Gmail App For iOS Gets Image Blocking Features
With The New Feature Users Can Easily Block Unwanted Email Tracking.
Google has rolled out an update to the Gmail app for iOS. The update brings with a new image blocking setting to prevent loading attached images.
With the new update, Gmail app for iOS users can choose to be asked each time whether or not display external images in an email. The new setting is will counteract tracking services that embed small invisible images into emails. These usually let a sender know when the receiver opens the email, 9to5Mac reported on Tuesday.
The latest version is now is available on Apple’s App Store. As per the update changelog, users can enable this new feature from the Settings menu. To enable this for new incoming messages, go to Settings > specific account > Images and select “Ask before displaying external images“.
The image loading setting was previously limited to the Web version of Gmail. Now, one can get access to this setting on iPhones and iPads.
As The Verge points out, this appears to be a response to a recent controversy with Superhuman, an email app that allowed users to track the location of a person who opened an email. As well as, it also lets the sender know what time of day the mail was read.
In addition, Google rolled out a new feature that will show a notification to your contacts in Gmail and Hangouts chats when you are away on vacation. This features is only available for G Suite (Google’s enterprise customers) at the moment and not the ordinary Gmail users. This feature will be fully roll out globally from September 16.
