What could be causing increased bounce rates specifically from Apple Mail?

Email marketer from Litmus shares that Apple's Mail Privacy Protection can impact bounce rates by artificially inflating open rates, potentially leading to inaccurate engagement metrics and affecting segmentation strategies, thus indirectly contributing to deliverability issues and bounce rates if unengaged subscribers are not properly identified and removed.

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor explains that if transactional emails (like password resets or order confirmations) are experiencing bounces on Apple Mail, it could indicate a problem with the sending infrastructure or a misconfiguration that's causing Apple to flag these essential messages as spam.

Email marketer from Reddit explains that a sudden increase in unclassified bounces specifically from Apple Mail could indicate a temporary filtering issue or a change in Apple's spam detection algorithms, and suggests monitoring the situation closely and contacting Apple's postmaster support for clarification if the problem persists.

Email marketer from Stack Overflow explains that Apple Mail may be more sensitive to spam triggers, such as certain keywords or excessive use of images, which can cause emails to be classified as spam and result in increased bounce rates, especially if sender reputation is already marginal.

Marketer from Email Geeks shares that Apple postmaster via their support email is usually fairly responsive once you figure out the bounce code.

Email marketer from HubSpot shares that a significant cause of increased bounce rates, particularly from specific domains like Apple Mail, may stem from poor sender reputation, due to factors like low engagement, high spam complaints, or sending to invalid addresses, which prompts stricter filtering by Apple's email servers.

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that "Unclassified" isn't a bounce type from Apple and suggests reaching out to the email provider to get the exact bounce codes.

Email marketer from Email on Acid shares that deliverability problems with Apple Mail could arise from issues with email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), which, if improperly configured, can lead to increased bounce rates as Apple's filters may flag emails as potentially fraudulent.

Email marketer from Neil Patel explains that Apple Mail's Privacy Protection feature, which hides IP addresses and opens emails automatically, can inflate open rates and negatively impact sender reputation, leading to higher bounce rates if not properly managed through list hygiene and segmentation.

Email marketer from Customer.io shares that not using a custom domain for your email address can lead to deliverability issues, particularly with stricter email providers like Apple Mail, as emails sent from generic domains (like @gmail.com) are more likely to be flagged as spam.

Email marketer from GlockApps suggests using email testing tools to identify deliverability issues before sending campaigns. These tools can simulate sending to various email providers, including Apple Mail, and report on spam score, authentication issues, and placement in inbox or spam folder.

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that bounce codes beginning with [CSxx] is a general everything block, and anything beginning with [Hxxx] is a domain specific block.

Email marketer from Gmass explains that Apple Mail may have stricter DMARC policies, so if you're sending emails that fail DMARC authentication (i.e., your emails appear to be spoofing another domain), Apple Mail will likely reject them, resulting in a bounce.

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that deliverability issues, including increased bounce rates with Apple Mail, can often be traced back to a damaged sender reputation stemming from sending practices that violate best practices or trigger spam filters.

Expert from Word to the Wise suggests that Apple Mail's more aggressive spam filtering, combined with their privacy features, might be misclassifying legitimate emails as spam, leading to increased bounce rates, especially if the sending domain has borderline authentication or engagement metrics.

Documentation from Mailchimp explains that high bounce rates can be caused by sending to old or unengaged email lists, which can include invalid or mistyped addresses, as well as subscribers who have abandoned their accounts and that consistently cleaning your list of these contacts and using confirmed opt-in can help reduce bounces.

Documentation from SparkPost explains the importance of list hygiene, stating that regularly removing inactive or unengaged subscribers and suppressing bounced addresses helps maintain a healthy sender reputation and reduces the likelihood of future deliverability issues and bounce rate increases.

Documentation from SendGrid explains that hard bounces occur when an email cannot be delivered due to a permanent reason, such as a non-existent email address or a blocked sender, which can directly impact sender reputation and increase bounce rates if these addresses are repeatedly targeted.

Documentation from RFC 5321 details that SMTP error codes provide specific information on why an email bounced. Analyzing these codes, especially those specific to Apple Mail servers, can help pinpoint the exact reasons for delivery failures, such as mailbox full (5.2.2) or permanent failure (5.1.1).