After macOS Monterey 12.0.1 update my mail messages do not display any images

Does this help me if I don't have a VPN at all? Does it mean that all I have to do is turn on the macOS firewall? If so, what firewall options should I have?

It seems to me that what you're saying is that Protect Mail Activity works if there is no VPN and the firewall is on with appropriate options. Is that correct? If so, what firewall options do I need?

Or does it mean that I have to have a VPN installed but not turn it on? Does it have to be Express VPN? Would a free VPN work?

I tried that. It didn't help. In fact there's nothing in the instructions for Protect Mail Activity that says you need iCloud Private Relay. According to the link you provided, iCloud Private Relay has nothing to do with Mail. It "helps protect your privacy when you browse the web in Safari." Not even other browsers; just Safari.

marty39 wrote:

Does this help me if I don't have a VPN at all?

No. In my case the problem is happening only when I use the VPN (Express VPN in my case but other services are also interfering as reported by other posters). I would think that if I didn't have a VPN app I haven't seen the problem at all.

Does it mean that all I have to do is turn on the macOS firewall? If so, what firewall options should I have?

In my case I have always had the application firewall turned on under settings without any special configuration, but I don't think turning the firewall on or off will help in your case as you aren't using a VPN.

Or does it mean that I have to have a VPN installed but not turn it on? Does it have to be Express VPN? Would a free VPN work?

You don't need to have any VPN installed. Maybe check if you have other security apps installed that could be interfering with Protect Mail Activity (e.g., antivirus).

I had the same problem described in the thread this morning. The help that appears in the message header is unhelpful as it takes you to WiFi settings; however, a bit more google searching led me to switching on the private relay function in iCloud settings. After reopening the message (or just restarting Mail) the error message was gone and images started downloading, at least for me.

I too have the same problem and found at least on my machine unchecking the Protect Mail Activity does nothing , also unchecking Block all Remote Content does nothing . I agree this load content directly feature is a pain in the ***.

I think useless is a bit strong, but when I go through email I want to do so quickly, and an extra click for every email in which I want to see content was more than I could bear -- reverted after 2 days. Note that so much content is delivered in images these days since no one wants to read. Wish there was a more elegant solution.

Indeed. I guess the problem is the senders who don't embed images directly in the emails. Unfortunately that's most of them even if they are not trying to track you. I hope this practice of Apple will push the legitimate senders to change their behavior.

The more elegant solution is for the legitimate senders to inline images in the emails instead of providing a url. Unfortunately most of them don't do that. So we just have to assume that every sender is malicious.

Yes , and it worked for a while . Then when i reopened Mail after 8 hours it started to do the same behavior . This new quirk in Mac software is horrible and very irritating . I like to use stronger words but i would be blocked .

Some others here have pointed out that not loading a tracking pixel protects you as far as your IP no. is concerned. That's true, HOWEVER, some trackers actually serialize the links to the tracking pixel. As a result, any access of a unique URL will indicate that you accessed your tracking pixel, and therefore, they know that the email they sent you was read, accessed, etc. At the very least, if you load the image they'll know that your email address is a good one.

To make this work better, Apple would need to create a cache of replicates for the emails to view and access. That would make the privacy feature work better, and more like what people expect and want.

If they want this to be a feature most people actually use, then they need to make an easy Whitelist component. If I've determined that I'm okay with a certain company tracking me, I should be able to set that one and not click "load content" and 15 emails a day while simultaneously blocking other companies. It's a half baked implementation of this feature.

this suggested "fix" does not work (for me) on mail (Monterey 12.1) and i am stuck and tired of having to click the "load content directly" button so that I can see the content and decide to delete or save the message - wonder how many that I needed that I accidentally deleted ????? v This is poor interface design and Apple should duo better - eg be able to access the appropriate preference option by clicking in the banner instead of having to go searching for it after trolling a dozen discussion threads

-still no success BTW.

@jodywoodcock As far as protection goes in part of your above response: "You may already know this part but in case you don't. The trackers insert a single pixel in the image that comes from a different server. If you have images loading then everytime that pixel is downloaded the sending server knows what IP address it is sent to. Then they can compare that address to other collected data to know who you are and what you are then looking at."

With the protection toggled on, even if you decided to view images of a certain email, wouldn't seeing said image(s) circumvent the Apple protection anyway!? I mean, you have just turned off the Apple Protect Mail Activity for that one particular email. So I guess, using a VPN or Apple Private Relay as you mentioned is an alternative.

"everytime that pixel is downloaded the sending server knows what IP address it is sent to. Then they can compare that address to other collected data to know who you are and what you are then looking at"

Blah blah blah. This part of the scare propaganda put out by VPN companies and others. It's just not true.

Firstly, your ISP would have to be compelled (by search warrant) to disclose "who you are" from your IP address. I know on TV they can just get your IP address and in the next shot SWAT is bashing down your front door but it really, really doesn't work like that. They would have to show just cause why they need access to your physical address from IP address, e.g. you are hacking into a military database. Loading ads from a retailer's web site? Maybe not.

Secondly, who cares "what you are looking at"? A lot of people make a lot of fuss over this but seriously, what are the consequences of website owners knowing you are browsing cooking pots? You get more ads targeting you with more choices of cooking pots? Oh, horrors.

This is not working for me. After the last update, I was asked if I want to have privacy settings so I said yes. I've since decided it's a pain and I've unchecked the protect mail privacy box and the block remote content but no success in getting my images back. And yes, I've shut down and restarted to see if this would help my new preferences take effect? Any ideas?