iOS 15 and Open Rates

[ergophobe]

You won't be able to track them anymore for users on the iOS 15 app if people choose to let Apple protect their email privacy (think about that for a second).

This was announced in June, but I didn't learn about it until now. Basically, it means that since Sept 20, people can choose to let Apple obfuscate for them. It basically downloads all remote content in the background on a proxy server with a rotating set of IPs. So it doesn't *block* tracking so much as introduce noise. If you turn it on, your open rate becomes 100%, but from random IPs around the world.

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/06/10/ios-15-mail-privacy-protection-tracking-pixels/

So if you track email open rates, you pretty much need to remove people using the Apple Mail client to read their mail. It does affect, say, GMail users who use the Apple Mail client, but it wouldn't affect users using the GMail client for the iPhone.

[rcjordan]

Try gmail "Basic HTML" --it is a PITA to get used to using as it is devoid of all script-drive UI conveniences.  I also run a local-only extension, Pixelblock, but never see any tracking notifications.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pixelblock/jmpmfcjnflbcoidlgapblgpgbilinlem

[ergophobe]

I might add that to my desktop browsers.

I posted this, though, for those with email lists. I think most people already knew about the change (my wife just yawned). Basically, as things like this roll out, "open rate" data will get noisier and noisier. One of the things about email is you can test the headline (aka subject) and the content separately with open rate and click rate. If this gets widely adopted, open rate will go away as a useful piece of info