Privacy Policy

Inbox Hero · Last updated October 27, 2026

Inbox Hero is an AI email assistant operated by mjonesone LLC ("we", "us", "our"). This policy covers what we access when you use it, why, who else handles that data, how long we keep it, and what you can do about it. The short version: we use your mail only to run the features you see, we keep as little of it as we can, we do not sell it, and we do not use it to train AI models.

What we access

• Your sign-in email address. You sign in with Google or with a one-time link sent to your email. Inbox Hero itself has no password.
• Access to the mailboxes you connect.
  • Gmail. When you connect a Google account, Google gives us access tokens for these permissions only:
    • gmail.modify: read your mail, add and remove labels, move mail between your inbox, labels and Trash, insert a message into a conversation (only for the insight panels below, which you can turn off), and save drafts.
    • gmail.send: send an email only when you tap Send, or Confirm on an action you asked the assistant to take. Inbox Hero never sends mail on its own.
    • calendar.readonly: read upcoming events on your calendar so answers and suggestions can take your schedule into account. We cannot create, change, or delete calendar events.
    • userinfo.email and openid: your email address, to identify your account.
  • Other email providers you connect, such as iCloud, Yahoo, AOL, Fastmail, Zoho, GMX, or any mail server that supports IMAP and SMTP. You give us your address and an app-specific password that your provider issues for this purpose, never your main account password. We use it to read, file, and send mail the same way as above. Some features are available on Gmail only.
• Email headers and content. Most features run on headers (sender, recipients, subject, date, mailing-list and authentication headers) and a short snippet. We read a full message only when a feature needs it for that message: when you open it, ask about it, reply to or forward it, or when a safety check (scam, fraud, AI-writing) runs on it. For attachments we look only at file names and types. We never download or open attachment contents.
• Your sent mail, to learn your writing style. We read short excerpts from a sample of emails you sent and turn them into a brief style summary (tone, greeting, sign-off) so drafts sound like you. We keep the summary, not the excerpts.
• A private address book built from your mail. From the names and addresses on mail in your connected mailboxes, we build a contact list for you (name, address, how often you correspond). It powers recipient suggestions, search, and filing decisions (for example, never filing mail from people you write to). We do not request access to Google Contacts or any other contacts service. We never use this list to contact, market to, or enrich the people in it, and we never combine it with other users' data.
• What you tell Inbox Hero. Your conversation with the Ask assistant, facts you share about yourself or your work (for example "Priya is my CFO"), your settings, folder rules, the senders you train it on, and any feedback you send.
• Account and billing data. Your plan and subscription status. If you subscribe, our payment processor (Stripe) collects your payment details. We never see or store your full card number.
• Referral data. If you arrive through someone's referral link, a cookie records the referral code and the channel (for example, a "Sent with Inbox Hero" link in an email) so the right person gets credit. We count clicks on referral links and record which referrer and channel each sign-up came from.
• Ad click data. If you reach our website from one of our ads on Facebook or Instagram, we record which ad campaign brought you, Meta's click ID and browser ID, and, when you sign up, your IP address and browser type, so Meta can tell us which ads lead to sign-ups and subscriptions. See "Advertising measurement" below.
• Technical data. Timestamps, a log of actions taken in your account, error reports, and AI usage counts (tokens and cost per feature), used to run, secure, and fix the service.

