Privacy Policy

Last updated: 23 June 2025  ·  Effective from: 19 June 2025

Version 1.1 Updated: 23 June 2025 Applies to: all ZeroIn apps
The short version: ZeroIn is a local-first application. Your emails stay on your device. We do not have a server that receives, stores, or processes your email content. We do not sell your data. We do not serve ads. This policy explains exactly what information the app handles and why.

1 Overview

ZeroIn ("we", "our", "the app") is an email client application developed and published by Bartosz Wójcik. This Privacy Policy explains how ZeroIn handles information when you install and use our application on your device.

ZeroIn is designed with a privacy-first, local-first architecture. The application operates by connecting directly from your device to your chosen email provider (such as Google, Microsoft, or any IMAP server). Your email data is stored locally on your device and is not routed through our servers.

Key principle ZeroIn processes your emails entirely on your device. We do not operate email relay servers, we do not receive copies of your messages, and we do not have access to your inbox.

2 Data we collect

ZeroIn distinguishes between data that stays on your device and information that may be transmitted elsewhere.

Data stored locally on your device

The following information is stored on your device only, in a local database created by the app. This data never leaves your device unless you explicitly export it:

  • Email messages, threads, and attachments downloaded from your email provider
  • Email account credentials (stored securely using platform keychain/keystore services)
  • OAuth access tokens and refresh tokens for Gmail and Outlook API accounts
  • Application settings and preferences
  • Contacts built from your email interactions
  • Email notes, labels, and project metadata
  • Signatures, templates, and custom themes

Data we do not collect

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We do not collect or receive: your email content, attachments, contacts, account credentials, or any personally identifiable information. There is no telemetry, analytics, or usage tracking in ZeroIn.

Crash reports (optional, future)

A future version of ZeroIn may offer an optional crash reporting feature. If implemented, it will be strictly opt-in, clearly labelled, and any reports will be anonymised before transmission. This policy will be updated before such a feature is introduced.

Data type Stored where Sent to us? Purpose
Email messages & threads Your device No Offline access, search
Account credentials Device keychain No Authenticate with email provider
OAuth tokens Device keychain No Authenticate with Gmail/Outlook API
App settings Your device No Remember preferences
Contacts Your device No Auto-complete, trusted senders; for Gmail accounts, optionally synced from/to Google Contacts
Usage analytics No Not collected
Advertising identifiers No Not used

3 How data is stored

ZeroIn stores all email data in an Isar database on your local device. The database is located in a platform-appropriate directory:

  • Windows: %APPDATA%\ZeroIn\databases\
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/ZeroIn/databases/
  • Linux: ~/.local/share/zeroin/databases/
  • Android: App-specific storage directory (not accessible to other apps)
  • iOS: App Documents directory (iCloud backup applies)

Optional encryption

ZeroIn provides optional AES-256 database encryption. When enabled, your entire local database is encrypted at rest with a key that you control. ZeroIn does not have access to your encryption key — if you forget it, the encrypted data cannot be recovered.

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Important — iOS and Android On iOS, app data (including the ZeroIn database) is deleted when you uninstall the app. On Android, data may be stored in app-specific external storage depending on your permissions. Please review your device backup settings to ensure your data is protected.

Secure credential storage

Account passwords and OAuth tokens are stored using your operating system's secure credential store (Windows Credential Manager, macOS Keychain, Android Keystore, or iOS Keychain). They are never stored in plain text.

4 How data is used

All data stored by ZeroIn is used exclusively to provide the app's functionality to you. Specifically:

  • Email messages are stored locally to enable offline access, fast search, and thread grouping
  • Account credentials are used to authenticate with your email provider when syncing
  • Contacts are built from email headers to enable auto-complete and the trusted senders list; for Gmail accounts, contacts may additionally be synced from and to Google Contacts on your behalf
  • Settings are stored to remember your preferences across app restarts
  • OAuth tokens are used solely to access your email account on your behalf, within the permissions you granted

We do not use any of your data for profiling, advertising, machine learning, or any purpose other than running the app.

5 Third-party services

ZeroIn integrates with the following third-party services. These are configured and used directly by you — data flows between your device and the service, not through ZeroIn's infrastructure.

Google Fonts

The ZeroIn website (zeroin.email) loads the Inter typeface from Google Fonts. This involves a network request to Google's servers. Google's privacy policy applies to that request. The ZeroIn application itself does not use Google Fonts.

App stores

When you download ZeroIn from the Microsoft Store or Google Play, those platforms' terms and privacy policies apply to the download transaction. ZeroIn does not receive information about who downloads the app from the store.

Gravatar & favicon services (contact avatars)

ZeroIn fetches profile photos for email senders using the following chain of external services. These requests are made automatically when a contact's avatar is displayed and no locally stored photo is available. Fetched images are cached on your device for up to 24 hours.

Service What is sent Their privacy policy
Gravatar (Automattic)
gravatar.com
An MD5 hash of the sender's email address (lowercased & trimmed). The raw email address is never transmitted. automattic.com/privacy
Google Favicon Service
google.com/s2/favicons
The sender's email domain (e.g. example.com), used as a fallback when Gravatar returns no image. policies.google.com/privacy
Direct domain request
https://<domain>/favicon.ico
An HTTP request directly to the sender's domain to retrieve its favicon. Only the domain name is used; no email address is included. Governed by that domain's own policy
DuckDuckGo Favicon Service
icons.duckduckgo.com
The sender's email domain, used as a final fallback. duckduckgo.com/privacy
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What this means for your privacy For each email you view, the sender's email domain (and an MD5 hash of their address for Gravatar) may be sent to the services above. Your own email address and message content are never included in these requests. If an avatar is found, it is stored in the local avatar cache on your device and the external service is not contacted again until the cache expires (24 hours). You can disable remote avatar fetching entirely in Settings → Appearance → Show contact avatars.

