Add an HTML signature to Apple Mail on Mac and iPhone

You have an email signature as HTML, from your company, a generator, or ChatGPT. In Mail on your Mac, the signature settings show a preview to type into, with no field for code. On iPhone, the signature box is plain text. Here is what each one takes, and how to get the formatted signature in.

Apple's Mail User Guide and iPhone User Guide pages quoted here were read on November 4, 2026.

What Mail takes on each device

So the Mac takes your formatted signature, pasted. The iPhone doesn't, in a way Apple supports.

First, open the HTML in Safari and copy it

Mail formats text, so the signature must be drawn before you copy it:

• A .html file: open it in Safari (Control-click it, then Open With → Safari). See how to open an HTML file on a Mac if it opens as code.
• Code in a chat: paste it into Convika's free HTML viewer in Safari. Click Paste code, paste it, and click Show the page. Nothing is uploaded.

Then click beside the signature, press ⌘+A, and press ⌘+C.

On November 4, 2026, we ran that copy step from the viewer in WebKit, the engine Safari runs on (Playwright's build on macOS 27.2), and in Chrome 156. The signature was a table with inline styles, a logo at an https:// link, and 2 links. Pasted into a rich-text editor, the table, styles, logo link, and links all came along. We didn't paste it into Mail itself.

Add the signature to Mail on a Mac in 5 steps

1. Open Signatures

In Mail, choose Mail → Settings, then click Signatures.

2. Choose the account

In the left column, select the email account the signature is for. Apple: "If All Signatures is selected when you create a signature, you need to drag the new signature to the desired email account before you can use it."

3. Add a signature

Click + below the middle column and type a name. The name is what you'll see in the Signature pop-up menu when you write a message.

4. Turn off Always match my default message font, then paste

In the Signatures settings, deselect Always match my default message font. With it on, Apple says, "the selected signature uses the message font specified in Fonts & Colors settings", which replaces the fonts in your signature. Then select any text already in the preview on the right and paste with ⌘+V to replace it.

5. Choose it, close Settings, and send a test

From Choose Signature, select it as the account's default. Close the Settings window. Write a message to an address you read in another app, and check that the logo shows and the links open.

If you use iCloud Drive with Mail turned on in its options, Apple says your signatures "are available on your other Mac computers". This guide leaves out the old method of editing signature files in your Library folder: Apple doesn't describe it, and it wasn't checked on current macOS.

iPhone and iPad Mail

Go to Settings, tap Apps, then Mail, then Signature (below Composing). Tap the text field and type. Apple's guide is plain: "You can only use text in your Mail signatures." If you have more than one account, tap Per Account to give each one its own.

People do paste a formatted signature into that box, copied from an email that has it. Apple doesn't support that, so a logo or table may or may not survive. Send yourself a test before you rely on it.

Why images disappear

• The logo is a placeholder. AI-written signatures often link to https://example.com/logo.png or a made-up address. Put in the real link before you copy.
• The logo is a file on your Mac. A path like logo.png opens only on your Mac. Use a PNG or JPG at a public https:// link, such as the logo on your website.
• You dragged an image file into Mail's preview. Apple lets you do this ("Drag an image into the preview area"), but the picture then goes inside each email rather than loading from a link, and how a recipient's app shows it is up to that app. Test it, or use a logo at a public link.
• The recipient's app holds back pictures. Classic Outlook for Windows, for one, blocks pictures from the internet until the reader allows them. That's the reader's setting, not your signature.

For the logo on iPhone, Fluxenic's free Email Signature Generator, on Blink Brief, builds a signature with a linked logo for Gmail and Outlook, and Blink Brief's guide to a signature with a logo in iPhone Mail has the steps for sending it from your iPhone. Fluxenic is the company that runs Convika.

Frequently asked questions

Can you use an HTML signature in Apple Mail?

Yes on a Mac, as a pasted, formatted signature. Mail has no field for HTML code. Open the HTML in Safari, copy the signature it draws, and paste it into Mail → Settings → Signatures, with Always match my default message font turned off. On iPhone, Apple says Mail signatures are text only.

Why does my Apple Mail signature change font?

Always match my default message font is on. Apple: "The selected signature uses the message font specified in Fonts & Colors settings." Deselect it in Mail → Settings → Signatures and paste the signature again.

How do I add an HTML signature to Mail on iPhone?

Apple supports text only there: "You can only use text in your Mail signatures." Go to Settings → Apps → Mail → Signature and type it. A formatted signature pasted from an email isn't something Apple supports, so send yourself a test. For a logo, the Gmail or Outlook app is the more reliable route.

Does my Mac Mail signature sync to my iPhone?

Apple describes signature sync between Macs, through iCloud Drive. The iPhone has its own text-only signature under Settings → Apps → Mail → Signature.

Sources

• Apple Mail User Guide: Edit text and email signatures in Mail on Mac (read November 4, 2026)
• Apple Mail User Guide: Change Signatures settings in Mail on Mac (read November 4, 2026)
• Apple iPhone User Guide: Change your Mail settings on iPhone (read November 4, 2026)
• Microsoft Support: Block or unblock automatic picture downloads in classic Outlook (read November 4, 2026)