So You Installed LinkedIn Intro and Now Want to Remove It? Here's How

Just the other day we told you about a new product from LinkedIn called Intro, in short when you install LinkedIn Intro it adds people’s employment information (via LinkedIn) directly into the Mail app on iOS.  So for example, if I were to email you and you had LinkedIn Intro installed on your iPhone or iPad, you would see that I’m the founder/CEO of BestTechie along with the photo on my LinkedIn profile and even a quick way to add me as a connection.

There is no doubt that it is somewhat nifty to see who you are receiving emails from and even have a quick way to add them as a connection, however, the way LinkedIn has gone about implementing Intro in Mail on iOS isn’t like other apps. Because LinkedIn has to embed a piece a code into your email for the contact information to appear (something Apple doesn’t allow an app to do in a different app), the app has an unfamiliar install process and an even weirder removal process.

The unfamiliar install process installs a provisioning profile on your device that tells your Mail application to contact LinkedIn’s servers, which in turn request the mail from Gmail.  Once it has the email, LinkedIn adds the profile information of the sender and routes it on to the target recipient.  In normal circumstances, without Intro installed, the iOS mail application contacts a server – such as Gmail – directly.

It’s also worth noting that because LinkedIn is passing the mail through its servers the installation of LinkedIn Intro will add a new mailbox to your Mail app.  If you have already preconfigured your Mail app to use the email you plan to use with Intro, during the installation of Intro it will recommend you disable your old mailbox via the Settings app in iOS under the Mail, Contacts, and Calendars section so you don’t receive duplicate emails.

How to remove LinkedIn Intro

Nonetheless, if you’ve installed LinkedIn Intro and decided that you don’t like it or don’t want it anymore, uninstalling the app isn’t as simple as you may think. When you install an app from the App Store you can simply hold down on the app until the little “x” appears for you to remove/uninstall it — that isn’t the case for LinkedIn Intro.

In order to remove LinkedIn Intro, go to the Settings in iOS, go into General, then scroll down to the Profiles section, enter the Profiles section, and look for the following profile: Intro (youremail@address.here), enter that profile by tapping on it, and then you will see a red button that says “Remove” tap that, a new dialog box will popup titled “Remove Profile” tap on the Remove button and then it will uninstall LinkedIn Intro from your device.  That should do it.

Once you have removed LinkedIn Intro be sure to re-enable your old mailbox by going to the Settings and the Mail, Contacts, and Calendars section, finding your old mailbox, enter your old mailbox, and be sure to toggle the “Mail” option to on.

LinkedIn addresses Intro privacy concerns

LinkedIn has cleared some of the air after privacy concerns were raised stating that all information transferred between servers was “fully encrypted” and that mail accounts are “not affected in any way.” Intro software, it said, is designed so that LinkedIn is never in possession of any unencrypted email usernames or passwords. Rather, that information is stored in an encrypted form on users’ iPhones.

Additionally, LinkedIn said it does not currently scan emails for any information other than the email addresses of the recipient and sender, and deletes them almost immediately from their servers.  However, while that is the current situation, LinkedIn did not promise that its privacy policies for Intro would stay the same forever, but did say it would notify members of changes if and when they occur.