Apple’s release of Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) introduced significant changes to how email opens can be tracked. Because MPP prevents senders from knowing whether Apple Mail users have genuinely opened an email, it directly affects how open rates appear in reporting tools, including Agility’s.
You may find this article helpful, or you can review the summary below.
🔹 What MPP Affects
MPP affects any email opened in the Apple Mail app on any device—regardless of:
the email service used (Gmail, Outlook, corporate email, etc.)
whether the device is macOS, iOS, or iPadOS
MPP does not affect emails opened in other apps on Apple devices, such as the Gmail or Outlook apps.
🔹 How MPP Works
When an Apple Mail user has MPP enabled, Apple:
Routes the email through a proxy server
Pre-loads all message content
Pre-fetches tracking pixels—even before the user opens the email
This makes it appear as though the email has been opened—even if the recipient never actually views it.
As a result:
Open reporting becomes inflated
You cannot accurately identify which Apple Mail users genuinely opened your email
🔹 Agility’s Solution: MPP Adjusted Estimates
To address MPP’s impact on open rates, Agility provides an optional setting in Email Distribution Reporting called MPP Adjusted Estimates.
🔹 When MPP Adjusted Estimates Is Turned Off
You will see:
Total unique opens
Total opens
A breakdown showing:
Reliable opens
Opens potentially impacted by MPP
Example:
Five opens are flagged as “MPP Impacted Opens.”
🔹 When MPP Adjusted Estimates Is Turned On
Agility applies the reliable open rate of the distribution to the number of MPP-impacted opens.
This allows Agility to estimate how many were likely genuine opens.
Example:
If 5 opens were impacted by MPP, and based on reliable opens only 1 is estimated to be genuine, Agility will show that adjusted estimate.
This provides a more realistic picture of actual engagement.
📝 Support & Resources
Help Center: Email Distributions
Need help? Chat with Support from your dashboard or email agilitysupport@agilitypr.com