6 Email providers & API compliance

ZeroIn connects to your email provider directly from your device using standard protocols (IMAP, SMTP) or official APIs (Gmail API, Microsoft Graph API). Your relationship and data with your email provider is governed by their own privacy policies:

Google API Services — Limited Use compliance

Google API Services User Data Policy ZeroIn's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

When you connect a Gmail account, ZeroIn requests the following OAuth permissions directly on your device. All data retrieved through these APIs is stored locally on your device only and is never transmitted to ZeroIn's servers.

OAuth Scope Why ZeroIn needs it
gmail.readonly Read email messages, threads, and labels for display and local storage
gmail.send Send emails and replies on your behalf
gmail.modify Move messages between folders, apply/remove labels, and trash messages
gmail.settings.basic Read your send-as addresses and signatures to display them in the composition interface
userinfo.email Read your Google account email address to identify the account
userinfo.profile Read your display name and profile photo for the account header
contacts Read and write Google Contacts for two-way contact synchronisation
contacts.other.readonly Read "Other contacts" (people you have interacted with) for contact suggestions

ZeroIn does not request access to your Google Drive, Calendar, or any other Google services beyond those listed above. You can revoke ZeroIn's access to your Google account at any time via myaccount.google.com/permissions.

What ZeroIn does NOT do with Google user data

  • ZeroIn does not transfer or sell Google user data to third parties
  • ZeroIn does not use Google user data for advertising, ad targeting, or remarketing
  • ZeroIn does not use Google user data to train machine learning or AI models
  • ZeroIn does not use Google user data to determine creditworthiness or for lending decisions
  • ZeroIn does not allow humans to read your Google user data except: (a) with your explicit affirmative consent, (b) as necessary for security or abuse investigation purposes, or (c) as required by law

Google user data is used exclusively to provide the email client functionality visible in ZeroIn's interface — reading, writing, organising and syncing your email and contacts.

Microsoft Graph API access

When you connect an Outlook or Microsoft 365 account, ZeroIn requests the following Microsoft Graph permissions:

Permission scope Why ZeroIn needs it
Mail.Read Read email messages and threads for display and local storage
Mail.ReadWrite Move, organise, and update emails and folders
Mail.Send Send emails and replies on your behalf
User.Read Read your display name and email address to identify the account
offline_access Obtain refresh tokens so ZeroIn can sync in the background without requiring re-login

You can revoke ZeroIn's access to your Microsoft account at any time via account.live.com/consent/manage.

7 No advertising

ZeroIn does not display advertisements. We do not integrate any advertising SDK. We do not share your data with advertising networks. We do not use advertising identifiers (IDFA, Android Advertising ID).

We intend to sustain ZeroIn through a fair, transparent paid tier for advanced features in the future — not by monetising your data.

8 Children's privacy

ZeroIn is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect any information from children. ZeroIn is an email client intended for individuals who have an existing email account with a third-party provider. If you believe a child under 13 has used ZeroIn in a way that raises privacy concerns, please contact us at the address below.

9 Your rights

Because all your data is stored locally on your device, you have complete control over it at all times:

Access

All data ZeroIn stores is accessible on your own device. You can browse your email database directly or export your contacts via the app's CSV/vCard export feature.

Correction

You can edit contact information and app settings directly within the app at any time.

Deletion

Uninstalling ZeroIn removes all data stored by the app on that device (subject to iOS/Android backup behaviours described above). You can also selectively delete accounts, contacts, or emails from within the app.

Portability

You can export your contacts in standard CSV and vCard formats. Your email data remains accessible through your email provider independently of ZeroIn.

GDPR and similar rights

If you are located in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction with data protection rights, those rights apply to any personal data we do hold. Since ZeroIn holds essentially no personal data on our side (your data stays on your device), most GDPR requests would involve your email provider rather than us. For any concern, please contact us at the address in Section 13.

10 Data deletion

To fully remove all data associated with ZeroIn:

  1. Revoke app access — for Gmail accounts, go to myaccount.google.com/permissions and remove ZeroIn. For Outlook, go to account.live.com/consent/manage.
  2. Delete the local database — uninstall the app, or manually delete the database directory listed in Section 3.
  3. Remove from app store — remove ZeroIn from your device via the Microsoft Store or Google Play.

After these steps, no ZeroIn-stored data remains on your device. Your email data on the server is entirely unaffected and remains under the control of your email provider.

11 Security

ZeroIn takes security seriously, both in the application and in how we handle any information we do hold:

  • Account credentials are stored in platform secure storage (Keychain/Credential Manager/Keystore)
  • All connections to email servers are made over TLS/SSL
  • OAuth flows use industry-standard PKCE for mobile platforms
  • Optional AES-256 database encryption for local data at rest
  • Incoming emails are validated for SPF, DMARC, and DKIM authenticity
  • Unknown senders are automatically quarantined to prevent phishing and tracking
  • Tracking pixels in email bodies are blocked by default

No method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we implement commercially reasonable measures, we cannot guarantee absolute security of data transmitted to your email provider.

12 Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. For significant changes — particularly anything that introduces new data collection or sharing — we will provide prominent notice within the application before the change takes effect.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of ZeroIn after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

Previous versions of this policy will be archived and available on request.

13 Contact us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or how ZeroIn handles your data, please contact us:

ZeroIn — Privacy enquiries

Developer: Bartosz Wójcik

Email: privacy@zeroin.email

Website: zeroin.email

We aim to respond to all privacy-related enquiries within 30 days.