Privacy-focused email aliasing service addy.io now blocks email tracking pixels by default

Email aliasing service addy.io announced this week that it has rolled out a new privacy feature to block tracking pixels, designed to stop senders from knowing when recipients open their messages. Available on the company's Lite and Pro plans, the feature removes known tracking pixels from forwarded HTML emails before they arrive in the user's inbox. The setting is enabled by default, meaning existing subscribers don't need to take any action, the protection is already active on new forwarded messages.

Tracking pixels are tiny hidden images, often just one pixel square, embedded in emails by newsletters and marketing tools. When an email app loads the image, the sender's server records that the message was opened. addy.io says its new feature strips matching images from an email's HTML as it is forwarded, while preserving normal content such as photos, logos, and standard social icons. When pixels are blocked, the banner on a forwarded email displays a line such as “Blocked 2 tracking pixels. View report”, linking to a breakdown that includes the From and To addresses and the tracker hosts involved.

In keeping with the service's privacy-focused positioning, addy.io notes that report data is encoded in the link itself rather than stored in its database, with links expiring 30 days after forwarding. Lite and Pro subscribers will also see a chart tracking pixels blocked over the previous seven days on their dashboard. The feature is not available on the free tier, though Duo and Family plan members receive it as part of Pro, and users who prefer to receive emails untouched can disable the feature in the settings.