Email tracking pixels, which marketers use to see when an email has been opened, invisibly report on your online activity to the sender and breach your privacy.
Four ways to prevent this include disabling automatic image loading, switching to a privacy-focused email service, installing a dedicated email tracking blocker in your browser, and using an email masking service.
Images not loading can be boring, legitimate content can be blocked, and you might need to constantly click ‘display images’ for certain emails. However, this simple measure stops tracking pixels from activating when you open emails.
Privacy-focused email services, such as Proton Mail and Apple Mail’s Mail Privacy Protection, build in tools to counter tracking pixels.
Browser extensions, such as Email Privacy Protector for Chrome, identify and neutralise tracking pixels and let you know when an email contains a tracker, while still allowing you to read and respond to emails normally.
Email masking services create disposable aliases for each service you sign up for and prevent tracking pixels from reaching your inbox. SimpleLogin is a prominent example.
