What is Mail Privacy Protection?

As part of Apple's software upgrade to iOS 15, they will be releasing a key feature called Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) that will impact email advertising campaigns. We want to make sure our advertising partners are aware of the updates so that we can seamlessly adapt once they go into effect.

According to Apple, MPP "stops senders from using invisible pixels to collect information about the user. The new feature helps users prevent senders from knowing when they open an email, and masks their IP address so it can’t be linked to other online activity or used to determine their location."

In order for MPP to go into effect, there are multiple steps that need to happen:

1. User needs to upgrade to iOS 15. It is understood that the upgrade rate tends to be around 50% within 2 months of a new software version.

2. User needs to opt into Mail Privacy Protection. Based on the adoption of past privacy releases, such as App Tracking Transparency, we expect over 90% of Apple users will opt into MPP.

3. The opted-in user needs to be connected to WiFi at the time the email is sent.

So what does this mean for email advertising campaigns? We are anticipating a few impacts that will occur over time:

Reporting

Impressions, and metrics that are based on impressions, will not represent true email opens.

• Impressions will be inflated because Apple will pre-load all email images before the user opens the email themselves.
• Since more impressions will be recorded, CTR and CPM will decrease as a result.
• Post-view conversions will also increase, as all received emails will be eligible for being counted as a PVC.

As part of iOS 15, Apple will be setting up a proxy for all inbound mail traffic, which means you won't be able to understand whether the user is on a phone, tablet, or desktop device.

• Reporting on device type (phone, desktop, or tablet) will be unavailable for Apple users.

Targeting

Because MPP allows a user to mask their IP address, geo-targeting will not be as precise. 

• Geo-targeting Apple users will be limited to the country and state. DMA and ZIP code targeting will likely not be available.

Because Apple is using a proxy server, targeting based on device type will also be unavailable.

• You will not be able to target Apple users based on whether they are using a phone, tablet, or a desktop device.