The “Unable to load remote content privately” message may not offer enough guidance on how to proceed, even if a Load Content Directly button appears. But the explanation is not insidious. Rather, it’s part of how Apple continues to tighten the screw on those who try to track what you do without asking your permission.
You will see this error from iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and macOS 12 Monterey when Apple’s Email Privacy Protection feature is enabled and Apple cannot load remote content into an email in a way that meets the bar of what it promises. (You can learn more about protecting email privacy in How to Stop Email Read Receipts in Apple Mail.)
This privacy feature allows Apple to upload images on your behalf. Using a “proxy”, Apple retrieves the images from its servers and then transmits them securely to your device. This prevents another party from obtaining your IP address, a unique Internet address that can help identify your location. Apple also uploads images when you receive an email, so a sender can’t use it to determine whether or not you read a message, and it doesn’t know when or how often you read it. . In fact, all a merchant or other party can say is that an Apple server received the message.
However, Apple cannot always succeed in its proxy interception. The company says a virtual private network (VPN) connection can interfere, preventing it from forming the end-to-end connection required to deliver the image to your Mail app. Your ISP (or even the country you read your emails from) may also have a network configuration that is accidentally or intentionally preventing it from working. An overly savvy email marketing company might also know to block Apple’s retrieval, trying to force you to upload images directly.
In these cases, Apple wants you to know something is wrong, even if the software can’t diagnose the problem. The Load Content Directly button lets you display images, but Apple’s caveat is that these images may provide location and behavior cues to the sender.
If you don’t think you need the privacy protection offered by Apple, or if you already use a VPN for a certain privacy measure that interferes with Apple’s support, you can turn off the privacy protection of posts:
- In iOS/iPadOS, go to Settings > To post > Privacy.
- On macOS, launch Mail and navigate to Mail > Preferences > Privacy.
This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by igamesnews reader Charlie.
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