There's A Horrifying App That Informs People When And Where You Open Their Email
Think someone is ignoring your emails? Now you can know for sure when, who and where.
By Sadho Ram — 22 Feb 2014, 12:41 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
Your inbox will never look the same ever again because a new Google Chrome browser extension lets Gmail users see when and where users open their email messages
A San Francisco-based startup called Streak has developed a free Google Chrome browser extension that's changing the email game: the extension lets email senders see when recipients open an email.
mashable.com
Using the extension with a Gmail account, senders will be notified when someone opened their email and who opened the email.
If that's not useful — or for some, disturbing — enough, Streak will also tell you where the email was opened. The extension will put the email on a map, giving the user real-time location updates about the recipients.
mashable.com
The message recipient does not need to have the Streak extension installed themselves for it to work
Once installed, users can set Streak's Email Tracking function to be enabled by default. Users know the email is being tracked when the eye icon is orange, highlighted. The feature can also be disabled. However, at no point is the reader of the email informed that they have been tracked
Image via dailymail.co.ukWhen a recipient receives a message from a Streak user, an “eye” icon on the user’s display will turn green to indicate the recipient opened the email.
When an email is read, a popup notification appears in the corner of the sender's inbox to tell them which email has been read, by whom, and on what device, pictured in this promotional image. An eye icon on the right-hand side of the email in the inbox will also turn green
Image via dailymail.co.ukThe plugin is free and easy to install. Once you download it and give it access to your Gmail account, it will start automatically start tracking your outgoing messages. Here's what an email looks like after you've sent it.
If you send an email to multiple people, Streak will tell you how many people have viewed it, but won't necessarily reveal their identities:
Streak doesn’t explain exactly how it is able to track a reader’s location and device details
Streak is currently free because it is in beta, and so you had best make use of it now. However, once the development process is over developers will no doubt charge a small fee.