Privacy Policy

Last updated: April 1, 2026

ScrubInbox is a free, open source Gmail inbox cleanup tool. This policy describes how ScrubInbox handles your data when you use the app at app.scrubinbox.com.

The short version: ScrubInbox runs entirely in your browser. Your email data is never sent to any server, never stored anywhere, and never shared with anyone. There is no backend.

What data ScrubInbox accesses

When you sign in with Google and grant access, ScrubInbox uses the Gmail API to access:

Your email address (to display who is signed in)
Thread metadata: sender name, sender email address, subject line, and label IDs
Label names (to power the label exclusion filter)
Inbox thread count (to display scan progress)

ScrubInbox does not access the body or content of your emails. It only requests thread metadata (headers and labels).

How your data is used

Your Gmail data is used solely to provide the features you see in the app:

Listing and grouping inbox threads by sender domain
Displaying sender names, email counts, and sample subject lines
Filtering out starred and labeled threads
Moving selected threads to trash when you choose to clean up

All processing happens in your browser's memory. Data is never used for any other purpose.

Data storage

ScrubInbox does not store your email data. There is no database, no server, no local storage, and no cookies used to persist your Gmail data. When you close or refresh the browser tab, all email data is gone.

Your OAuth access token is held in browser memory only. It expires after approximately one hour and is never written to disk or transmitted to any server.

Data sharing

ScrubInbox does not share your data with anyone. Specifically:

No data is sent to any ScrubInbox server (there is no server)
No data is sent to third parties
No data is used for advertising, analytics, or tracking
No data is sold, rented, or transferred to any other entity

Google API Services Limited Use Disclosure

ScrubInbox'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.

In particular:

ScrubInbox only uses Google user data to provide the user-facing features described above
ScrubInbox does not transfer Google user data to any third party, except as necessary to provide the app's functionality, comply with applicable law, or as part of a merger or acquisition with prior user consent
ScrubInbox does not use Google user data to serve advertisements
No human reads your Google user data, unless you have given affirmative consent, it is necessary for security or legal compliance, or the data is aggregated and anonymized for internal operations

Third-party services

ScrubInbox loads two external scripts from Google:

Google Identity Services (accounts.google.com/gsi/client) — handles the OAuth sign-in flow
Google API client library (apis.google.com/js/api.js) — communicates with the Gmail API

All Gmail API calls go directly from your browser to Google's servers. ScrubInbox has no backend that proxies or intercepts these requests.

Open source

ScrubInbox is fully open source under the MIT license. You can inspect every line of code that runs in your browser at github.com/scrubinbox/scrubinbox.com.

Children's privacy

ScrubInbox is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children.

Changes to this policy

If this policy is updated, the "Last updated" date at the top will be revised. Since ScrubInbox has no user accounts or contact information, we cannot notify users directly. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy, please open an issue on GitHub.