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How to Block Remote Images in Gmail to Reduce Email Tracking Pixels

Gmail can ask before loading external images, reducing automatic tracking-pixel requests while letting you display images when needed.
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To stop Gmail from loading remote images automatically, turn on Ask before displaying external images (called Ask before showing on Android). This gives you a chance to leave a tracking pixel unloaded or display images for a particular message. It can reduce image-based open tracking, but it does not guarantee that a sender can never infer an open.

What blocking remote images does—and does not do

A tracking pixel is a tiny remote image embedded in an email. When an email app fetches that image, the fetch can signal to the sender that the message was opened. Gmail’s ask-before setting stops external images from loading automatically, so the pixel is not fetched unless you choose to display the message’s images.

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This reduces a common image-based open signal; it does not switch off every form of email tracking or prove that no sender can infer an open. Google’s Gmail Help cautions: “Sometimes, senders may know whether you’ve opened an email that has an image.”

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Turn on the setting in Gmail

On a computer

  1. Open Gmail and select Settings.
  2. Select See all settings.
  3. In the Images section, select Ask before displaying external images.
  4. Select Save Changes.

Google’s desktop instructions: Gmail Help for desktop.

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On Android

  1. Open the Gmail app and tap Menu, then Settings.
  2. Select the account you want to change.
  3. Under Data usage, tap Images.
  4. Choose Ask before showing.

Google’s Android instructions: Gmail Help for Android.

On iPhone or iPad

  1. Open the Gmail app and tap Menu, then Settings.
  2. Under Inbox, tap Email preferences.
  3. Tap Images and choose Ask before displaying external images.

Google’s iPhone and iPad instructions: Gmail Help for iPhone and iPad.

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Choose whether to display images in an individual email

With the setting enabled, you can leave external images blocked in a message or choose to load them. On desktop, Google identifies the per-message option as Display images below. Use this when you trust the sender or need the email’s images; choosing to display them can also load an embedded tracking pixel.

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Gmail’s image protections and their limits

Google says Gmail scans images for signs of suspicious content before delivery and checks them for known harmful software. It also says senders cannot use image loading to learn information about your computer or location, or use an image to set or read browser cookies. These protections limit what image loading can reveal, but Google’s warning that senders may sometimes know when an image-containing email was opened means they are not a promise of zero open detection.

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Google says external images are displayed automatically by default, though Gmail may withhold them automatically when it considers a sender or message suspicious. Its guidance does not fully specify exceptions for trusted senders or previously approved contacts, so do not assume the ask-before setting blocks every image in every circumstance.

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The trade-off: dynamic email and automatic images

Google says Gmail dynamic email can support tasks such as replying to Google Calendar events, filling out questionnaires, browsing catalogs, and responding to comments in Google Docs. Its guidance says dynamic email requires allowing Gmail to always display images. If you switch to ask-before, image-dependent interactive email features may not work as intended until images are allowed.

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Choose ask-before if you prefer to decide message by message whether remote images load. Choose automatic display if convenience and image-dependent dynamic email matter more to you.

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