Writing
Remote images and privacy
Why Heron blocks remote images, how to show them for one email or a sender, and how to change this behavior.
On this page
Many emails contain images hosted elsewhere (“remote images”). Loading them can tell the sender that you opened their email, when, and sometimes from where: that’s how tracking pixels work. By default, Heron blocks them.
Show the images of an email
When images are blocked, a “Remote images are blocked to protect your privacy.” banner appears at the top of the message. Choose:
- Show: loads the images of this email only;
- Always for this sender: adds the sender to your trusted senders. Their images will always load.
Choose the default behavior
- On desktop: Settings → Privacy → Remote images.
- On mobile: Settings → Privacy → Remote images.
| Setting | What happens |
|---|---|
| Always show | Images in every email load as soon as you open it. |
| Ask (default) | Blocked, except for your trusted senders. A banner offers to show them. |
| Always block | Never loaded automatically, not even for your trusted senders. A small Images blocked link shows them for one email. |
This setting is synced across all your devices.
Manage your trusted senders
The Trusted senders list sits right below the setting. It holds addresses (camille@example.com) or whole domains (example.com). Remove a sender to block their images again.
Good to know: with Always block, the list is ignored: images stay blocked for everyone.
Other protections
Blocked images are only part of what Heron does for your privacy. To check that an email really comes from its sender, open Show Headers (⇧⌘H, Ctrl+Shift+H on Windows and Linux): Heron summarizes the SPF, DKIM and DMARC checks and the message’s route. See also Data we store.