A comparison
Click tracking or open tracking? What each counts.
Open tracking counts emails that were displayed, using a hidden picture. Click tracking counts links that were followed. They answer different questions and break in different ways. Here they are side by side.
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The short answer
What is the difference between click tracking and open tracking?
Open tracking puts a tiny hidden image in an email and records when it is fetched, which says the email was displayed. Click tracking sends a link through a counter on its way, which says the link was followed. Since 2021 Apple Mail can fetch images before anybody reads an email, so an open can be a machine rather than a reader. UK and EU regulators also treat tracking pixels in email as needing consent.
Side by side
How the two differ.
| Open tracking | Click tracking, as built here | |
|---|---|---|
| What it records | That the email's images were fetched | That a link was followed |
| What it needs in the email | A hidden image unique to the email | A link that passes a counter |
| Holds up when Apple Mail fetches images early | No | Yes |
| Still counts when images are blocked | No | Yes |
| Says who the reader was | Often, when the image is unique to one reader | No: a count per link, per day, with a country and a kind of device |
| Answers the question | Was it displayed? | Did anyone act on it? |
The verdict
Count what people choose to do.
Clicks tell you
- Which link in a signature, and which banner, people act on.
- Whether a campaign is worth running again, by its click-through rate.
- Where the clicks come from, as countries and kinds of device.
Opens no longer tell you
- Whether a person read the email, once Apple Mail fetches images on its own.
- Anything at all, when the reader's client blocks images.
- What a signature is for, which is the next step someone takes.
Why this product counts clicks and never opens is set out in full inWhy we never track opens.
Questions
Before you measure
Can I see who opened an email I sent?
Not with Animated Signature. There is no pixel in any signature, so nothing reports an open. Clicks on your signature's links are counted, as totals, while link tracking is on.
Are banner loads the same as opens?
No. A banner load is a fetch of a campaign's banner, counted per campaign per day with nothing about who fetched it. Apple Mail can fetch it before anyone reads the email, which is why loads are labelled approximate.
Can I add my own tracking to the links?
Yes. A link goes where you point it with its query string intact, so UTM tags you add reach your own analytics, whether or not link tracking is on here.
Sources
- Apple advances its privacy leadership with iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, and watchOS 8Apple Newsroom, 7 June 2021.
- Open Tracking and Apple Mail (Mail Privacy Protection)Postmark support. Read 23 September 2026.
- What are storage and access technologies?Information Commissioner's Office, guidance on storage and access technologies. Read 23 September 2026.
- Guidelines 2/2023 on Technical Scope of Art. 5(3) of ePrivacy DirectiveEuropean Data Protection Board, adopted October 2024.