How we use it

• Filing. Sort bulk and automated mail (newsletters, shopping, notifications, and mail that can wait) into InboxHero/ labels or folders, and, when the AI Outreach filter is on, file AI-generated cold pitches from strangers into InboxHero/AI Outreach. Important mail and mail from people you know stays in your inbox.
• Safety checks. Check mail for phishing, fraud, and malware signals: sender and authentication headers, the links in the message (checked by their text and address; we do not visit them), attachment names and types, sudden changes to payment details, and an AI review of what the message is asking for. Suspected fraud is moved to an InboxHero/Fraud label, never deleted.
• Insights. Flag mail that deserves a second look (likely scam, check before paying, AI-written pitch, be careful) with a label and in your daily brief, including an estimate, shown as a percentage, of how likely the text was written or polished by AI. These are automated estimates and can be wrong.
• In-email insight panels (on by default for Gmail; you can turn them off in Settings). Gmail does not let an app edit a message. So while panels are on for a mailbox, Inbox Hero inserts a copy of the email into the same conversation with a short panel or one-line note at the top (for example a scam warning, or "likely AI-enhanced"), and moves the original to Gmail's Trash, where Gmail keeps it for about 30 days before deleting it permanently. Turning panels off stops this for new mail.
• Reading mail in Inbox Hero. Formatted (HTML) emails are shown in a sandboxed frame that blocks scripts and forms. As in most mail apps, images in an email may load from the sender's servers when you open it, which can let the sender know it was opened.
• Replying, forwarding, and cleanup. Write draft replies and quick replies in your style; send a reply, reply-all (including the people on Cc), new message, or forward when you choose to; archive, move, or trash the mail you choose, with Undo to bring it back from Trash.
• Ask. Answer questions about your mail and schedule, find messages, and summarize them. The assistant can propose actions (reply, forward, draft, send, archive, move, trash), but nothing happens until you review it and tap Confirm.
• Dates. Spot dates and events in important mail and suggest adding them to your calendar. Approving one opens a pre-filled Google Calendar page; the event is saved only if you save it there yourself.
• Daily brief. Email you a short daily summary of what was filed, flagged, and coming up. You can turn it off from the link in the email or in Settings.
• Referrals and invites. Run the referral program: credit referrers, send invitation emails to the addresses you enter, suggest people to invite from those you email most, and add the "Sent with Inbox Hero" line described below.
• Running the business. Billing, support, security, abuse prevention, fixing bugs, and improving the product based on how features are used and the feedback you send.

We process this data because you asked us to provide the service (performance of our agreement with you), with your consent where we ask for it (such as connecting a mailbox or turning on a feature), and for our legitimate interest in keeping the service secure and working.

"Sent with Inbox Hero" and your referral link

Email you send through Inbox Hero (quick replies, replies, forwards, and new messages) ends with a short line, "Sent with Inbox Hero", that links to your personal referral link. This is on by default, and you can turn it off at any time in Settings. When someone clicks it we record the click, and if they sign up we credit you.

Inner Circle, verified email and scheduling

Verified email. For mail sent from a connected Gmail mailbox we store a one-way fingerprint (a hash) of the message's Message-ID, of each recipient's address and of the sender's address, never the content or subject, for 30 days. When another Inbox Hero member receives that message, we match the fingerprint and add an "InboxHero/Verified" label to it in their Gmail, so they know it really came from your mailbox. If you turn on the "Verified sender" line, emails Inbox Hero sends for you include a link where anyone can see which address sent it and when.

Inner Circle. You can add up to 8 people. We store the addresses you add, and which weeks you and each of them emailed each other (dates only, read from your own mail), to keep their mail in your inbox and show reply streaks. Your circle is visible only to you; a member you add sees that you added them, nobody else does. We never email the people you add. If you choose to invite one, you review the message and it is sent from your own mailbox, to that one person, only when you tap Send.

Find a time. If you turn on your scheduling link, visitors see open 30-minute slots from your Google Calendar, never event titles, attendees or details. When someone picks a time we store their name, email and note so you can accept (a confirmation goes from your own mailbox) or decline.

Wrapped card. A card you choose to share shows counts only (time saved, emails filed, scams blocked) and your first name.

All of this is deleted when you delete your account.

AI processing

To classify, check, summarize, and draft, we send the relevant email text to large language models through OpenRouter, a routing service. Our main model today is DeepSeek's chat model, with OpenAI's GPT-4o mini as a backup when it is unavailable. If OpenRouter itself is unavailable, the request goes directly to Anthropic's Claude Haiku model, which does not keep or train on what we send. OpenRouter may run these models through different hosting providers. The models may change over time, and we will keep this section current. We send the minimum needed for each task, the text is used only to return a result to us, and email content is treated as untrusted input: instructions inside an email cannot command the assistant or reach anyone else's data.

We do not use your email, your Google user data, or anything else from your mailboxes to train or improve AI models, ours or anyone else's.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal information. We never give your mail, your contacts, your email address, or anything we get from Google or your other mail providers to advertisers. These service providers process data for us, only to provide their service to us:

The email providers you connect (Google, Apple iCloud, Yahoo, AOL, Fastmail, Zoho, GMX, or your own mail server) are your providers, not ours. Inbox Hero reads and sends through them on your instruction, under their own privacy policies. We may also disclose information when required by law or valid legal process, to protect the safety, rights, or security of users or the public, or as part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, in which case the recipient must honor this policy.

