If Apple Mail won't load images due to 'network settings,' here's why

Update July 28: Apple says the issue is now resolved. You can turn on Private Relay. If you’re still seeing Mail image errors, quit the app and relaunch it.

If you’ve opened your Mail app this week on your iPhone or Mac and had an issue loading images, it’s not your network. And it’s seemingly related to a feature you might not even be using.

According to Apple’s System Status page, there is an issue with iCloud Private Relay this week. iCloud Private Relay acts something like a VPN to keep your DNS records and IP address hidden using a “single, secure connection to maintain privacy and performance.” When that connection gets disrupted, there can be problems.

Since Thursday, Apple has reported an ongoing Private Relay outage affecting “some” iCloud+ users. which can affect the experience within apps that use iCloud+, including Safari and Mail. In this case, the issues appear to be manifesting as an error message that appears when new Mail messages arrive: “Your network settings prevent content from loading privately.” Based on the timing, it appears related to the Private Relay issue, which is preventing images from loading as a security measure.

In this case, “network settings” doesn’t refer to your home Wi-Fi or wireless connection, but rather the Private Relay mechanism. As long as the problem persists, the message will appear, and Apple doesn’t offer any time frame for when it will be fixed. In the meantime, you have two options:

• Click the Load Content button under the error message when you need to see an image in an email.
• Turn off iCloud Private Relay in Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Private Relay.

However, some iCloud+ users are still seeing the error message despite having iCloud Private Relay turned off on their account, so the issue appears to be affecting iCloud+ accounts that aren’t using the feature. Apple hasn’t updated its status page since the issue was confirmed at 2:34 p.m. PT Thursday, so it’s unclear how widespread the issue is or when it might be restored.