Storypark sends email notifications to let families and educators know when there's something new: a story, a moment, a comment or a community post. When a service turns on image protection, the children's photos in those emails are replaced with a soft, blurred colour wash instead of the actual photo. That colour wash is the placeholder.

The placeholder sits in exactly the same spot the photo would, so the email looks and reads the same. The only difference is that the child's photo appears as a gentle wash of colour rather than the real image. To see the real photo, you tap through to Storypark.

Email isn't a private space. Messages get forwarded, they sit in inboxes for years, and they pass through mail providers and preview tools that fetch and store whatever images they find. Once a child's photo is in an email, it can travel well beyond the people it was meant for.

Image protection keeps children's photos out of email altogether. The real photo never enters the email, so it can't be forwarded, cached or picked up by other systems. Families and educators tap through to Storypark, where the photo stays safe behind a login.

You don't need to do anything different. When you get an email notification with a placeholder:

The email still tells you what's happened and who it's about, so you can decide what you'd like to open.

When image protection is on, these appear as placeholders in email notifications:

These images are kept and still appear as normal, because they aren't children's media:

Image protection media is off by default. A service or network chooses to turn it on when they want children's photos kept out of email notifications.

To turn image protection on:

An admin educator can enable or disable image protection from your service settings.

Once enabled, every email notification for your service uses placeholders in place of children's photos. Families and educators keep receiving the same notifications; they simply tap through to Storypark to see the images.

There's no extra cost. Image protection is a platform safety feature, not a paid add-on.

Why is the photo in my email blurred?

Your child's service has turned on image protection in emails, a child safety feature that keeps children's photos out of email. The blurred colour wash is a placeholder. The real photo is safe in Storypark; tap through from the email to see it. This is working as intended, not a fault.

Is this a bug?

No. If your service has turned image protection on, blurred placeholders in emails are expected. If you're seeing a broken image (a missing-image icon) rather than a soft colour wash, see the next question.

Why do some older emails show broken images?

This is a separate, pre-existing issue. Images in older Storypark emails were set to expire after seven days, so an email opened more than a week after it was sent could show a broken image. Image protection resolves this going forward: new emails no longer rely on those expiring links. Older emails already in your inbox may still show broken images, but the content is always available in Storypark.

How do I see the real photo?

Tap the notification in the email to open it in Storypark, signing in if you're prompted. The real photos and full content are there.

Does this change how photos look inside Storypark?

No. Image protection in emails only affects email notifications. Everything inside Storypark, including photos, stories, moments and profiles, is unchanged.

Do I need to do anything?

No. You'll keep getting the same notifications. The only difference is that you tap through to Storypark to see children's photos rather than seeing them in the email.

How do we turn this on for our service?

See Enabling image protection in emails, above. Image protection in emails is off by default, and a service or network admin can turn it on.

Is there an extra cost?

No. Image protection in emails is a platform safety feature, available at no extra cost.