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

I followed the recommended fix from Apple and it worked. For a while. And then today, it started doing it again.

Checked my privacy settings in Mail and both 'Protect Mail Activity' and 'Block All Remote Content' were unchecked but I was still getting the 'Load Content Directly' message.

The only way I could work around it was to go to Network Prefs in Settings and uncheck 'Limit IP Address Tracking'.

Of course, your privacy protection is then compromised.

Hope this gets sorted soon?

VLBIV - Totally agree - there should be an option to load images and have whatever security you can (surely if it can load text - a series of bytes, it can load images - maybe through a filter...?). Even if they can't be bothered to do this it should say when it offers to hide your IP for privacy that saying yes will mean you don't ever see images. Which, in 2022, is like saying you don't want to see vowels in handwritten letters.

We have an iMac and a Mini both using Monterey version 12.4 and Mail 156.0. iMac displays email images while Mini displays only images with Blue Dot and ?... Tried privacy settings - this changed iMac to show/not show images but had no effect onMini images.

I have done this -- I have unchecked both the "Protect Mail Activity" and "Block All Remote Content" boxes. But I still get the message at the top of emails and have to select the "Load Content Directly" button. Any other suggestions?

This setting and the message Mail displays still don't make any sense. The message says: "Your network preference prevent content from loading privately."

Key word: privately. That's exactly what I want. I want the content to load privately, which is exactly why I have "Protect Mail Activity" checked under the privacy preferences of Mail. But the answers in reply to your question suggest that setting itself is the reason this message is appearing, which would suggest that checking that box is the "network preferences" that is preventing content from loading privately. And yet that's exactly what it is supposed to be doing, loading the content without revealing my IP.

The unresolved question is: How should Mail and System preferences be configured so the images load but without revealing the IP?

Thunderbird handles this in a better way -- for each message, you can allow loading images from multiple options, like a specific email, the entire domain, all domains used in that email, etc. That way I can allow automatic image loading for a newsletter I want (and only have to do it once), or from a mailing list from an online store that I'm OK with tracking my activity, but not for random spam. Or I could allow it for an entire domain (like my employer who sends many internal emails with images).

It's fully private by default, but offers a much easier way to tailor it to your needs. The only issue is that it doesn't sync across devices -- Apple should just steal the idea, store your choices in iCloud so it syncs, and they'd have the perfect solution.

To get the privacy you want, set the Mail -> Preferences -> Privacy to Protect Mail Activity. This will check the Hide IP Address box and uncheck Block All Remote Content. Now go to System Preferences -> Network -> Limit IP Address Tracking and UNCHECK this box. (this is the network preference that is preventing content from loading). Images should now load and you get the Protect Mail advantage.

Keep in mind that if you uncheck the box "Protect Mail Activity" OR you click the box "Load Content Directly" the sender of the email will get your IP address, so if you plan to view remote content, then you might as well uncheck the box. This also tells the sender that you read the message. This is an excellent way for spammers to verify your address. So checking the box "Protect Mail Activity" and only clicking on "Load Content Directly" for messages that are not spam is the safest option to protect your privacy and reduce spam, unfortunately.

I read Apple's answer and I have to agree that it is simply a bad design that needs to be fixed in the next update. I never had this issue before and in my case I only have the hide my IP box checked. So it means that I have to give up my privacy completely or I click on each email I receive... when you live in an internet restrictive country that makes it an interesting choice to make! This is so ridiculous that it even blocks contents in emails from my contacts! Really bad design - Please fix this asap!!

When you click on Protect Mail Activity, it also turns on Hide IP Address. Someone mentioned using a VPN and that's what I do to "HIDE". So, I'm turning off Protect Mail Activity for now. I do want to see images without having to click Download Content Directly. I agree with VLBIV. And, it should have been in the notes when Update was installed. There ought to ALWAYS be a What's Changed with this UPDATE. ALWAYS!

I don’t see that option when in mail box menu. I opened my mailbox, then proceeded to mail and it doesn’t have that listed option on my MacBook. 🤨

Why me? It didn’t use to do this until I recently updated it. I have from top to bottom in order:

About Mail

Settings

Accounts

Add Accounts

Services

Hide Mail

Hide Others

Quit Mail

So maybe the problem is located elsewhere. Idk 🤷‍♂️

This issue with load content directly only STARTED AFTER I purchased and installed MS Office with Outlook on on MacBook.

The only setting I can see that affects that specific "Load Content Directly" thing is the "Hide IP address" in the preferences for email. I unchecked everything except Hide IP address and the Load Content Directly was still there. I unchecked that option for Hide IP address and then that Load Content Directly disappeared and mail is back to functioning normally as it always has.

To change the setting open Mail on Mac.

Click Mail up in the tab (top left)

Click Settings.

Click Privacy (all the way to the right).

Uncheck Hide IP address.

So its Mail > Settings> Privacy> Uncheck Hide IP address

This is a fascinating explanation, but makes it even stranger that the email I most consistently cannot see images on are the ones that come from my Apple News update. That's where I first notices this issue when I updated to Ventura

~Travis

I had to uncheck hide my IP address, as well as the other changes to privacy suggested in the reply. I am not happy about not hiding my IP address but this way the content does load directly without having to click on that button before seeing the graphics.

Mail app failure in documentation.

Again, I spent more time seeking a solution than I did on the operation I tried to do in Mail. I found nothing anywhere on Google OR on Apple's own support site. This is at least the 5th time I looked for what was, for me, a bull anus! Apple is making it difficult to impossible to find answers to what should be easy-to-find, simple answers. So far I have a better experience working from my big MacPro than I do from my 'fast' M1 iMac. THANK YOU Jodywoodcock!