LocalInbox takes tracking pictures out of a message and cuts the tracking parts from its links. When it removes something, one quiet line under the sender says so, such as “3 trackers and 2 tracking links removed”, and clicking it lists the tracker hosts and link parameters. Settings › Privacy adds up the last seven days, and those counts stay on your Mac.
What's kept out
- Trackers: hidden pictures that tell the sender when you open the message.
- Tracking links: links that tell the sender which one you click. Those parts come off.
- Remote images, until you allow them. Trusted senders' pictures load without asking: mail your own server verified, people you've written to, and senders you chose Always for.
- In Junk, spam and suspected phishing, images always ask.
A receipt for each message
When something was taken out, one line under the sender says what. Clicking it shows “Kept out of this message”: the tracker hosts, the link parameters that came off, and that nothing was loaded from the web for it. A message with nothing to report shows no line.
This week
Settings › Privacy has a “This week” card with the last seven days' totals: trackers removed, links cleaned, messages with remote images blocked, and messages whose sender failed SPF, DKIM or DMARC. The counts stay on your Mac.
Questions
Can a sender still tell I opened their mail?
Not from a tracking picture LocalInbox removed, and other remote images don't load unless the sender is trusted or you choose Load Images. When a picture does load, its server can see that it was asked for. To make every message ask first, choose that in Settings › General › Load remote images.
Does LocalInbox send the counts anywhere?
No. Nothing is stored per message, and the week's totals stay on your Mac. LocalInbox has no server and no analytics.
Is it on iPhone and iPad too?
Yes. Trackers come out of your mail there too, and Settings › Privacy has the same This week card. LocalInbox for iPhone and iPad is on the App Store, with the same licence: https://localinbox.app/iphone