Apple iOS 18.3 Email Marketing Updates

How Apple's latest update affects your brand

Author

Milan Raviji
February 17, 2025

Apple’s iOS 18.3 update brings key changes to Apple Mail that impact email marketing on Mobile. Note, this update doesn't impact anyone that uses the native Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. apps.

1. What’s Changing?

  • Inbox Tabs: Emails are now categorised (Primary, Promotions, etc.)

  • AI Summaries: Apple’s AI rewrites preheaders, making subject lines & first-line copy more important.

  • Grouped Emails: Messages from the same sender are bundled, potentially reducing visibility.

2. Does It Affect Your Brand?

  • If your customers use Apple Mail, then yes - this change impacts how emails are seen.

  • Unlike iOS 15 (which blocked open rate tracking), this update affects inbox placement and visibility. If your audience includes Apple Mail users, you may see an impact on email marketing results in the short term.

3. What Do You Need to Do?

  • AI-generated copy previews encourage "skimming" behaviour - meaning we need to continue with short, concise copy

  • Apple Mail seems to be prioritising Plain Text - so adding these to your campaign strategy should help with Apple Mail users

Hope this helps.

Best,

Don

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