This guide describes the impacts of Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) on marketers and explains the solutions provided by Cheetah Digital.

How To Use the Cheetah Messaging Solution for Apple MPP

Summary

Understanding the Impacts of Apple MPP on Marketers and How to Solve Them

The Impact of Apple MPP on Open Rates

Apple MPP Behavior	Problems / Impacts to Marketers	How to Solve This Using Cheetah Digital’s Solutions
Apple Mail Privacy Protection (Apple MPP) loads onto a proxy server, the tracking pixel of all emails received by email accounts that the recipient has configured to use the Apple Mail app (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.). It may retrieve email message content any time after the message is sent. Apple MPP began opening recipients’ emails in August 2021.	Senders are unable to discern if a recipient opened the email, or if the message was “opened” automatically by the Apple MPP.	Your Messaging reports clearly distinguish both real and false opens. Your Campaign Overview Report provides a Projected Open Rate to help you estimate opens and compare campaigns. You are able to create filters to find recipients that are pre-cached by Apple MPP for more personalized campaigns.
	Senders are also unable to know if the email open time is correct.	You can view the timeline of real opens using the Timeline Report.
	A/B test winners could automatically be chosen based on false Apple MPP opens.	Your A/B Winners can ignore false opens created by Apple MPP.
	There may be different ratios of Apple MPP and non-Apple MPP recipients per cell, that complicate comparing and evaluating open metrics, even when pre-cached opens are filtered out. This makes choosing an A/B test winner problematic, even when pre-cached opens are filtered out.	You can choose Projected Open Rate as your winner criteria. This is the open rate of recipients in each cell that are not obscured by Apple MPP, and is not affected by different ratios of Apple MPP users and non-Apple MPP users per cell.
	Triggered actions could be launched based on false Apple MPP opens.	Your Triggers can ignore false opens created by Apple MPP.
	There may be different ratios of Apple MPP and non-Apple MPP recipients per campaign, that complicate comparing and evaluating open metrics.	Your Comparison report allows you to compare open rates across multiple campaigns or cells at a glance by providing the Projected Open Rate. This is the open rate of recipients whose opens are not hidden by Apple MPP, and is not affected by different ratios per campaign or cell of Apple MPP users and non-users. Your Campaign Overview Report’s Projected Open Rate can be used for comparing the open rates of one campaign at a time, regardless of different ratios of Apple and non-Apple users.
	Apple MPP was released in August 2021 - Marketers’ ability to compare open rates against those of past campaigns is impacted.	Cheetah Digital shows you your Apple MPP data starting in August, 2021, as well as the Projected Open rates.

The Impact of Apple MPP on Geolocation

Apple MPP Behavior

Problems / Impacts

Cheetah Digital’s Solutions

Email message content is requested without sharing the recipient’s device’s IP address. The proxy-server’s IP address is shared instead.

This “hides” the recipient’s true IP address and location.

Apple requests the content through a shared IP address, and the derived location is of the shared IP address rather than the recipient’s.

Your Geolocation reports enable you to filter out false opens.

If your recipient later clicks on a link in the email, or opens the email outside of the Apple Mail app, their real location data will be separate and will appear on the Geolocation reports.

You are also able to create filters that remove recipients for whom you only have opens from Apple MPP.

The Impact of Apple MPP on Device and Browser Identification

Apple MPP Behavior

Problems / Impacts

Cheetah Digital’s Solutions

Apple MPP provides a generic user-agent string value when requesting email message content.

This prevents senders from knowing the type of device used to read the email. Do not assume it was an iPhone - Apple MPP is used by the Apple Mail app on any Apple device with a recent OS.

Your Access report shows you when emails were pre-cached by an Apple proxy-server.

If your recipient reads but does not click on the

message only within the Apple Mail app, you will not see a human interaction with the message.

The easiest solution for detecting Apple MPP’s false, pre-cached opens is to use the user agent, and this is the method primarily used across the industry. However, the user agent used by Apple is so generic, using it will count some legitimate human opens as not real.

