How to Stop Images From Automatically Downloading in Emails

Marketing emails often contain hidden code that can track your online activity. That includes pixels inside images that monitor where and when you opened an email.

This helps companies know what's working and which subscribers are most likely to click open (and buy something). But if you have privacy and security concerns, at least when it comes to images, there's a simple solution: block automatic image loading.

By adjusting a few settings, you can stop marketers from spying on you and even avoid annoying follow-up emails from senders who know you've read their email. Here's how to disable image loading in Gmail, Apple's Mail app, and Microsoft Outlook on desktop and mobile.

Gmail

To stop images from loading automatically in Gmail, click the Settings gear on the top right of the desktop, and choose See All Settings. Under the General tab, look for Images and choose Ask before displaying external images to block images from displaying automatically. Scroll down and hit Save Changes.

Now, when you open an email with blocked images, a banner will notify you of images available for display. To view the images embedded in an email, click Display images below in the banner. You can also whitelist specific contacts while blocking all others by choosing the Always display images from [contact] option.

On mobile, tap the hamburger menu and choose Settings. Select the account you wish to manage, then scroll to the bottom and tap Images. Choose Ask before displaying external images to also block images on mobile.

To see images embedded within an email, tap the Show pictures banner, then tap Always show pictures from this sender to permanently whitelist them.

Apple Mail

In the Apple Mail app on your Mac, disable automatic image loading under Mail > Preferences > Viewing, then uncheck the box next to Load remote content in messages. Now when viewing an email from the Mail app, the images will not load and a remote content banner will appear. Click the Load remote content button in the banner to view blocked images.

You can do the same from the mobile app on your iPhone or iPad. Go to Settings > Mail and toggle Load Remote Images to off. When you try to view an email that includes images, a banner will display at the top of the screen. You can tap Load All Images to make the images for that email appear.

Outlook

Microsoft has set Outlook to block images by default. Unblock them by clicking Download Pictures from the email banner. If you are using the Outlook desktop app, go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Automatic Download and check the box that says Don't download pictures automatically in standard HTML e-mail messages or RSS items.

On a Mac, go to Microsoft Outlook > Preferences > Reading > Security and click Never to prevent image downloads. Or opt to have images automatically download, but only from your contacts.

On mobile, tap the profile icon in the top-left corner, then click the Settings gear. From here, select the account you wish to edit, then flip the switch next to Block external images. A banner will then appear atop emails with embedded images; tap Download images to load the images in that specific email only.

Yahoo! Mail

By default, Yahoo! blocks external images. Turn it on by clicking Settings > More Settings > Viewing email. Under the Show images in messages header, make sure Ask before showing external images is checked. You have to turn it on in the mobile app; tap your profile icon and open Settings, then scroll down to Block images and toggle the feature on.