BIMI
BIMI lets supporting inboxes such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Apple Mail display your brand's certified logo next to authenticated email once DMARC is at enforcement.
BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is an email standard that lets supporting inboxes display a brand's certified logo next to authenticated messages.
Definition and examples
BIMI is a DNS TXT record published at default._bimi.yourdomain.com that points mailbox providers to a square SVG version of your logo (SVG Tiny PS profile) and, where the mailbox provider requires it, a mark certificate issued for that logo. When a message passes DMARC, supporting inboxes such as Gmail, Yahoo, Fastmail, and Apple Mail can display the logo next to the sender name. Whether it appears is each provider's decision. Apple’s BIMI support documentation covers iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS Ventura 13 or later, and iCloud.com. The recipient’s mailbox provider must also meet the requirements.
BIMI only works on top of DMARC at enforcement: your policy must be p=quarantine or p=reject, not p=none. Google’s BIMI setup requirements also call for pct at 100 and a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) or Common Mark Certificate (CMC). Gmail shows its verified checkmark only for senders with a VMC.
Why it matters
A verified logo makes your messages recognizable in the inbox and shows that the domain has DMARC enforcement in place. The bigger win is often the prerequisite: reaching DMARC enforcement hardens your domain against spoofing whether or not the logo ever displays.
Common mistakes
A common mistake is publishing a BIMI record while DMARC still sits at p=none, which does not meet the BIMI requirement. Others include using a logo file that is not the SVG Tiny PS profile, or expecting the logo to appear in Gmail without a VMC or CMC. If you are starting from scratch, publish a p=none record first, use the aggregate reports to confirm every legitimate sender passes aligned SPF or DKIM, then move to quarantine or reject. The DMARC generator can produce the record at each step.