LinkGuard
Coming soon
Know where a link really goes before opening it.
- Chrome
- Edge
- Firefox
Browser extension by A2Z Tools
Mail Privacy Shield
Know when an email tries to track you.
Detects and blocks tracking pixels in Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo Mail on the web, and cleans tracking from links you click.
- Coming soon to the stores
- Free
- No account needed
- Version 1.0.0
Chrome Web StoreComing soon for Chrome
Microsoft Edge Add-onsComing soon for Edge
Firefox Add-onsComing soon for Firefox
We are preparing the store listings. The buttons switch on as soon as each store approves the extension; there are no unofficial downloads.
Screenshots
What Mail Privacy Shield does
Most marketing emails, and many sales emails, carry an invisible image. When your mail client loads it, the sender learns that you opened the email, when, how many times and roughly where. Mail Privacy Shield stops those images from loading in Gmail, Outlook on the web and Yahoo Mail.
Known tracking services are blocked at the network level. Unknown pixels are recognised by their size and visibility and neutralised in place, so the email still looks exactly as it should. A small chip tells you how many trackers an email contained and which companies they belong to.
Everything happens in your browser. The extension looks only at image and link addresses inside the emails you open, never at what your emails say, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Key features
- Blocks open-tracking pixels from 50+ known email-tracking services at the network level
- Finds unknown pixels by size and visibility (1x1, zero-size and hidden images) and neutralises them without shifting the email layout
- Reads the real address behind Gmail's image proxy and other webmail proxies
- "N trackers blocked" chip in the mail page and a count on the toolbar icon, with the tracking companies named
- Cleans redirect wrappers and tracking parameters from links you click inside emails
- Trust a sender or an image domain so their images always load
- Turn protection on or off per mail service
Privacy
Detection happens in your browser. Mail Privacy Shield never reads, stores or sends the text of your emails, has no account and no analytics. It keeps only a count of blocked trackers on your device.
What it can access
Inside Gmail, Outlook on the web and Yahoo Mail only: the addresses and sizes of images in the emails you open, the sender address (to honour your trusted-sender list) and the addresses of links you click inside an email.
Where data is stored
storage.local in this browser profile: settings, trusted senders and image domains, and a running total of blocked trackers per tracking company.
Network requests
None. Blocking happens locally with the browser's built-in request rules.
How long it is kept
Counts stay until you reset them in Settings or remove the extension. Nothing about individual emails is kept.
No account, no analytics, no advertising, no selling or sharing of data, and no remotely hosted code.
Permissions and why they are needed
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Storage
Saves your settings, trusted senders and the running count of blocked trackers on this device.
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Network rules
Blocks images from known email-tracking services (such as Mailchimp's or SendGrid's open-tracking hosts) when your webmail requests them. The rules only apply to image requests made by Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo Mail pages.
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Access to mail.google.com
Runs the pixel detector inside Gmail and lets the popup recognise a Gmail tab.
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Access to outlook.live.com
Runs the pixel detector inside Outlook.com.
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Access to outlook.office.com
Runs the pixel detector inside Outlook for Microsoft 365.
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Access to outlook.office365.com
Runs the pixel detector inside Outlook for Microsoft 365 (older address).
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Access to mail.yahoo.com
Runs the pixel detector inside Yahoo Mail.
Runs inside web pages on: https://mail.google.com/*, https://outlook.live.com/*, https://outlook.office.com/*, https://outlook.office365.com/* and https://mail.yahoo.com/*.
Browser compatibility
| Browser | Minimum version | Store |
|---|---|---|
| Google Chrome |
120 | Coming soon |
| Microsoft Edge |
120 | Coming soon |
| Mozilla Firefox |
140.0 | Coming soon |
Good to know
- Gmail and some Outlook accounts fetch remote images through their own proxy. Pixels from known services are caught by their address, but an unknown pixel can still be requested before it is recognised; Gmail's own setting "Ask before displaying external images" closes that gap completely.
- Images that look normal but turn out to be 1x1 after loading are reported as "detected", not blocked.
- Click-tracking links of email services that are not simple redirect wrappers cannot be cleaned without opening them.
- Sender detection for the trusted-sender list is most reliable on Gmail; on Outlook and Yahoo Mail use trusted image domains if a sender is not recognised.
- Webmail page structures change; the extension falls back to doing nothing rather than hiding real content.
Frequently asked questions
Will it break images in my emails?
It is designed not to. Only known tracking hosts and images that are invisible by size (1x1, zero-size or hidden) are blocked, and blocked images keep their size so layouts do not move. If a newsletter you trust looks wrong, trust its sender from the chip.
Does it read my emails?
No. It only looks at the addresses of images and links inside the emails you open, in your browser. It never reads, stores or sends message text.
Does it work in the Outlook or Gmail apps?
No. It works in the browser versions: mail.google.com, outlook.live.com, outlook.office.com and mail.yahoo.com.
Why does it say detected instead of blocked?
Some pixels are only recognisable after they load (for example a normal-looking image that turns out to be 1x1). Those are reported so you know, but they were already requested.
Changelog
-
Version 1.0.0
- Initial release: network blocking of known trackers, size-based pixel detection, link cleaning, trusted senders, per-service switches
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Questions, bugs or ideas for Mail Privacy Shield? Contact the A2Z Tools team.