You may not always want to, but there will be times when you will want to know if an email you send, such as a job application or a support request, gets opened by the receiver. It's actually quite simple to set up, and you may already be using an email client on your device that enables email tracking.

Read receipts are common in instant messaging systems such as Apple Messages (for iMessage), but they also work in some email applications, albeit not as well. Apple Mail does not even have an email tracking option. Many third-party email applications, on the other hand, offer receiving notifications when someone reads (or at least opens) your sent email.

The majority of the email clients listed below use hidden tracking pixels that load as images inside emails to determine whether or not an email is opened. Others will be less devious and will provide the receiver the choice to grant your read-receipt request.

While this article focuses on email tracking on iOS and iPadOS, many services also support Android, macOS, Windows, and any web browser. If you don't like the thought of being monitored, I've included a section at the bottom with instructions on how to avoid read receipt trackers as well.

You can use the following applications: 

1. Canary Mail

2. Spike Email 

3. Polymail

4. Mail Tracker - Email Tracking 

5. ProtonMail

6. Microsoft Outlook

Stop others from tracking your email reading habits.

If you want to track opened emails but don't want anybody else to do the same for the emails you open, a couple of email clients can block trackers in their tracks. Note that these services will also prevent you from receiving opened email notices using the apps above—no email client can provide open confirmations 100% of the time!

For example, Apple's default Mail app gained tracker blocking in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. Apple doesn't fully advertise the feature to block email read receipts, but it does say that it can stop someone from seeing when they open your email.

If you use the default Mail app on iOS or iPadOS, you can turn it on by going to Settings –> Mail –> Privacy Protection –> Protect Mail Activity.

Beyond Apple, Edison Mail, OnMail, and ProtonMail all block spy trackers by default. Also, Polymail, listed above, lets you disable tracking on incoming messages from its in-app settings.

Gmail also supports read receipts, but only for work and school Google Workspace accounts. And speaking of Gmail, any Gmail user can enter their settings and disable "Ask before displaying external images" to prevent invisible tracking pixels from loading automatically. 

Microsoft Outlook also has an option to stop loading external images automatically.

Hope this helps you :)