Cheetah Digital uses user-agent based identification for opens from August 2021 through most of April 2022, as does the industry.

Starting in April 22, 2022 however (July 27 in Japan), all pre-cached opens are identified using a database of Apple MPP IP addresses that is updated twice a week. This is a superior method that prevents any recipients’ real opens from being counted as not real.

An Impact of Apple MPP that Apple Likely Did Not Intend

Apple MPP’s pre-caching activity across your campaign automatically shows you your live email addresses of consumers of Apple products. You can filter on this criteria, and export it.

The Trend of iOS 15 Adoption

As of August 1, 2022, according to Mixpanel, iOS15 adoption was at 87.7%.

Remember, Apple MPP is used by the recent OS versions on any type of Apple device that provides the Apple Mail App, not just iPhones.

Summary - Marketing Suite Solves the Problem of False Data Created by Apple MPP

False opens caused by Apple MPP can be excluded from reports, A/B Winners, and Triggers.
False locations can be excluded from geolocation reports.
A Projected Open rate helps marketers to estimate their open rate across a campaign, even when half their recipients’ opens are hidden by Apple MPP; and enables open-rate comparisons to pre-Apple MPP campaigns, or cells and campaigns with different ratios of Apple and non-Apple users.
Marketers receive metrics that show the percentage of a campaign that was opened by Apple MPP, and of those recipients how many also had visible opens either by clicking on a link, or interaction with the email outside of the Apple Mail app.
Marketers can filter and export recipients whose emails were opened by Apple MPP, for targeted engagement strategies. These are the Marketers’ live email addresses of Apple customers.

Reporting the Real Data - Using the Campaign Overview Report

The Campaign Overview Report contains high-level data about your campaign

Everything You Need to See About Apple MPP Opens is in the Goal Reads Box

Total - (Campaign Overview Report)

This is the percent of messages sent in a campaign that were opened, it includes both human and machine opens.

Were Pre-Cached - (Campaign Overview Report)

This is the percent of messages sent in a campaign that were pre-cached by Apple MPP.
If a message is later visibly read by the recipient, the message is still counted here showing it was initially pre-cached by Apple MPP.
If you saw for example 13% pre-cached on one campaign, and 33% on another campaign, this simply means that in the list of recipients the first campaign was sent to, 13% are Apple users with Apple MPP. On the second campaign, 33% of the recipients on your list are Apple users who use Apple MPP.

Are Real - (Campaign Overview Report)

This is the percent of messages sent in a Campaign that a human being opened.
Also referred to as a “Real Reader.”
We know it is a real, human interaction because it is not a precached open event, or because a link in the email was clicked on.
This number can also include messages that were pre-cached and are still counted as precached, but were also opened by a human - we see this because they clicked on a link or opened the email outside of the Apple Mail app.

Are Real and Pre-Cached - (Campaign Overview Report)

Are Real and Pre-Cached shows the number of pre-cached messages that are also counted as Are Real.
This is the number of Apple MPP users whose message from you was pre-cached by Apple MPP, but then they clicked on a link, or opened the email outside of the Apple Mail app, for example in Gmail or Yahoo in a browser. This made their interaction with your email both real and visible.

Projected Open Rate - (Campaign Overview Report)

The Projected Open Rate is the open rate of all recipients in a campaign whose open activity is not hidden by Apple MPP.
It is intended to help you compare campaign or subject line performance across multiple campaigns or cells that may have different ratios of Apple and non-Apple users, as shown by different “Were Pre-Cached” percentages.
Projected Open Rate may help you estimate what your open rate could be across the campaign.
However, if Apple consumers would respond differently than non-Apple consumers to your campaign, or if the campaign is to Apple customers, the Projected Open Rate will be less helpful in estimating the hidden opens among the recipients whose messages were pre-cached by Apple.

