Email tracker blocker for ProtonMail
ProtonMail users choose it for privacy, so a tracking pixel that reports your open is exactly the kind of leak they want gone — yet ProtonMail proxies images rather than blocking sender trackers, and the Gmail-focused blockers do not cover it. Mailshade closes that gap. It runs on the ProtonMail web client and uses Chrome's declarativeNetRequest to cancel known tracker requests at the network layer before they fire, so the open is never reported, and it unwraps click-tracking redirect links so a click does not phone home. Every blocked event is recorded in local IndexedDB and charted per sender. The fit is natural: like ProtonMail, Mailshade is privacy-first and local — blocked data never leaves your device — and its source is open under AGPL-3.0, auditable on GitHub. This page covers how blocking works in ProtonMail and why the pairing makes sense.
ProtonMail's protection and its limit
ProtonMail proxies remote images to reduce exposure, but proxying still loads the pixel, so an open can still be inferred by senders that rely on it. It does not block sender-side trackers outright.
What Mailshade does in ProtonMail
- Cancels known tracker requests via declarativeNetRequest before they load.
- Unwraps click-tracking redirect links.
- Shows a red-eye overlay naming the tracker domain.
- Records blocked senders in a per-sender dashboard in IndexedDB.
A privacy-first pairing
Mailshade keeps blocked-events and block-lists in local IndexedDB, sends nothing about your inbox to a server, and is open source under AGPL-3.0 — values that align with why people use ProtonMail in the first place.
Rare coverage
The standalone Gmail-first rivals do not support ProtonMail, so Mailshade is among the few options that block trackers there at all.
FAQ
Doesn't ProtonMail already stop tracking?
ProtonMail proxies remote images, which reduces exposure, but it still loads the pixel and does not block sender trackers outright. Mailshade cancels the request via declarativeNetRequest so the open is never sent.
Do other tracker blockers support ProtonMail?
Largely no. The Gmail-focused tools skip ProtonMail. Mailshade is among the few blockers that cover the ProtonMail web client with network-level blocking.
Does Mailshade fit ProtonMail's privacy model?
Yes. Mailshade is local-first — blocked events stay in IndexedDB on your device with no servers handling your inbox — and open source under AGPL-3.0, so it aligns with why people use ProtonMail.
Is my ProtonMail data sent anywhere by Mailshade?
No. Nothing about your inbox leaves the device. The only outbound request is the Polar checkout for a license, which you can verify in the open AGPL-3.0 source.
How much does the ProtonMail tracker blocker cost?
Pricing is the same across clients: from $3.99 per month or $19 one-time for Founders Lifetime. See mailshade.org.