Email Tracker

Get notified when your email gets read by using a tracking pixel and a web server.

How it works

We send an email with a 1x1 transparent tracking pixel in it. When the receiver opens the email. their browser will send a GET request to our server, which will process this and send us a text message alert that our email was opened.

How to DIY

1. Setup

1. Setup your webserver with Amazon AWS and nginx: https://medium.com/@nathan_149/install-nginx-on-amazon-ec2-in-5-minutes-get-a-web-server-up-and-running-3516fd06b76
2. Download this git repo

2. Twilio

On the webserver:

1. Make a Twilio account

2. In shell, edit env varliables with:

   export TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID="YOUR_SID"

   export TWILIO_ACCOUNT_AUTH="YOUR_AUTH"

based on your respective SID and AUTH from Twilio

3. Server Listener

On the web server:

1. Edit TO_NUM and FROM_NUM variables to be your to and from numbers.

2. Compile listener with:

   javac -cp .:twilio-8.9.0-jar-with-dependencies.jar EmailTracker.java

3. Run listener on port 10008 (up to you) with:

   java -cp .:twilio-8.9.0-jar-with-dependencies.jar EmailTracker 10008

4. Send email

On any device:

1. Fill in credentials in cred.py
2. Change the LINK of the tracking pixel to be your server's IP address
3. Edit email subject and text
4. Send the email by running python3 send_email.py

5. Done!

Now when the receiver opens the email, you'll get a text letting you know that it was opened!

Chrome Extension

If you want to track your emails, you can also use this free Chrome extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/email-tracker/bnompdfnhdbgdaoanapncknhmckenfog