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Privacy Policy

ThreeStrands is built so that your mail never passes through us. This policy explains what the app keeps on your computer, which services it talks to on your behalf, and how to remove it all.

Effective

In Short

  • No ThreeStrands servers. There is no ThreeStrands account, backend, or relay. Your mail goes directly between your computer and your mail provider, using Gmail or IMAP/SMTP.
  • No analytics or telemetry. The app and this website send us nothing about you or how you use them.
  • Your data lives on your computer. Mail is cached locally, and sign-in credentials are kept in your operating system's credential store.
  • Optional features start off. AI, encrypted sync, and remote images connect only to services you choose, after you turn them on.

Who We Are

ThreeStrands is a desktop email client published by OpenArc LLC (“we”, “us”), a Pennsylvania limited liability company. This policy covers the ThreeStrands application and this website.

What We Collect

We do not collect, receive, or store your personal information. ThreeStrands has no account system and does not send usage analytics, telemetry, or crash reports to us. Everything described below stays on your computer or travels directly between your computer and a service you connect.

If you contact us — for example by opening a GitHub issue — we receive whatever you choose to include, and GitHub's privacy terms apply to that platform.

Stored on Your Device

To work quickly and offline, the app keeps the following in its local data folder:

  • Mail cache — conversations, message bodies, labels, attachment details, and a search index, in a local SQLite database.
  • Your work — drafts, queued and scheduled outgoing mail, scheduled-send status summaries, tasks, goals, snippets, Split Inboxes, and settings.
  • Contacts — profiles you save, edit, or import, including notes, photos, groups, birthdays, and Keep in Touch reminders, plus a record of who you have corresponded with, built from your mail.
  • Attachments — files you attach while composing, and temporary copies of attachments you open, which are cleared after 24 hours.
  • AI records — cached AI results and daily request, token, and estimated-cost totals. Usage totals do not contain message content.
  • Reading activity — local signals, such as which senders you open and archive, that tune the app on your computer. They are never sent anywhere.
  • Backups and logs — automatic database backups used for recovery, and diagnostic logs. Logs can include email addresses, error messages, and fragments of AI responses.
  • Crash reports — if you opt in, redacted crash reports are stored locally so you can review and share them yourself.

Google sign-in tokens, IMAP/SMTP passwords or app passwords, AI provider keys, and sync keys are stored in your operating system's credential store (Keychain on macOS, Credential Manager on Windows, or Secret Service on Linux) — never in a plain file. You can set a retention period in Settings to remove older cached mail automatically.

Services the App Contacts

ThreeStrands connects directly from your computer to the services below, and only to do what you ask. Each service handles your data under its own privacy policy.

Google
Gmail, to sync, search, and send your mail, and Google Calendar if you connect it. Searches that reach beyond your local cache send your query to Gmail.
Your IMAP/SMTP server
IMAP reads and synchronizes your mail and folders; SMTP submits outgoing messages. Provider searches beyond the local cache send your query to the mail server where supported. Connections use TLS and the credentials you supply. With Proton Mail Bridge, the app connects to the Bridge running on your computer, which communicates with Proton Mail. Google Calendar is a separate, optional connection; IMAP does not grant calendar or address-book access.
Your AI provider
Only if you configure one. See Optional AI Features.
Image hosts
Remote images in email are blocked by default. When you load them, your computer fetches them directly from the sender's image host, which can see your IP address. No cookies or browser identifiers are sent.
Mailing list senders
When you choose Unsubscribe, the app sends the sender's standard one-click unsubscribe request, or opens your mail app or browser to complete it.
Your sync storage
Only if you enable encrypted sync. See Export and Sync.

Links you open in an email open in your default browser. The app does not fetch link previews, avatars, or favicons, and it does not check for updates in the background.

Google User Data

When you add a Gmail account, you grant ThreeStrands these permissions:

  • Gmail (gmail.modify) — read, send, label, archive, and trash your mail, and manage labels.
  • Google Calendar (calendar.readonly, calendar.events) — an optional, separate grant to show your calendars and free time, create, edit, or delete events you manage, and reply to invitations. When you create an event with invitees, Google emails them the invitation.
  • Basic profile (openid, email) — your email address, to identify the account.