Deep Dive - Understanding and Using the Projected Open Rate

Understanding Projected Open Rate Visually

When Projected Open Rate May Help Estimate the Open Rate of a Campaign (or Not)

The primary purpose of the Projected Open Rate is to make it possible to compare performance across campaigns that may each have different ratios of Apple MPP and non-Apple MPP users. Under some scenarios it can also help you estimate what the open rate of the entire campaign may have been, as explained below.

Scenario	Could You Use Projected Open Rate to Help Estimate the Campaign Open Rate?	Why
Subject Line is “25% Off Selected Android Phones!” or “Bill Gates: the Early Years.”	No*	The subject line may not appeal equally to Apple users and non-Apple users.
Subject Line is “Apple CarPlay Radio Weekend Clearance!” or “New Documentary: Steve Jobs - Shaper of Our Future.”	No*	The subject line may not appeal equally to Apple users and non-Apple users.
Pre-Cached Openers is 83% - meaning that you can only see the opens from 17%, plus any that are in the “Are Real and Pre-Cached.”	Use Caution	Projected Open Rate uses non-Apple users’ opens to estimate Apple users’ opens. The sample is far more Apple users whose results we cannot see, unless they become “Are Real and Pre-Cached”
Pre-Cached Openers is 60% or below, subject line is “1600 thread-count Cotton Sheets 20% Off” and the message was sent to 100,000 recipients.	Yes	There is a balance of Apple and non-Apple users, and the subject line is not targeted specifically to either.
Pre-Cached Openers is 17%, subject line is “Adventure is Calling You!” and the message was sent to 10,000 recipients.	Yes	Most recipients will have visible interactions, and the subject line is not targeted specifically to either Apple or non-Apple.
The # of Received is 10.	No	Projected Open Rate should not be referred to in very small mailings.

*These examples are intentionally obvious to give you the idea. For your business and customers, prior to Apple MPP were there any differences in responses to subject-lines that were aligned to if the recipient used an Apple device to open the message, or a non-Apple device?

Reporting the Real Data - Other Reports - Opens

Apple MPP on Reach Report

Pre-cached opens (Apple MPP) and real opens are shown.

Apple MPP - Timeline Report

Pre-Cached Opens (Apple MPP) and Real Opens can be selected to see when Apple MPP or real recipients opened the email.

Apple MPP - Comparisons Report

Across campaigns and cells pre-cached opens can be excluded, and a column shows the number of real opens. Additionally, the Projected Open Rate is shown to enable an “apples to apples” comparison between campaigns and cells that may have different ratios of Apple MPP users and non-users.

Reporting the Real Data - Geolocation

You can remove false location data sent by Apple MPP from reporting.

Apple MPP - Geolocation Table Report

Pre-cached opens from Apple MPP can be excluded, removing the false location data.

Apple MPP – Geolocation Opens Report

As with the other geolocation report, pre-cached opens from Apple MPP can be excluded, removing the false location data.

Showing Correct Device and Browser

Apple MPP On Access Report

Apple MPP opens will appear as a proxy-server.

Excluding False Opens from A/B Winners and Triggers

Triggers – Excluding False Opens

To prevent false opens from Apple MPP from becoming a trigger action, navigate to the Pre-Cached Opens tab, where Pre-cached opens from Apple MPP can be excluded from open triggers by selecting Limit this selection to exclude Pre-cached Opens – Select Real Opens only.

From Add Trigger, click Open.

Select Include/Exclude Pre-cached Opens to activate the Pre-cached Opens tab.

To exclude false opens from Apple MPP from triggers, select Limit this selection to exclude Pre-cached Opens - Select Real Opens only.

A/B Winners - Excluding False Opens

To prevent false opens from Apple MPP from influencing the winner selection and automatically sending to a false winner, exclude false opens by Apple MPP from A/B Winners by selecting Use real activity excluding Pre-Cached opens.

A/B Winners - Using Projected Open Rate as the Winning Criteria

Because different cells will have different ratios of Apple MPP users and non-users, Projected Open Rate has been provided as an option to use as the winner criteria.

