Delivered is not the same as inbox. Receiving servers accept a message, then file it in the inbox, Promotions, or spam. FlareMail tests every send: it embeds unique signals, copies the message to your seed inboxes, and shows a health badge on that Sent-folder copy.
Signals in mail you send
Each send gets a unique token in an X-Flare-Signal header, a hidden 1×1 pixel hosted on the FlareMail Worker, and a flare-place: marker in the body. When Gmail’s image proxy fetches that pixel, FlareMail records a Gmail inbox-correlated open. Outlook and Yahoo proxies are counted the same way.
- Gmail / Outlook / Yahoo pixel — strong inbox signal. Those apps usually do not fetch images from spam.
- Apple Mail Privacy Protection — ignored. Apple prefetches images even from junk, so it cannot prove inbox.
- Spam complaint (ARF) — the recipient or provider marked the message as spam after delivery.
- No signal — unread, images blocked, or no seeds configured. Add a seed inbox so every send is tested against Gmail/Outlook spam.
Seed inboxes (the reliable spam test)
Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo do not auto-forward mail that landed in spam. So if a test message you send to a Gmail seed is forwarded into FlareMail, it hit the inbox — not junk. Promotions and Updates still count as inbox.
- Create a seed addressUse a Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo account you control. Don’t use a real customer’s mailbox.
- Forward it to FlareMailIn Gmail: Settings → See all settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP. Forward to one of your FlareMail addresses. Confirm the verification message in FlareMail.
- Add the seed in FlareMailOpen Settings → Inbox placement, paste the Gmail/Outlook/Yahoo address, and save. After that, every send is copied to the seed (hidden Bcc) and tested automatically.
- Optional dedicated probeClick Test to send a standalone probe from your domain. Setup Doctor shows Inbox, Waiting, or Missing / spam. You do not need this for ordinary mail — Sent already shows health per message.
Reading the results
- Inbox — the forwarded seed copy arrived, the recipient confirmed the link, or Gmail/Outlook/Yahoo fetched the pixel.
- Checking — this send was copied to your seeds; forwarding can take a few minutes (up to ~45).
- Spam likely — no seed forward or inbox pixel before the timeout, or a spam complaint.
- Sent-folder badge — every Sent row and the message preview show that copy’s health. Recipients never see the seed Bcc.