diff --git a/boot.php b/boot.php
index 1ab00f84b8..2160b2548c 100644
--- a/boot.php
+++ b/boot.php
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ ini_set('pcre.backtrack_limit', 250000);
 
 define ( 'FRIENDIKA_VERSION',      '2.2.1027' );
 define ( 'DFRN_PROTOCOL_VERSION',  '2.21'    );
-define ( 'DB_UPDATE_VERSION',      1070      );
+define ( 'DB_UPDATE_VERSION',      1071      );
 
 define ( 'EOL',                    "<br />\r\n"     );
 define ( 'ATOM_TIME',              'Y-m-d\TH:i:s\Z' );
diff --git a/database.sql b/database.sql
index df99ca7f6c..5187f3c3ec 100644
--- a/database.sql
+++ b/database.sql
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `mail` (
   `from-url` char(255) NOT NULL,
   `contact-id` char(255) NOT NULL,
   `title` char(255) NOT NULL,
-  `body` text NOT NULL,
+  `body` mediumtext NOT NULL,
   `seen` tinyint(1) NOT NULL,
   `replied` tinyint(1) NOT NULL,
   `uri` char(255) NOT NULL,
diff --git a/include/notifier.php b/include/notifier.php
index 4b97311f65..9c194d962c 100644
--- a/include/notifier.php
+++ b/include/notifier.php
@@ -238,6 +238,8 @@ function notifier_run($argv, $argc){
 	if($cmd === 'mail') {
 		$notify_hub = false;  // mail is  not public
 
+		$body = fix_private_photos($item['body'],$owner['uid']);
+
 		$atom .= replace_macros($mail_template, array(
 			'$name'         => xmlify($owner['name']),
 			'$profile_page' => xmlify($owner['url']),
@@ -245,7 +247,7 @@ function notifier_run($argv, $argc){
 			'$item_id'      => xmlify($item['uri']),
 			'$subject'      => xmlify($item['title']),
 			'$created'      => xmlify(datetime_convert('UTC', 'UTC', $item['created'] . '+00:00' , ATOM_TIME)),
-			'$content'      => xmlify($item['body']),
+			'$content'      => xmlify($body),
 			'$parent_id'    => xmlify($item['parent-uri'])
 		));
 	}
diff --git a/update.php b/update.php
index 306731a139..1876629017 100644
--- a/update.php
+++ b/update.php
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <?php
 
-define( 'UPDATE_VERSION' , 1070 );
+define( 'UPDATE_VERSION' , 1071 );
 
 /**
  *
@@ -565,3 +565,10 @@ function update_1069() {
 	q("ALTER TABLE `fsuggest` ADD `request` CHAR( 255 ) NOT NULL AFTER `url` ");
 	q("ALTER TABLE `fcontact` ADD `request` CHAR( 255 ) NOT NULL AFTER `photo` ");
 }
+
+// mail body needs to accomodate private photos
+
+function update_1070() {
+	q("ALTER TABLE `mail` CHANGE `body` `body` MEDIUMTEXT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci NOT NULL ");
+}
+