This feature is in BETA, expected March 2026.
What is Apple Mail Privacy Protection?
Apple introduced Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) in iOS 15 and macOS Monterey. When enabled, Apple Mail automatically preloads email images, including tracking pixels, through Apple proxy servers before the recipient ever opens the message.
This means every email delivered to an Apple Mail user with MPP enabled is recorded as an open, regardless of whether they actually viewed it.
The result: open rates for Apple Mail users are unreliable by default, and there is no way to fully recover accurate open data for this audience. This is an industry-wide limitation, not specific to AIQ.
How AIQ Handles MPP
AIQ now distinguishes between two types of open events:
Apple MPP Opens: Triggered automatically by Apple Mail's privacy proxy. These may not represent a real user interaction.
Non-MPP Opens: Opens recorded outside of Apple's MPP proxy. These are more likely to reflect genuine user engagement.
Important limitation: For users on Apple Mail with MPP enabled, our email provider typically only sends AIQ the MPP open event. A separate non-MPP open event is not reliably generated even when the user genuinely opened and read the email. This means toggling MPP opens off will result in zero opens recorded for Apple Mail MPP users, including real opens.
In other words, the toggle does not give you accurate open counts for Apple Mail users. It gives you a choice between two imperfect states:
Setting | What you see |
Include MPP opens (default) | Open rates are inflated — every Apple Mail delivery appears as an open |
Exclude MPP opens | Open rates are deflated — Apple Mail users show zero opens, even genuine ones |
How to exclude Apple MPP opens
This is an account-wide setting that applies to all campaigns, automations, and audiences.
Navigate to Settings > Company Account > Account Settings > Message Settings
By default the toggle
Email: include Apple Mail automated opens in metricsis set to ON to preserve existing behavior. If you want to exclude Apple MPP opens, toggle this to OFF.Save
When enabled:
Apple MPP opens are excluded from open counts and open rates
Apple MPP opens do not trigger flows or automations
Apple MPP opens do not qualify customers for audiences based on opens
Reports and exports will reflect only non-MPP opens
When disabled:
Apple MPP opens are treated the same as any other open
Reporting and automations behave as they did previously
This preserves backward compatibility for existing accounts while allowing customers to improve engagement accuracy.
Impact on Reporting
When the Exclude Apple MPP Opens setting is enabled, the following areas will use non-MPP opens only:
Email campaign reporting
Recurring campaign reports
Analytics dashboards
“After Email Opened” analytics
CSV and data exports
This ensures open rates better reflect real engagement.
Impact on Traits (Audiences + Flows)
Audience and flow filters based on email opens will respect the MPP setting.
Existing filters will exclude Apple MPP opens if the setting is enabled, such as:
Opened email from Campaign IDOpened any emailNumber of opened emails
Additional filtering options are also available:
Opened Email (Non-MPP Only)Opened Email (Apple Mail MPP)
This allows more precise segmentation when needed.
Best Practices
Because Apple MPP reduces the reliability of open events, AIQ recommends focusing on stronger engagement signals such as:
Clicks
Purchases
Site activity
Loyalty engagement
These signals provide a more accurate view of customer engagement.
FAQs
Why did my open rate drop after enabling this setting?
Expected. Apple Mail users with MPP enabled no longer contribute open events when this setting is off. If a large portion of your audience uses Apple Mail, you may see a significant drop. This is a more honest view of engagement, but it is not a complete one — some of those "missing" opens were real.
Will I see 0 opens on some campaigns even when people clicked?
Yes. If recipients only opened and clicked within Apple Mail and you have MPP opens excluded, you will see 0 opens and the click count only. This is correct behavior.
Can I configure this per campaign?
No. This is an account-wide setting. All campaigns, automations, and audiences use the same configuration.
Does changing this setting update historical reports?
No. The setting applies to data going forward from the point you save it. Past campaign reports are not changed.
Is this an AIQ bug or limitation?
Neither — this is an industry-wide constraint. Apple Mail does not provide a reliable way for any email platform to distinguish a real human open from an MPP pre-fetch for the same email. Every major ESP faces this same limitation.