How to stop email tracking
Stop the tracking. Know what it can’t stop.
The short answer.
You stop email tracking by blocking remote images. An open-tracking pixel is a tiny image hosted on the sender’s server; if your email app never fetches it, the sender never learns the message was opened. Turn off automatic image loading in Gmail, switch on Mail Privacy Protection in Apple Mail, or read in a client that blocks remote content by default.
Two honest caveats. Blocking does not stop click tracking, because a rewritten link reports your click no matter what your image settings are. And it is not free: every remote image stops loading, not just the trackers. Below are the exact steps, then how the tracking works so you know what you are blocking.
At a glance
- Stops open tracking: blocking remote images.
- Does not stop: click tracking.
- Cost: images stop loading until you allow them.
Every way to block it.
What each method does, and what it costs you.
| Method | How | What it stops | Tradeoff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gmail | Settings → See all settings → General → Images → “Ask before displaying external images”. | Remote images, including open-tracking pixels, until you choose to show them. | Every remote image stops loading automatically, not just pixels. |
| Apple Mail (iPhone, iPad, Mac) | iOS: Settings → Mail → Privacy Protection → Protect Mail Activity. Mac: Mail → Settings → Privacy → Protect Mail Activity. | Hides your IP address and loads remote content privately, so senders cannot see where you are. | Senders still see an “open”, but it is a false one. Apple pre-fetches images whether or not you read the mail. |
| Browser extensions | Install a content blocker or a dedicated email-tracker blocker in the browser you read webmail in. uBlock Origin, PixelBlock and Ugly Email are examples of this category. | Remote images and requests to known tracker domains, depending on the tool. | Block lists only know the trackers someone has listed, and a webmail provider’s own image proxy can change what a blocker sees. |
| Plain-text mode | Where your email client offers it, switch to plain text or turn off HTML rendering. | There is no HTML, so no remote image can be embedded at all. | Formatting disappears, and links in the text can still be tracked links. |
| Privacy-first clients | Use a client that blocks remote content by default, such as Proton Mail. | Remote content is off until you allow it. | You have to switch email providers or clients. |
In Gmail.
- Click the gear icon, then See all settings.
- Stay on the General tab and scroll to Images.
- Choose Ask before displaying external images.
- Scroll down and click Save Changes.
Gmail loads images through Google’s own servers, so by default a pixel is fetched for you the moment the message renders. This setting stops that automatic fetch. The tradeoff is that all images wait for you to click “Display images below”, and doing so loads the pixel and records the open. See how open tracking really works for the mechanics.
In Apple Mail.
- iPhone or iPad: open Settings → Mail → Privacy Protection. Mac: open Mail → Settings → Privacy.
- Turn on Protect Mail Activity.
This does something different from blocking. Apple pre-fetches the images through a proxy and hides your IP address, so the sender cannot see your location. It also means the sender sees an open that may never have happened, because the fetch occurs whether or not you read the email. Details in Apple Mail Privacy Protection and open tracking.
How tracking actually works.
The open pixel
A 1×1 transparent image at a unique web address. When your email app loads it, the sender’s server records that this exact message was rendered. That is the whole mechanism.
Gmail’s proxy hides you
Gmail fetches images through Google’s servers, so the IP address the sender sees is a Google data centre, not you. That is why “location” in most tracking tools is unreliable for Gmail readers, and why one open can show up several times when Gmail re-fetches the image.
Click tracking
Each link in the email is rewritten to pass through the sender’s server before redirecting you to the real destination. Your click is logged on the way. Image settings do not touch this.
Apple pre-fetching
With Mail Privacy Protection on, Apple loads images ahead of time through its own proxy. The sender sees an open that did not happen, with no real location. It is why an “open” is a weaker signal than it looks.
Odd open counts have an explanation too: why an email shows multiple opens, and whether someone can tell you opened their email.
What blocking does not stop.
Click tracking. If you click a rewritten link, the sender learns you clicked, whatever your image settings are. The only defences are not clicking, or copying the link address and checking where it goes before you visit. Blocking pixels is worth doing, but it is half of the picture.
It also does not remove what the sender already knows from the send itself, such as your address. For a plain-language account of what a sender can and cannot see, read our privacy page and our security overview.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
- How do I stop email tracking in Gmail?
- Open Gmail, go to Settings → See all settings → General, find “Images”, and choose “Ask before displaying external images”. Save the change. Gmail then stops loading remote images automatically, which is how an open-tracking pixel reports that you opened an email. It will not stop link tracking: a rewritten link still tells the sender you clicked it.
- Can the sender tell if I blocked the tracking pixel?
- Not directly. When the pixel never loads, the sender’s server receives no request, so the email simply looks unopened. The sender cannot tell a blocked pixel from an email nobody read. The reverse can mislead them too: Apple Mail Privacy Protection loads images for you, which produces opens that did not happen.
- Does blocking images stop click tracking?
- No. Click tracking works by rewriting a link so it passes through the sender’s server before sending you on to the real page. Your image settings never come into it. If you click the link, the sender learns you clicked. To avoid it, do not click, or copy the destination and check it before you visit.
- What are the benefits of email tracking?
- For senders, open and click tracking show which messages were seen and which links drew interest, so they can time a follow-up and drop what is not working. For recipients, the benefit is indirect: fewer irrelevant follow-ups and more relevant ones. The honest limits matter just as much. An open means an image loaded, not that a person read the mail, and the costs fall on the recipient’s privacy, which is why blocking is a fair choice.
- Does Apple Mail Privacy Protection stop tracking?
- It stops the sender learning your IP address and location, and it hides whether you really opened the email, because Apple fetches the images through its own servers whether or not you read the mail. Senders see an open that may not have happened. It does not stop click tracking.
- How does email tracking work?
- An open pixel is a 1×1 transparent image at a unique web address. When your email app loads it, the sender’s server records that the message was rendered. Click tracking rewrites each link so it goes through the sender’s server first, which logs the click and then redirects you. Gmail loads images through Google’s servers, so the sender sees a Google data centre rather than you.
- Does blocking images in Gmail stop all tracking?
- It stops open tracking by pixel, and it stops the automatic image loading that Gmail’s proxy would otherwise do for you. It does not stop click tracking, and it does not make images appear later by themselves: if you press “Display images below”, the pixel loads and the open is recorded.
- I send email. Should I track it?
- Only if you are comfortable being open about it. Tracking is a legitimate way to time follow-ups, but recipients are entitled to block it and to know it is happening. If you track, disclose it, collect only what you need, and respect that a missing open usually means a blocked image, not a lack of interest.
If you’re the one sending.
Blocking tracking is a reasonable choice, and we are not going to argue you out of it. If you send email and track it, the honest way to do it is to disclose it. MailSenseAI, a free Gmail extension, has an optional consent footer you can switch on (it is off by default, and only you decide). It also has workspace-wide privacy switches that turn open collection, click collection, or both off entirely, enforced on the server.
Nothing is ever appended to your emails on any plan, which we cover on the no-footer pledge and in email tracker without a signature. Tracking is unlimited and free; Pro is $5 a month, or $4 billed annually. To see how it differs from other trackers, use compare or alternatives.
Track with consent.
Free Gmail tracking with nothing appended to your emails, an optional consent footer, and privacy switches you control.