By Click&Clean - Sunday, 31 May 2020. Most likely, you do not suspect that certain senders can know when you open their messages and are you were located at the time.
Check your search qualityShow results for Click&Clean …How do they do it? It involves a very simple process. When the sender inserts a small piece of code into the message, such as an tiny image 1 x 1 pixels in size, the e-mail server requests this image, once you open the message. Thanks to this request, the sender can see out your location, the time you opened the email, your device model, and other personal data.
If you are interested, you can find an extended list of what the senders can find out about you by visiting the Privacy Test page.
Of course, this may not be a problem if you know and trust senders who use this method to improve any services they are providing. However, these days, almost everyone can use this method, widely known as pixel tracking. So, let's take a look at some simple measures you can take to protect your privacy and stay safe.
Yes, disabling automatic image loading from your email server does the trick and allows you to thwart pixel trackers. Follow the steps below to block pixel tracking on the two most popular email services.
Sign in to Gmail and select Settings, which is the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner. Then find the Images section and select the Ask before displaying external images bubble. After that, click on Save Settings.
Launch the Gmail App, tap on the menu button (three parallel horizontal lines) in the upper left-hand corner, and select Settings. Select your account, then scroll down and tap on Images. Then, choose Ask before displaying external images.
Click on the Mail tab, select Preferences, then click on the Viewing tab and deselect the Load remote content in messages option.
Head to Settings, tap on Mail, then find the Load Remote Images option and turn it off.
Now images will not be displayed and uploaded into your emails by default; they will simply be blocked. However, if you know and trust the sender, you can always change the settings so remote images will be uploaded only from emails of your choice.
Sometimes a little can go a long way, so we hope this brief guide helps you stay a bit more safe and private online.