How to Format Rich Link Previews in iOS 16 Mail

With the release of iOS 16, Apple introduced rich link previews to the native Mail app, replacing standard raw URLs with interactive visual cards. This overview explains how these previews are automatically rendered using website metadata, what visual components make up the preview card, and how you can switch between rich cards and standard text links when composing an email.

When you paste a valid URL into the body of an email in iOS 16 Mail, the app automatically fetches the target webpage's Open Graph (OG) or Twitter Card metadata. Instead of displaying a plain hyperlink, Mail renders a boxed preview container designed to give recipients immediate context regarding the destination content.

A standard rich link preview in iOS 16 Mail consists of three primary elements:

  • Thumbnail Image: Mail pulls the primary featured image defined by the page's metadata (og:image) and displays it across the top portion of the card.
  • Page Title: Directly beneath the image, the page's meta title (og:title) is rendered in bold text.
  • Domain Name: The root domain (for example, apple.com) is displayed at the bottom of the card in a subdued gray font, verifying the destination source for the reader.

To control how a link appears in your message, iOS 16 provides an inline toggle menu:

  1. Convert to a Plain Link: Tap the small downward-facing arrow icon in the upper-right corner of the rich preview card. Select Convert to Plain Link from the contextual menu. This collapses the visual card into a compact, underlined text hyperlink showing the page title.
  2. Convert Back to a Rich Preview: If a link is currently formatted as plain text, tap the hyperlink, tap the downward arrow that appears above the selection, and select Show Link Preview to restore the visual card.
  3. Display as Raw URL: If you want to show the full web address (e.g., https://...) instead of the title text, paste the link, convert it to a plain link, and manually edit the anchor text, or insert the URL between trailing spaces to bypass automatic card generation.

Under the hood, iOS 16 Mail encodes these rich previews using clean, responsive HTML and CSS tables. If an email recipient opens the message in an older client or a third-party app that restricts external media or rich styling, the preview gracefully falls back to a readable, standard anchor link.