Did you know that opening an email can send a world of information back to its sender? It can. Including when you opened it, how many times you opened it, where you were when you opened it, and much more. Like Apple iMessage and Facebook Messenger receipts, emails can share detailed information about when a recipient views a message and their actions. If you want to keep your email private, follow this guide on keeping your emails from being tracked.
If you are considering how to keep your online life secure, be sure to check out our article on how to make a disposable email address and stay safe around the web.
Pixels are one of the most popular ways to track an email. A small image, the size of a single pixel, is often attached to the email’s end. When your email client loads the picture, your email service must retrieve it from the sending server; this server can then log when your email service loaded the image to understand when (and if) you opened the email. Additional information, such as your IP address, can alert the server to where you were located when you opened the email.
To stop tracking, the easiest option is to disable your email client from automatically downloading images; this way, the sending server can’t load its tracking pixel. There are also browser extensions that can analyze your web-based emails and alert you if there is a tracker in the data.
If you want to prevent your email client from downloading images that are included in emails, you’ll follow different steps according to your provider.
Step 1: Log into your Gmail account.
Step 2: Click on the gear icon in the upper right corner.
Step 3: Select the General tab.
Step 4: Scroll down to the Images category and select Ask Before Displaying External Images.
Step 5: Scroll down and click Save Changes.
Step 1: Open the Gmail app on your device.
Step 2: Tap on the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines) in the upper corner.
Step 3: Scroll down and choose Settings.
Step 4: Tap on the account you wish to alter.
Step 5: Scroll down and choose Images.
Step 6: Select the Ask Before Displaying External Images (Also Disables Dynamic Email) option.
Step 1: Log into your AOL Mail account.
Step 2: Select Options, then Mail Settings.
Step 4: Under the Reading category, select Hide Images in Mail from Unknown Senders.
Step 1: Log into your Yahoo Mail account.
Step 2: Click the gear icon in the upper-right corner, then More Settings.
Step 4: Under the Show Images in Messages menu, choose Ask Before Showing External Images.
Step 1: Log into your iCloud Mail account.
Step 2: Click the gear icon in the lower-left corner.
Step 4: Uncheck Load Remote Content in Messages.
Step 2: Scroll down and select Mail.
Step 3: Under Messages, toggle off Load Remote Images.
Step 1: Open the Outlook application.
Step 2: Choose File, then Options.
Step 3: Select the Trust Center.
Step 4: Click Trust Center Settings.
Step 5: Ensure Don’t Download Pictures Automatically in HTML Email Messages or RSS is checked.
You can also download browser extensions that can protect your privacy by alerting you if an email includes a tracker. Our top recommendation is PixelBlock for Google Chrome; it blocks pixel trackers and notifies you when any tracking attempts are made.
A second option is Trocker for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, which does the same. Both of these extensions provide quality online security to prevent email tracking.
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Two residents of Chicago have filed a lawsuit in the US over claims that robots run by Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics captured their facial and hand measurements without consent, bringing renewed attention to the food delivery robots. The cases raise a troubling question: If a robot delivers food to your door, can it also be gathering sensitive information about you?
According to a report by The Associated Press, the proposed class-action lawsuits were filed in Cook County on Oct. 9 and allege violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. The complaints claim that the robots’ cameras and LiDAR sensors captured information on customers’ faces and hands as they approached the machines to pick up their orders. Both have denied the allegations.
Nearly a month after announcing the GPT-6.1 Sol model, OpenAI unveiled GPT-6.1 Terra today. The latest addition to the family focuses on computer use, visual reasoning, coding, and professional work, while costing 50% less through the API than GPT-5.6 Terra.
OpenAI says Terra can handle everything from filling out browser forms and working inside spreadsheets to interpreting technical drawings and editing videos. The company says it can also complete computer-based tasks more than three times faster than GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol.