As privacy protections and security filters become more advanced, email performance data becomes harder to interpret. Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) and bot activity from security software may inflate your open and click metrics, making them unreliable.
Discover how Brevo identifies and handles them—so you can filter out false signals, focus on real user engagement, and make data-driven decisions with confidence.
🍎 About Apple Mail Privacy Protection (AMPP)
Since September 20th, 2021, Apple Mail Privacy Protection prevents tracking Apple Mail users (iOS 15, Mac OS Monterey) by automatically marking emails as opened. Brevo offers solutions to help adjust your email marketing strategy to these privacy changes affecting open metrics.
What is Apple Mail Privacy Protection?
Brevo tracks email opens using an invisible pixel that loads when an email is opened. This pixel helps us:
|
|
|
Apple's Mail Privacy Protection, enabled by default on Apple devices, automatically marks emails as opened upon delivery, regardless of actual opens. This inflates open metrics and reduces accuracy. ❗️ Important
This only affects Apple Mail — not other mail apps used on Apple devices, like Gmail. |
How to adjust my email marketing strategy?
Apple Mail users likely form a small percentage of your contacts, with no evidence they behave differently from Android users. A/B testing with non-Apple Mail users generally predicts effectiveness across all users. However, to prevent Apple MPP from negatively affecting your strategy:
-
Update your segmentation strategy
Segment based on click behavior since Apple MPP only impacts opens. -
Revise your automation triggers
Use reliable actions like clicks, replies, form submissions, or page views instead of opens. -
Enhance your analytics approach
Focus on click-through rates (CTR) and on-site behavior as engagement indicators. -
Filter out Apple MPP opens
Exclude Apple MPP opens from reports for a more accurate view of human interaction.
What impact does Apple Mail Privacy Protection have on Brevo data and actions?
Apple Mail Privacy Protection only affects data and actions based on opens. All other tracking remains functional. Since Apple Mail automatically opens tracking pixels, human-initiated opens cannot be accurately identified.
Expand the accordions below to discover the data and actions impacted by the Apple Mail Privacy Protection:
Emails sent to users with the Apple Mail Privacy Protection activated are automatically marked as opened as soon as they are received, even if they have not actually been opened by the recipient. This inflates all open-related metrics, making them less reliable, such as:
- Opens, Open rate and Total opens metrics in your email campaign report, or
- Open rate and Opened metrics in your campaign statistics.
Moreover, the Distribution and Opens breakdown metrics in your email campaign report are not calculated for Apple Mail Privacy Protection users, making it impossible to know where the email was opened and from which device.
➡️ To learn more about the different open-related metrics, check our dedicated section Opens in Access and export your email campaign report.
In your automations, the following steps will not work for Apple Mail Privacy Protection users:
Triggers
|
Rules
|
Any segmentation based on open-related metrics, such as Email opened and Email not opened, is impacted by Apple MPP.
By default, Apple MPP opens are excluded from your segments. However, Brevo allows you to control whether you want to include or exclude them.
During the creation of your email campaign, using the A/B test on subject line or Send at best time options will not be reliable for Apple Mail Privacy users as they are based on email opens.
By default, Apple MPP opens are included in your performance tracking. Brevo allows you to control whether to include or exclude them from your metrics and segmentation.
➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated section below Filter Apple MPP and bot activity from your analytics.
🤖 About bot activity
Are you noticing an unusual spike in opens and clicks in your email report that's impacting your statistics? One possible reason for these inflated metrics could be bot activity.
What is bot activity?
Bot activity (bot opens and clicks) refers to automated interactions with your emails, where security software automatically clicks links to check for potential threats like phishing or malware. These bots mimic human behavior to verify emails and link safety, and are commonly used by corporate filters and security platforms.
While bot clicks are a normal and expected part of email marketing, they can distort your performance metrics. An unusually high number of bot clicks can:
- Distort your click and engagement rates,
- Interrupt your automations,
- Trigger unintended unsubscribes or conversions.
Brevo can automatically detect bot activity using IP filtering and behavioral analysis. By default, bot activity is included in your performance tracking. However, Brevo gives you the possibility to exclude bot opens and clicks from your analytics for a more accurate view of real user engagement.
➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated section below Filter Apple MPP and bot activity from your analytics.
How to adjust my email marketing strategy?
