How to Track Email Opens in Apple Mail - Top Tools & Tips

More than 53.67% of global email users rely on an Apple email service or client.

Apple Mail is one such email client.

But how exactly does Apple Mail handle email open tracking?

We’ll answer that question and share some tools for tracking email opens in Apple Mail.

Let’s dive in:

What You Must Know About Apple Mail ⚠️

Before we get to the nitty gritty of tracking opens with Apple Mail…

You should first be aware of a few things regarding this email client.

1. Apple Mail is an email client, not an email service provider: To make it work, you need to connect an external email account to it
2. Apple Mail is configured to work seamlessly with Apple iCloud Mail: But you can also connect other email service providers, such as Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook, to Apple Mail
3. Apple Mail does not offer built-in open tracking: And while you can request read receipts in both Gmail and Outlook, Apple Mail does not have this feature
4. Apple iCloud Mail doesn’t support any open tracking either: You can, however, connect your iCloud Mail account to an email client that does
5. Apple Mail can heavily skew open rate data: Its feature Protect Mail Activity preloads emails, including the tracking pixel used to track opens, meaning that all emails register as opened, even if the recipient never actually opens them

Tools to Track Opens in Apple Mail ⚒️

The fact that Apple Mail doesn’t have built-in open tracking doesn’t mean you can’t track opens on emails you send with it.

But to do so, you need to turn to external tools.

You have three options here:

1. ➡️ Use tools that integrate with Apple Mail
2. ➡️ Use other email clients with your Apple iCloud Mail account
3. ➡️ Use external tools that track opens

Let’s discuss all three of them. ⬇️

Tools that integrate with Apple Mail

You can use these tools to track opens straight from the Apple Mail interface.

Mailbutler

Mailbutler is an extension plugin for Apple Mail, Gmail, and Outlook that brings added functionality to your inbox.

One such feature is email tracking, which allows you to see when, how often, and on which device your emails are opened.

With Mailbutler, you can enable email tracking by default or on a per-email basis.

To check the opens for an email you sent, go to the sent folder and select the message. Then, click the checkmarks displayed on the email to access the tracking details.

Alternatively, you can open the Mailbutler Sidebar by clicking the Mailbutler icon to view more detailed tracking information.

Mailbutler offers a free 14-day trial. Its paid plans, which include open tracking, start at $4.95/month.

Mail Tracer

Mail Tracer is an iOS app designed to track emails sent via the Apple Mail app. It doesn’t integrate with Apple Mail, but it works alongside it.

It offers real-time notifications when your emails are opened, allowing you to see if, when, and how many times they’ve been read. The app also provides details about the location and device used to access your email.

The free plan features unlimited email tracking. Mail Tracer’s Pro version removes the signature ads and can be purchased for a one-time $29.99 fee.

Do your research before using this tool, as its reputation isn’t the best.

Email Clients You Can Use with Your Apple iCloud Mail Account

If you’re using Apple Mail with an Apple iCloud Mail account, you can also connect your iCloud account to another email client.

In that case, you can use email clients that support open tracking.

Here are two email clients that support open tracking:

Mailbird

Mailbird is a desktop email client for Windows and Mac that supports open tracking.

You can also connect your iCloud account to Mailbird by adding iCloud’s IMAP and SMTP servers to it.

Mailbird only supports open tracking on its paid plans, starting at $4.03/month or $99.97 for a lifetime deal without recurring subscriptions.

You can either enable open tracking for individual emails or activate it by default for all emails.

You can check the open stats for each email and get notifications when someone opens them.

Canary Mail

Canary Mail is an email client you can use with your iCloud Account. You can use it on Mac, iOS, Windows, and Android.

Its read receipt feature lets you send read receipts with your emails, enabling you to track opens.

Note: Read receipts are sometimes considered intrusive because they literally pop up on recipients when they open the email. Additionally, sending read receipts is not a scalable way of tracking opens.

Read Receipts are included in any Canary Mail plan. The free plan has limited open tracking.

External Tools that Make Tracking Opens Scalable

For professional sales outreach, you’re best off with a sales engagement tool.

It will track your opens in a scalable way and typically offers many other sales features to help streamline your outreach.

lemlist

As a professional sales engagement platform, lemlist includes open tracking as one of its features.

You can easily connect your iCloud account to lemlist and use it for your email outreach.

lemlist also tracks your link click rate, reply rate, meetings booked, and more.

What’s more, lemlist lets you broaden your outreach and include LinkedIn messages (chat & voice) and cold calls in your outreach.

You can create all kinds of multichannel sequences that have a better chance of converting your prospects. For example, you can first send a LinkedIn connection request, then an email, followed by a LinkedIn message and a call.

lemlist starts at $32/month and offers a 14-day free trial.

Mailshake

Mailshake is another sales engagement tool that can help you track opens.

Connect your iCloud account, and you’ll be good to go.

You can use Mailshake for email and LinkedIn (no voice messages) outreach. You can also make cold calls with the Mailshake Chrome extension.

The tool provides detailed analytics and reporting, allowing you to monitor the performance of your outreach campaigns.

Mailshake’s paid plans start at $49/month. A free version is also available that lets you send 250 emails/month.

Are Opens Still Opens? 🕵️‍♀️

Alright, let’s back off a bit.

Tracking opens seems essential, but this assumes that email open tracking is reliable.

Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.

Due to email service provider and email client configurations, the open rate is no longer accurate.

Why?

The tracking pixel used for open tracking isn’t always reliable.

Here are two reasons why open rates are no longer trustworthy:

1. The tracking pixel can be blocked: In this case, the pixel will not load, meaning any opens will not be registered.
2. The tracking can get pre-loaded: When this occurs, all emails will be marked as opened, even if the recipient has not opened them.

It’s safe to say your open rates are never accurate nowadays unless you send very few emails.

Still, keeping an eye on your open rates remains a good idea.

If you see anomalies, you can investigate the problem. If you ignore open rates completely, you might miss early signs of deliverability issues.

Nevertheless, no matter how we slice it, the open rate has lost much of its prestige.

Measuring True Outreach Success 📈

The tools we shared in this post can help you track opens in Apple Mail and iCloud Mail.

While tracking opens in Apple Mail—or any email client—comes with challenges, it’s not useless.

Open rates can still provide insights into your email deliverability and outreach efforts.

But, ultimately…

Open rates are just one piece of the puzzle. To really measure success, you need to focus on other metrics, such as click and reply rates.

However, the most important metric is the conversion rate (or meetings booked rate). It’s the most accurate indicator of outreach success.