Short answer: An email read receipt tells you when someone opened your message. It works in one of two ways: your email app asks the recipient's app to send a confirmation back (a return receipt, which they can refuse), or it hides a tiny image in the email and records when that image loads (a tracking pixel). Outlook and Gmail can request return receipts, but only on work or school accounts. Apple Mail can't request them at all. Neither method is proof that anyone read your email, so treat a receipt as a hint and a reply as the real answer.
What is an email read receipt?
A read receipt is a notice that comes back to you after the person you emailed opens your message. People use them for the emails where silence is expensive: a contract sent for signature, an invoice, a deadline, a job application. It's a different thing from a delivery receipt, which Microsoft describes as confirming that a message reached the recipient's mailbox, not that anyone looked at it.
It's also different from the read receipts on an iPhone. The Send Read Receipts switch in Settings > Apps > Messages is for iMessage conversations, the "Read" you see under a text. It has nothing to do with email.
How read receipts work: return receipts vs tracking pixels
"Read receipt" covers two very different technologies, and most of the confusion about them comes from mixing the two up.
Return receipts (the standard way)
The original read receipt is an email standard called a Message Disposition Notification, defined in RFC 8098. Your app adds a Disposition-Notification-To header to the message. When the recipient opens it, their app can send a small notice back to you saying the message was displayed.
The catch is in the word "can". The standard says the recipient's app is free to ignore the request, and recommends asking the user before sending anything. So a return receipt only arrives if the recipient's app supports the standard and the recipient agrees (or their company has set receipts to go out automatically). Outlook and Gmail for work accounts use this method.
Tracking pixels
The other method doesn't ask anyone. The sender's app or tracking service puts an invisible image, often a single pixel, in the email. When the recipient's mail app downloads images, it fetches that pixel from the tracker's server, and the server logs an open. Email extensions, sales tools and some email apps, including Canary, work this way. It works with any recipient on any provider, which is why it's popular, but its accuracy depends entirely on how the recipient's app handles images.
| Return receipt (MDN) | Tracking pixel | |
|---|---|---|
| How it's triggered | Recipient's app sends a notice back | Recipient's app loads a hidden image |
| Recipient asked? | Usually, and they can say no | No |
| Works with | Apps and accounts that support the standard | Any app that loads images |
| Main failure | Declined or ignored | Images blocked, or loaded automatically by privacy features |
| Used by | Outlook, Gmail (work and school accounts) | Tracking extensions, Canary and other email apps |
How to request a read receipt in Gmail
According to Google, read receipts only work with work or school accounts (Google Workspace). They don't work with personal @gmail.com addresses, and your administrator has to allow them. If your account qualifies:
- Open Gmail in a web browser and click Compose.
- Write your email as usual.
- At the bottom right, click More options, then Request read receipt.
- Click Send.
Google gives these steps for a computer only. You also won't get a receipt if you send to a group or alias, if your admin limits receipts to people inside your organization, or if the recipient uses a POP client or an IMAP app that doesn't send receipts automatically. For personal Gmail accounts, our guide to telling if someone read your email in Gmail covers the options.
How to request a read receipt in Outlook
Microsoft supports read receipts in Outlook for work and school accounts. They aren't available for IMAP or POP accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo or iCloud added to Outlook, and you can't request them in Outlook.com itself.
| Outlook version | How to request a read receipt |
|---|---|
| New Outlook for Windows, Outlook on the web | In the message you're writing, open the Options tab and, in the Tracking group, check Request a Read Receipt. If you don't see it, select More Options at the right end of the ribbon. |
| Classic Outlook for Windows (one message) | In a new email, go to Options and, in the Tracking group, check Request a Read Receipt. |
| Classic Outlook for Windows (every message) | Go to File > Options > Mail. Under Tracking, check the read receipt box and select OK. |
| Outlook for Mac | While writing the email, open the Receipts menu and choose Read Receipt. Needs a Microsoft 365 work or school account or an Exchange account; add the Receipts button by customizing the toolbar if it's missing. |
In classic Outlook, open the sent message and choose Tracking on the Message tab to see who has sent receipts back. Microsoft is blunt about the limits: recipients can decline, some email programs don't support receipts, and "there is no way to force a recipient to send a read receipt." It also suggests requesting them only for important messages, because people who see the request less often are more likely to say yes.
On the receiving side, new Outlook and Outlook on the web let you choose how to answer requests under Settings > Mail > Message handling > Read receipts.
Read receipts in Apple Mail
Apple Mail has no read receipt option on Mac, iPhone or iPad, including macOS 27 and iOS 27. There's nothing in the compose window or in Mail settings to request one, and Mail doesn't prompt you to return one when someone else asks. Old guides suggest a Terminal command that adds the receipt header to every message; it stopped working years ago. Our guide to Apple Mail read receipts covers the workarounds, from Mail extensions to other apps.
