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Comment by saagarjha

9 hours ago

I’m still mildly annoyed every email I send using Mail has my IP embedded in it

This is your email provider doing this. I use Fastmail. Fastmail does not log the IP of the sender when you use its SMTP servers.

Source? I don't think this is true. Doesn't seem to be the case for me. Maybe your email provider attaches your IP address?

  • Seems like this is a Gmail thing: https://ylukem.com/blog/apple-mail-leaks-your-ip-address

    • I clearly remember many years ago that this wasn’t the case with Gmail, when looking for the source IP address in a case involving harassment of a person. I could only get Gmail’s own IP address in the headers from the multiple emails I examined at that time.

      Nevertheless, as js2 said in another comment, it’s your mail provider (in this case Gmail) deciding whether to include the sender’s IP address or not.

    • It's not a Gmail thing:

      > The reason why my IP address is visible is because Apple Mail sends emails with SMTP.

      Unless you use a proxy, your IP address is visible to an SMTP server, just like it's visible to an HTTP server when you use a web browser. This is not specific to Apple Mail or to Gmail.

      4 replies →

  • It’s in the headers. Send an email to your self from Mail and open the source in the inbox. There is your IP.

    • I also just tried this as well, sending an email from a Migadu-based account to one at both Gmail and MXRoute using Mail.app under macOS 15.7.7. Neither included any private IP address info I could find in either headers or raw source. That would be a good leak to know about and as sibling comment said saagarjha definitely knows their stuff, so any tips to replicate would be appreciated.

    • Is this from iOS? I just tested from MacOS, and the only IPs were for the transit and auth servers.

      I'm not actually doubting it. saagarjha knows his stuff. I just don't see it, so maybe I'm holding it wrong.

      2 replies →