Apple Watch no longer leaks IP addresses with Mail privacy features enabled

What you need to know

Apple has fixed a watchOS 8 issue that caused Mail to leak IP addresses when loading images.
The new watchOS 8.5 update fixes the privacy issue and is available for download now.
Mail Privacy Protection is available across Apple’s platforms.

The fix has been coming since a problem was identified back in November of 2021.

The newly-released watchOS 8.5 update appears to fix a problem that previously allowed the Mail app on Apple Watches to leak a user’s IP address even with Mail Privacy Protection enabled.

The issue was first noted late last year. Mail Privacy Protection is supposed to prevent third-party servers from identifying a user’s IP address when they load an image in an email. That wasn’t happening on Apple Watches — until this week’s watchOS 8.5 update.

Good news: As of iOS 15.4 and watchOS 8.5 the Mail app on the watch no longer leaks the IP address when downloading remote content. Remote content is blocked on the watch even when Mail Privacy Protection is on. Now you get this prompt: https://t.co/Ocs0iXt4YM pic.twitter.com/Yea2fQxWlO

— Mysk 🇨🇦🇩🇪 (@mysk_co) March 14, 2022

With watchOS 8.5 installed Mail will now block images automatically and then prompt people to download remote images as required. There is also a new option to do so automatically or to ask each time an email is available to be downloaded.

Here’s how Apple describes its Mail Privacy Protection feature.

The Mail app can help protect your privacy. Email messages you receive may include remote content that allows a sender to collect information when you view a message, such as when and how many times you view it, whether you forward it, your IP address and other data. Mail Privacy Protection prevents senders from learning your information.

Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection was first introduced alongside iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey towards the end of last year and now appears to function correctly across all platforms — iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Note that this feature only works with the official Mail app, however.