How Mail Privacy Protection affects tracking pixels
Apple Mail matters for read receipts even if you never use it, because many of your recipients do. With Mail Privacy Protection turned on, Apple says Mail hides the recipient's IP address and downloads remote content privately in the background when a message arrives, instead of when it's viewed. On iPhone, Apple puts it plainly: the feature "prevents senders from seeing if you've opened the email message they sent you."
For a tracking pixel, that means an "open" can be logged shortly after delivery whether or not the person ever looked at the email, and without their real location. Recipients turn it on in Mail > Settings > Privacy on a Mac (Protect Mail Activity) or Settings > Apps > Mail > Privacy Protection on iPhone.
Read receipts on iPhone
The built-in Mail app on iPhone can't request email read receipts, and the Send Read Receipts switch only covers Messages. Google's Gmail steps are for a computer, and Microsoft's help gives Outlook steps for Windows, the web and Mac only. On an iPhone, your realistic option is an email app with read receipts built in.
How reliable are read receipts?
Less reliable than they look. Both methods fail in both directions:
- Missed reads. A return receipt never arrives if the recipient declines or their app ignores the request. A pixel never fires if the recipient blocks remote images or reads in plain text.
- False reads. Mail Privacy Protection can load a pixel as soon as the email arrives. And Google notes that an IMAP user can mark a message as read without opening it, which still triggers a return receipt.
- Opened isn't read. RFC 8098 says even a "displayed" notice is no guarantee the content was read or understood, and that receipts can be forged or lost.
Use a receipt to decide when to follow up, not to conclude that someone is ignoring you. A reply, or a click on a link in your email, tells you far more.
Privacy and etiquette
Return receipts are open about what they do: the recipient sees the request and chooses. Pixels are silent, which is why some people find them intrusive. Request receipts only for emails that need confirmation, keep them out of personal conversations, and if you work with clients, tell them you use them.
Read receipts in Canary Mail
Disclosure: we make Canary Mail. If you're on Apple Mail, or on a personal Gmail, Outlook.com, iCloud or Yahoo account where return receipts aren't available, Canary adds read receipts to the email app itself. It's an email app for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows and Android that works with Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo, Exchange and other IMAP accounts.
Canary's read receipts use a tracking pixel, so the limits above apply. According to Canary's help page, it records only that a message was opened and when: no IP address, device or location. A blue check mark appears on the message in your Sent folder, and you can turn the feature on or off under Preferences > Read Receipts. Basic read receipts come with the free plan (unlimited accounts on 2 devices, with AI inbox sorting). The Growth plan, $36 a year, has read receipts along with AI writing and summaries, send later, calendar and 5 devices. Canary also blocks trackers in the emails you receive by default.
More than 2 million people use Canary, and Apple has featured it on the App Store and the Mac App Store.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my email has been read?
Request a read receipt if your app supports it (Outlook or Gmail with a work or school account), or use an email app or extension that tracks opens with a pixel. Neither is guaranteed: the recipient can decline a receipt, and privacy features can hide or fake an open. A reply is the only sure sign.
How do I put a read receipt on an email?
In Outlook, check Request a Read Receipt on the Options tab (or the Receipts menu in Outlook for Mac). In Gmail with a Workspace account, click More options, then Request read receipt before sending. Apple Mail has no built-in option.
Can you get a read receipt without the recipient knowing?
A return receipt is visible: the recipient's app usually asks them whether to send it. Tracking pixels don't ask, but Apple's Mail Privacy Protection, image blocking and tracker blocking in apps can stop them or make them inaccurate.
What happens if I decline a read receipt?
Nothing is sent, and the sender has no way to force one. To them it looks the same as if you hadn't opened the email. In Gmail for work accounts, choosing Not now means you'll be asked again the next time you open the message.
Do read receipts work in Gmail?
Only for Google Workspace work or school accounts, and only if your administrator allows them. Personal @gmail.com accounts can't request or return read receipts.
Does Apple Mail support read receipts?
No. Apple Mail on Mac, iPhone and iPad can't request a read receipt and doesn't offer to return one. You need another app, or a Mail extension, to get them.
Sources
- RFC 8098: Message Disposition Notification
- Google: Request or return a read receipt (Gmail Help)
- Microsoft: Add and request read receipts and delivery notifications in Outlook
- Microsoft: Request a read receipt or delivery notification in Outlook for Mac
- Apple Mail User Guide: Protect email privacy in Mail on Mac
- Apple iPhone User Guide: Use Mail Privacy Protection on iPhone
- Apple iPhone User Guide: Turn read receipts on or off in Messages
- Canary Mail Help: How does Canary Mail implement read receipts?