Security

• Access tokens and app passwords are encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM).
• All connections use TLS. Sessions use signed, httpOnly cookies with CSRF protection. Admin access requires two-factor authentication.
• Your data is scoped to your account and isolated from other users.
• Inbox Hero's Gmail access has been reviewed and approved by Google, including an independent security assessment (CASA).

How long we keep it

• Email content. We do not keep a copy of your mailbox. Full message text is fetched to do a task and is not stored afterward. What we keep is lightweight: classifications and filing history (sender, subject, category), insight verdicts, suggested dates, your contact list, and your writing-style summary. Reply drafts being prepared may be held in memory for up to 12 hours.
• Ask conversation history and the facts you told the assistant are kept so the conversation carries across your devices, until you delete your account or ask us to clear them.
• Disconnecting a mailbox deletes its stored tokens or app password and the data we derived from it (classifications, rules, contacts, insights, and date suggestions).
• Deleting your account (in Settings, or by emailing us) cancels any subscription and deletes your account and the data above. Feedback you sent and AI usage counts are kept with your name and account removed. Billing records that Stripe must keep for tax and accounting stay with Stripe under its own policies.
• Backups and logs. Encrypted database backups are kept for 14 days, so deleted data is gone from backups within 14 days. Operational and error logs are kept only as long as needed to secure and fix the service.
• Inbox Hero never permanently deletes mail from your mailbox. Leaving Inbox Hero does not remove the labels and folders it created; you can remove them in your mail app.

Your rights and choices

• Turn individual features on or off in Settings: filing, fraud checks, the AI Outreach filter, insight panels, the "Sent with Inbox Hero" line, and the daily brief.
• Revoke Gmail access at any time from your Google Account's third-party access page, or revoke an app password with your provider.
• Ask us for a copy of your data, or to correct or delete it.
• California residents (CCPA/CPRA): you have the right to know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose; to delete it; to correct it; and not to be treated differently for using these rights. We do not sell personal information. The advertising measurement with Meta described below may count as "sharing" under California law; you can opt out by turning on Global Privacy Control in your browser (we honor it automatically) or by emailing us. We use sensitive personal information only to provide the service.
• EEA, UK, and Swiss residents (GDPR): you also have the right to restrict or object to processing, to data portability, to withdraw consent at any time, and to complain to your local data protection authority.

To use any of these rights, email us at the address below. We will respond within the time the law requires, and within 30 days for deletion.

Email from us

We send the service email you need (sign-in links, account and billing notices) and the daily brief, which you can turn off. Because mjonesone LLC also makes other products (such as Caldera Social, Human Architecture, and ICONS), we may occasionally tell you about them by email. That email comes from us; we never give your address to anyone else to do it, and every such email has an unsubscribe link that does not affect your service email.

Cookies

We use a signed session cookie to keep you signed in; short-lived cookies to complete sign-in safely and return you to the page you were on; a referral cookie (30 days) to credit the person who referred you; a campaign cookie (90 days) that remembers which of our own ads or links brought you here, so we can tell which campaigns work; a Meta click cookie (90 days) when you arrive from one of our Facebook or Instagram ads; and local browser storage for preferences such as light or dark mode.

Advertising measurement

We advertise Inbox Hero on Facebook and Instagram. To learn which ads work, our public marketing pages (the home page, pricing, and our articles) load the Meta Pixel, which sets Meta's own cookies and tells Meta that the page was viewed. The pixel is not used inside the Inbox Hero app, during setup, or on any page that shows your mail. When someone who came from one of our ads signs up, starts a trial, or pays, our server tells Meta through its Conversions API, sending Meta's click and browser IDs, the IP address and browser details from sign-up, a coded account number, and for payments the amount. We never send your email address (not even in coded form), the content of your mail, your contacts, or any data we get from Google or your other mail providers. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we do not load the pixel or send these events. You can also manage ad settings in your Facebook or Instagram account, or email us to opt out.

Children

Inbox Hero is not for anyone under 16, and we do not knowingly collect data from children. If you believe a child has used it, contact us and we will delete the data.

Where your data is processed

Inbox Hero is run from the United States and stores data there. Our providers may process data in other countries. By using Inbox Hero you understand that your information will be handled in the United States under this policy.

Changes

When we change this policy we update the date at the top. For material changes, especially any new use of your email data, we will tell you in the app or by email before the change applies to you.

Contact

Privacy questions, data requests, or account deletion: schoettle@gmail.com. mjonesone LLC, California, USA.