[EN] BIMI

What is BIMI?

BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is an email standard that displays a sender's brand logo in supported mailboxes. The display is based on verified identity, authentication, and security policies such as DMARC, as well as a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC).

Client compatibility with BIMI

BIMI is currently supported by Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Apple Mail. However, Apple Mail only supports newer systems, namely iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS Ventura 13, and iCloud.com.

Outlook, Web.de/GMX, and Samsung Mail do not currently support BIMI. This means that even if BIMI and VMC are fully configured, no brand logo will be displayed.

Requirements per client

Apple Mail

To display the logo, Apple Mail requires:

DMARC policy (p=quarantine or p=reject)
VMC certificate
SVG logo (BIMI-compliant format)
BIMI DNS entry
Logo publicly accessible via https

Gmail

The following requirements are necessary for Gmail:

VMC or CMC certificate
DMARC (p=quarantine/reject)
BIMI-compliant SVG logo
PEM certificate chain
BIMI TXT entry in the DNS

Yahoo Mail

Yahoo displays logos under the following conditions:

Valid BIMI entry with SVG logo
DMARC policy active
Emails sent as mass mailings (not displayed in private emails)
VMC is optional

VMC certificate (Verified Mark Certificate)

Ein VMC bestätigt, dass das verwendete Logo markenrechtlich geschützt ist und der Absender legitim ist. Aktuelle Anbieter sind DigiCert und Entrust.

Requirements for DigiCert

To obtain a VMC from DigiCert, the following conditions must be met:

DMARC must be set up with at least p=quarantine or p=reject. This protects against email spoofing and enables the receipt of DMARC reports
The logo to be used must be registered as a trademark in an official trademark registry.
The logo must be converted to BIMI SVG format (SVG Tiny profile with square aspect ratio).
The SVG logo and the PEM certificate chain of the VMC must be made publicly available via https. The BIMI DNS record must then be set with the corresponding URLs.

Requirements at Entrust

Entrust requires:

Highly secure validation process
DMARC policy of at least p=quarantine
Registered trademark in a recognized jurisdiction
BIMI-compliant SVG (tiny profile, square)

trademark registration

For a VMC, the logo must be officially protected by trademark law.

Possible registries:

European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)
National trademark office (e.g., Austrian Patent Office)
WIPO Global Brand Database