
Email marketers have encountered a puzzling phenomenon where emails sent to Apple Private Relay addresses are filtered into spam, despite successful inbox placement for direct emails to the same contacts. This suggests a unique challenge presented by Apple's privacy features, which can obscure traditional sender signals that receiving mailboxes rely on for filtering.
Key opinions
- Inconsistent deliverability: Marketers report that the exact same message, which delivers to the inbox when sent directly, lands in spam when sent through Apple Private Relay, particularly to Gmail recipients. This indicates a filtering decision based on the relay itself rather than content or sender reputation.
- Authentication appears passed: Even when examining email headers, authentication checks (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) show as passing, but attributed to Apple's relay domain, not the original sender. This makes traditional troubleshooting difficult.
- Impact on campaign analysis: The differing deliverability of relayed emails can skew campaign performance metrics, making it harder for marketers to accurately assess engagement and overall inbox placement for their subscriber base.
- Consider discontinuing Sign in with Apple: Some marketers are considering whether to continue offering 'Sign in with Apple' as a registration option if the associated deliverability issues persist and impact their ability to reach subscribers.
Key considerations
- Test thoroughly: Conduct A/B tests with relayed vs. non-relayed addresses to precisely identify the impact on deliverability. Use a deliverability tester to analyze headers.
- Educate subscribers: Inform users who sign up using Apple Private Relay that they might need to check their spam folder and mark your emails as not spam. This proactive step can improve engagement and help email filtering algorithms.
- Consider alternatives: Explore the trade-offs of offering 'Sign in with Apple' versus alternative sign-up methods if deliverability issues persist at scale, especially for critical transactional emails.
- Review list hygiene: While not directly related to Private Relay, maintaining a clean email list is always crucial. High bounce rates or complaints, even if not directly from relayed addresses, can impact overall sender reputation.
Marketer view
An email marketer from Email Geeks notes that emails are landing in the spam folder due to Apple Private Relay. They observe that sending to contacts using these relayed addresses results in spam placement, whereas sending directly to their actual email address achieves inbox delivery. This specific pattern suggests that the relay itself is influencing filtering decisions.
Marketer view
A marketer from Email Geeks confirms they are experiencing the same issue, with spam folder placement occurring when users have utilized 'hide my email' via Apple login. They explain that headers indicate everything passes, but the authentication is replaced by Apple. Emails sent directly, without the relay, continue to deliver fine with good KPIs.
What the experts say
Email deliverability experts highlight that Apple Private Relay's mechanism of rewriting email headers and authenticating mail on its own behalf leads to a shared reputation problem. This means that receiving mail services like Gmail see all emails coming through privaterelay.appleid.com as having Apple's reputation, making it challenging for their machine learning filters to differentiate between individual senders.
Key opinions
- Authentication ownership: Experts clarify that when Apple signs the DKIM, Apple takes ownership of the email's reputation. This transfer of ownership means the sender is largely at Apple's mercy regarding deliverability for these relayed messages.
- Machine learning challenges: Mailbox providers' machine learning filters struggle to differentiate between various legitimate senders when all emails are originating from a shared, masked relay. This lack of distinct sender signals makes it difficult for filters to accurately assess individual sender behavior and reputation.
- From address rewriting: The From: address itself is rewritten by Apple Private Relay, further contributing to the obfuscation of the original sender's identity from a reputation perspective.
- Temporary issue: Some experts believe this deliverability challenge may be temporary, expecting that machine learning filters will eventually adapt and find ways to distinguish between senders utilizing the private relay. However, this adaptation could take months.
Key considerations
- Understand the mechanism: It's critical to grasp how Apple Private Relay affects email authentication and header structure to diagnose issues effectively.
- Focus on content quality: Since direct sender reputation signals are diluted, focusing on highly engaging, relevant, and requested content becomes even more important to encourage positive user interaction.
- Monitor Apple's reputation: While you can't directly control it, Apple's relay reputation can impact your deliverability. Stay informed about any widespread issues affecting Apple's relay service.
- Advise users: It remains crucial to inform users about checking their bulk folders for your mail and explicitly pulling it out to the inbox, helping train receiving filters on legitimate content. This is one of the few actions you can take.
Expert view
An expert from Email Geeks, responding to a deliverability issue, questions the mail client and the final destination domain for emails sent through Apple Private Relay. They immediately consider if Apple Private Relay might be breaking email authentication, indicating this as a primary suspect for deliverability problems.
Expert view
An expert from Email Geeks suggests that it's very possible for Apple Private Relay to forward a significant amount of unwanted mail, which could lead to receiving mail services like Gmail filtering it more aggressively. They acknowledge that while unexpected, there are many reasons such an issue could occur with a privacy relay service.
What the documentation says
Official documentation and technical discussions reveal that Apple Private Relay is fundamentally designed to enhance user privacy by obscuring real email addresses and IP information. While beneficial for privacy, this mechanism changes how email authentication is presented to receiving mail servers, primarily by having Apple re-sign emails with its own authentication. This can impact deliverability as mail services adjust to these new forms of sender identification.
Key findings
- Privacy objective: Apple's private email relay service primarily aims to hide the real email address of the recipient, preserving their privacy by generating an automatically generated address that forwards mail. This core function is central to its design.
- Authentication handling: Apple employs Sender Policy Framework (SPF) to validate which email domains are permitted to send emails to the private relay email address. This means Apple is actively involved in the authentication process for relayed mail.
- Developer registration requirements: For 'Sign in with Apple,' developers must register their sending systems with Apple and are only permitted to send mail to those users from addresses registered with Apple. This control point is crucial for Apple to manage its relay's reputation.
- 'Hide my email' distinction: The 'Hide my Email' feature is distinct from 'Sign in with Apple' and allows any Apple Mail user to set up a secondary email address, which does not require the sender's address to be registered with Apple.
Key considerations
- Adhere to Apple's guidelines: Ensure your email sending practices comply with Apple's developer account settings for private relay to prevent mail from being blocked before it even attempts delivery.
- Understand header modifications: Recognize that Apple's relay actively rewrites headers, including authentication, which means your original sending domain's reputation may be less directly influential on relayed emails.
- Verify SPF configuration: Confirm that your SPF records are correctly configured, including for subdomains if you use them for sending, as Apple's developer tools may flag issues here, impacting deliverability.
- Adapt to privacy changes: As privacy features evolve, email senders need to adapt their strategies, especially concerning how email addresses like privaterelay.appleid.com are handled in marketing and transactional communications.
Technical article
Documentation from Apple's Developer Account help clarifies that if developer account settings are not correctly configured, the email will not even be sent from privaterelay.appleid.com. This suggests a critical gatekeeping function by Apple prior to any relay attempt.
Technical article
Documentation from Apple Stack Exchange highlights that Apple uses Sender Policy Framework (SPF) to validate which email domains are allowed to send emails to the private relay email address. This shows Apple's active role in maintaining the security and integrity of the relay service.
Related resources
11 resources
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