Google user data is used only to provide the features you see in the app. It is stored on your computer, is never transferred to us, and is never sold or used for advertising. It reaches a third party only when you direct it there — for example, by using an AI feature with a provider you configured. No person at OpenArc reads your Google data.

ThreeStrands' use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Optional AI Features

AI is off until you choose a provider (such as OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, Fireworks, or a compatible endpoint you specify) and enter your own API key. Even then, a conversation is sent only when you click a button marked with sparkles, or when you turn on automatic briefs. Requests go directly from your computer to that provider under your account and its terms. We never see them.

Depending on the feature you use, a request can include:

  • The subject, senders, dates, and text of the conversation you are working in, for summaries, briefs, reply drafts, and Thread Chat.
  • Your time zone, and the titles of your goals and open tasks, so suggestions fit your plans.
  • Other conversations from your mailbox, only when you choose Search all mail in Thread Chat.
  • Text from attachments you select.
  • Up to a dozen recent emails with a person, when you ask to enrich their contact profile.
  • The draft subject, written text, and optional goal shown in the preview you approve for draft review. Recipient fields, separately stored quoted history, and attachments are excluded from that review request.

Proactive briefs are a separate opt-in. When enabled, qualifying conversations are sent to your provider after you stay on them. Suggested tasks, events, contact changes, and drafts are never applied or sent until you review them.

Checks for likely compose mistakes run locally without AI. Draft-review suggestions change your message only when you apply them, and you can undo a revision. Applying a body revision replaces its formatting; drafts with inline images or quoted text keep those protected and require manual body edits.

Export and Sync

Settings export creates a file encrypted with a password you choose. It contains preferences, account display details, Split Inboxes, snippets, and saved contacts, including groups, birthdays, and Keep in Touch settings. It never includes mail, drafts, queued sends, scheduled-send summaries, or credentials.

Encrypted sync is off by default. When you enable it, tasks, goals, saved contacts, contact groups, snippets, Split Inboxes, portable preferences, account and calendar display details and selections, device names, and scheduled-send summaries are encrypted on your computer before being stored in a location you choose: a shared folder, S3-compatible storage, or an IPFS service. That provider stores only encrypted data, but can see file sizes and timing. Mail, drafts, queued send payloads, and credentials never sync. Keep your recovery phrase safe — we cannot recover it.

Scheduled-send summaries include the sending account, subject, chosen time and timezone, owning computer, and last reported delivery status. Message bodies, recipients (including Bcc), and attachments are excluded. Only the computer where a message was scheduled can send, reschedule, or cancel it; other computers show a read-only summary. A stale summary does not establish whether delivery succeeded or failed.

Contact CSV and vCard exports are unencrypted files of saved profiles. They omit photos, groups, Keep in Touch settings, and correspondence history. Recipient-suggestion suppression preferences stay on this computer and are excluded from exports and sync.

This Website

This website uses no cookies, analytics, or third-party scripts, and its fonts are served from the site itself. It is hosted on GitHub Pages, and GitHub may log technical information such as your IP address for security and operations, as described in the GitHub Privacy Statement. Downloads are served by GitHub Releases.

Removing Your Data

You are in control of all of it:

  • Remove an account in Settings to delete its cached mail, tasks, and mail credentials from your computer.
  • Revoke access at any time from your Google Account permissions. Removing an account in the app does not revoke the grant with Google.
  • Remove everything by deleting the app's data and log folders after uninstalling. This removes saved contacts, backups, and logs, which can outlive a removed account. Credentials can be removed from your operating system's credential store under entries beginning with app.threestrands.
  • Remove synced data by leaving the sync group and deleting the files in your chosen storage location.

Since we hold no personal data about you, there is nothing for us to export or delete on request — but we are happy to help you remove data from your own devices.

Security

Connections use TLS. Email content is displayed in a locked-down sandbox that cannot run scripts or load remote content on its own. Exports and sync use modern authenticated encryption. No system is perfectly secure, so keep your computer and its user account protected.

Children

ThreeStrands is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone.

Changes

If the app's data handling changes, we will update this page and its effective date before the change ships.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Open an issue on GitHub or reach OpenArc LLC through the project repository.