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iPhones & iPads have a built in functionality that automatically detects when a date is in text rendered on the device. This can produce unwanted results as when dates are detected, they are automatically turned into an active link, which is blue.
The types of date formats detected are quite wide and often you will need to test on one of these devices, whether or not this will occur, by sending test emails.
To get around this problem, you need to enter special invisible characters in to the HTML of the email you are sending out, to break up the date text and 'trick' the iPhone or iPad into not recognising it as a date and therefore not turning it into a blue link.
The workaround, or trick, is inserting a few invisible characters within your dates, in the HTML code. Users won't see this invisible character, but phones and devices will - which in turn will stop them from automatically detecting dates and underlining them.
How-to Guide
- Open your email message for editing.
- Double-click on the text area which contains your dates, to open it in editing mode.
- On the floating toolbar, click the icon.
- Locate your date in the HTML code.
- Now 'break up' the date using the following HTML character code, which renders an invisible character... ​
- Once sufficiently 'broken up' so that the phone no longer identifies it as a date, you can save & close the email.
When using this inserted character, after saving the HTML, they may appear to have vanished from your code if you go back to look at it. The special characters are, however, still there - they are just invisible.
Example Code
Here is some sample code before, and after the change.
<p>19-20 September 2014</p>
<p>19-​20 Se​ptember 20​14</p>