To prevent bot activity from negatively affecting your strategy:
-
Update your segmentation strategy
Use engagement-based segmentation (purchases, replies) and avoid targeting only on opens or clicks as bots can distort these metrics. -
Revise your automation triggers
Replace open and click triggers with more reliable actions like replies, form submissions, or specific page views. -
Enhance your analytics approach
Track engagement trends over time, monitor post-click behavior, use UTM parameters, and leverage campaign performance analysis through tools like Google Analytics for accurate insights. -
Filter out bot activity
Exclude bot activity from reports to get a clearer view of human interactions and campaign performance.
What impact does bot activity have on Brevo data and actions?
Bot activity only affects data and actions based on opens and clicks. All other tracking remains functional. Since bots automatically open your emails and click the links they contain, human-initiated opens and clicks cannot be accurately identified.
Expand the accordions below to discover the data and actions impacted by the Apple Mail Privacy Protection:
Some emails are automatically opened and clicked by bots as soon as they are received, even if they have not actually been opened or clicked by the recipient. This inflates all open and click-related metrics, making them less reliable, such as:
- In your email campaign report:
- Opens, Open rate and Total opens
- Click-through rate, Total clicks, Clicks, and Click-to-open rate
- In your campaign statistics:
- Open rate and Opened
- Clicks and Click rate
Moreover, the following metrics in your email campaign report are not calculated for bot activity, making it impossible to know where the email was opened, from which device, and which and when links were clicked:
- Opens by hour and Opens breakdown
- Clicks by hour, Clicks heatmap, and Clicks breakdown
➡️ To learn more about the different open and clicks-related metrics, check our dedicated sections, Opens and Clicks, in Access and export your email campaign report.
Any segmentation based on click and/or open-related metrics, such as Email opened and Email not opened, is impacted by bot activity.
You can always use engagement-based segmentation (purchases, replies) to obtain a more reliable segmentation of your contacts.
By default, bot activity (clicks and opens) is included in your performance tracking. Brevo allows you to control whether to include or exclude them from your metrics.
➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated section below Filter Apple MPP and bot activity from your analytics.
🎚️ Filter Apple MPP and bot activity from your analytics
Brevo can track Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) opens via the Loaded by proxy event in transactional logs, helping differentiate between real engagement and Apple's automatic preloading. We can also detect opens or clicks triggered by human action or not, using IP filtering and other detection algorithms.
You can exclude Apple MPP activity, bot activity, or both from analytics to view only genuine human engagement for more accurate performance measurement:
By default, Apple Mail Privacy Protection opens and bot activity are included in your open metrics. However, you can exclude them from your metrics:
- Access Campaigns > Settings > Default settings.
- From the Default report settings section on the right of your screen, choose which unreliable opens and clicks you want to exclude:
- Exclude Apple MPP opens
- Exclude bot activity
- Click Save at the top-right corner of your screen.
Unreliable metrics are now excluded from your email analytics! That way, you can base your email marketing strategy on real-human interactions for a more accurate view of your recipients' engagement.
By default, Apple MPP opens are excluded from your segments. However, Brevo allows you to always include them if needed:
- Go to Contacts > Settings.
- Access Apple MPP opens in segments.
- Deactivate the Exclude Apple MPP opens from your segments option.
Apple MPP opens are now included in your segments when filtering your contacts with the Email opened, or Email not opened condition. If you need to view the results of your segmentation filter with Apple MPP opens excluded, you can either re-activate the option in the settings or change the display conditions directly when filtering your contacts:
❓FAQs
The Apple Mail Privacy Protection only affects open rates. Bot activity affects both open and click rates. Other metrics are not affected.
Emails detected as opened by Apple MPP will not be counted as an open in your scenario, and will not trigger the next action. Emails detected as opened and clicked by bots will not be counted as an open or click in your scenario, and will not trigger the next action.
The unengaged filters are based on clicks and conversions and can be customized. You can still use them for opens from non-Apple Mail users.
Apple Mail Privacy Protection and bot activity do not affect deliverability. It only inflates your open rates for Apple MPP, and open and click rates for bot activity, making them unreliable. Exclude Apple Mail Privacy Protection users and bot activity from your email campaign reports to obtain key metrics with a more accurate reflection of human engagement with your campaign.
🤔 Have a question?
If you have a question, feel free to contact our support team by creating a ticket from your account. If you don't have an account yet, you can contact us here.
If you’re looking for help with a project using Brevo, we can match you with the right certified Brevo Agency partner.