Filters and Exports

Filters and Activity Reports

Pre-cached opens from Apple MPP can be filtered and exported. Remember, Pre-cached opens indicate live email addresses of consumers of Apple products.

Select Include/Exclude Pre-cached Opens to activate the Pre-cached Opens tab.

Choose the criteria you would like to use for your filter.

Include all Opens will include both human and Apple MPP opens.

Limit this selection to exclude Pre-cached Opens will populate the filter with only real opens.

Limit this selection to only include Pre-cached Opens will populate the filter with the recipients that were pre-cached by Apple MPP. These are live email addresses of consumers of Apple products that you do not have visibility of if they opened your email or not. You might choose this filter to select this group for campaigns that are more personalized, or other engagement strategy.

Getting Recipients Whose Activity Is Obscured to Visibly Engage

With some subscribers choosing to adopt Apple Mail Privacy Protection, many brands are asking subscribers who use Apple Mail to click to confirm they are active readers. These are all Apple consumers with active email accounts who are opening the Apple Mail app and likely seeing your subject line, but they are not clicking or opening your emails outside of the Mail app.

You know which subscribers these are because of the filter.

Before purging your lists of inactive subscribers, remember that these subscribers may be active, you just can’t see their activity. Find out who is reading but not clicking by asking your subscribers for help. Some customers are including a module within their newsletters or creating separate campaigns for Apple MPP users.

Try creating a hosted page to serve as a “Thank you” landing page for readers, asking readers to click to let you know they are still reading, "Click here to let us know that you are still an active subscriber."

Another strategy is to include a survey in the newsletter, to collect clicks. "How was today's newsletter? Great! Good Bad."

You can also create special campaigns that only go to these subscribers.

Simply purging Apple MPP users out of your campaigns will almost certainly reduce your click rates across other campaigns. But what about Apple MPP users who have not visibly opened and have not clicked in the last year? Before purging these Apple MPP users, look to see if they are logging into your site, or making purchases, or engaging with your brand in other ways. It is possible that they may not be clicking, but simply going to your site or physical store directly, potentially as a result of your emails.

Some brands are also responding to Apple MPP by implementing Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI). This makes your message stand out in the crowded inbox by placing your brand's logo to the left of your subject line. Speak with your Cheetah Deliverability Team to get you set up. This option requires a Verified Mark Certificate and DMARC Policy of Quarantine on the top level domain. Our Deliverability experts can walk you through this.

See the User Guide for BIMI here.

Appendix

How Does Cheetah Digital Identify Apple MPP Pre-Cached Opens?

Cheetah Digital provides Apple MPP data for your messages sent starting in August, 2021 when Apple MPP first started.

Opens from August 2021 - April 21, 2022

Apple MPP opens from August 2021 through much of April 21 2022 were identified using the generic user agent that was communicated by Apple. Nearly all products that identify Apple MPP opens use this technically simple method. However, because the user agent used by Apple is so generic, this method will count some legitimate opens as Apple MPP.

Opens after April 21, 2022 - the Cheetah Digital Method

To stop any human opens from being flagged as Apple MPP, Apple MPP opens after April 21, 2022 are identified using a database of Apple server IP addresses that is refreshed twice a week. This is a far superior method.

What is the Projected Open Rate and What Marketer Problem Does it Solve?

The Projected Open Rate is the open rate of all recipients in a campaign whose activity is not hidden by Apple MPP.
It is a tool to help Marketers compare open rates of campaigns, which will often have different ratios of Apple MPP and non-Apple MPP users, complicating other methods. If one campaign has 13% pre-cached opens because 13% of recipients use Apple MPP, and another campaign has a 33% pre-cached open rate because 33% of recipients use Apple MPP, it is not possible to directly compare open rates. The Projected Open Rate levels the two campaigns so that they can be compared.
The Projected Open Rate can also help estimate the open rate of the campaign.