Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

How can I stop emails from loading imbedded images?

How can I stop emails from loading imbedded images? I keep on getting the imbedded images even if my iPhone has the remote load images set to disabled. Is there a way? Also where are these imbedded images stored? Locally or on iCloud?


apple Mail using my iCloud email



[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Jun 2, 2021 1:25 AM

Reply
Question marked as Best answer

iCloud mail is IMAP, so it behaves as I described. However it's possible to download the messages if you want to, though on a Mac you have to specifically choose this.


If you can still see the messages when offline then that certainlhy suggests the phone is downloading, or at least cacheing them. Do you still see older messages (that you haven't access recently) when offline? You may be able to clear the cacheL: but not having an iPhone I can't advise on that. You could ask in the forum for iPhones - the IMAP behaviour isn'tn confined to iCloud but is an industry standard and many other services behave the same, so it's the behaviour of the Apple Mail app you would be asking about.

Posted on Jun 2, 2021 1:08 PM

8 replies

Jun 2, 2021 1:44 AM in response to markaznar

Images in emails can be of two types. Embedded images are sent as an attachment with the email, and most email clients will display the images as long as they are one ofthe most used formats. These images take up space on your storage: on a Mac you can select the mail and remove attachments, thus deleting the images to save space - I don't know whether you can do this on phone. Messages from individuals usually make use of this type of image.


The other case is where the image lives on the sender's server and can be downloaded by the mail client; messages from businesses are often in this form. As you have remote images disabled you won't see these unless you choose to download them.

Jun 2, 2021 3:30 AM in response to markaznar

I'm afraid that there's nothing you can do except delete the messages as soon as they arrive, unless you can persuade the sender not to do this; or unless the Mail app on iOS offers the option to limit the size of downloaded emails: Mail on a Mac doesn't (older versions used to in the days of slow internet) but I don't know about iOS mail.


Eveidently the messages are coming to a POP address. If you could persuade the sender to use your iCloud mail address then the messages wouldn't download to your phone and would remain on the server (from where the phone would view them) - of course you'd have to watch out for storage limits on iCloud but even the free level is 5GB which would hold a lot of images.

Question marked as Helpful

Jun 2, 2021 12:52 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

Ok let me be a bit clearer.


my iCloud was set to be imap using apple mail via my iPhone running iOS 14.5.1. Does this mean all the imbedded images from this sender are NOT STORED in my device but only stored in the iCloud server? If so, how come when I disable my internet connection, I can still see the images? I am sorry for my naive question as I am an older consumer with limited tech knowledge.

Question marked as Best answer

Jun 2, 2021 1:08 PM in response to markaznar

iCloud mail is IMAP, so it behaves as I described. However it's possible to download the messages if you want to, though on a Mac you have to specifically choose this.


If you can still see the messages when offline then that certainlhy suggests the phone is downloading, or at least cacheing them. Do you still see older messages (that you haven't access recently) when offline? You may be able to clear the cacheL: but not having an iPhone I can't advise on that. You could ask in the forum for iPhones - the IMAP behaviour isn'tn confined to iCloud but is an industry standard and many other services behave the same, so it's the behaviour of the Apple Mail app you would be asking about.

How can I stop emails from loading imbedded images?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.