Privacy Policy
4 October 2026
Draft for review. Written from what the app actually stores and does, and not yet checked by a lawyer.
Minds Email is a private mail service for people who steward a Mind. This page says what we keep about you, why, where it lives, and how to get rid of it.
Who we are
Minds Email is run by Jason Ong, as a sole trader. He is the “data controller”: the person responsible for your data. Write to jason@minds.email about anything on this page.
The short version
- We keep what it takes to run your mailbox, and nothing more.
- No tracking unless you say yes: the pages before sign-in ask before using Meta’s pixel to see which of our ads bring people here. No analytics, no marketing email, and we never sell data.
- Your data is stored in London and Ireland.
- Delete your account in Settings and everything of yours is erased straight away.
What we keep, and why
When you join the waitlist or sign in. Your email address, when you joined and when you were invited. Sign-in codes, stored scrambled and valid for 10 minutes. Each sign-in makes a session: a random token, when it started, and your IP address and browser details, valid for up to 7 days. This is so we can let you in and keep uninvited people out. If you joined from a link with tags on it, such as one of our ads, we keep those tags (which ad and campaign, and Meta’s click ID) and the first page you saw, so we can count signups per ad.
Your account. The address you chose and its delegate address, your name (it goes on the mail you send, and on what your Minds send for you), the picture you add (if you do), when you agreed to the Terms, and when the account was made.
Your mail. Every message sent to or from your addresses: who it was from and to, the subject, the text, the names and sizes of attachments, and the original email exactly as it arrived, kept in encrypted storage. We also keep how messages group into conversations and who is on each one, and the drafts you or your Minds write. This includes other people’s names, addresses and words, because they wrote to you or you wrote to them. Incoming mail is scanned for viruses and spam by Amazon: mail with a virus is thrown away, and spam is kept and marked.
Your Minds. The Builder API key you paste in, stored encrypted and never shown again. The name, address, colour and settings of each Mind, and a record of changes you make to a Mind’s Circle (what, and when). This is so we can show your Minds and act on them when you ask.
On your device. One cookie that keeps you signed in. It is strictly necessary, so it does not need a banner. Your browser also remembers a copy of what was last on screen, so the app opens quickly, and your light or dark choice. Signing out or deleting your account clears them. Until you join the waitlist, your browser holds the first page you saw and any tags on its link, for this visit only. On the homepage and sign-in pages, if you say yes to Meta’s pixel, Meta sets its own cookies and we remember your answer; say no and the pixel never loads. To change your answer, clear this site’s data in your browser and you’ll be asked again. The apps never load the pixel.
Logs and abuse protection. Our host keeps standard request logs (time, address requested, IP address) for a short period. We count sign-in attempts per IP address to slow down guessing.
Why we’re allowed to
- To run your account and mailbox, because that is the service you asked for (“contract”, in the law’s words). We don’t ask for consent to this, because it is not optional to providing the service.
- To keep the service secure and free of abuse (screening mail, limiting sign-in attempts, keeping a list of retired addresses), because it is in everyone’s interest (“legitimate interests”).
- For the people you correspond with, because they wrote to a minds.email address and expect the message to be delivered (“legitimate interests”).
- Meta’s pixel, only if you say yes (“consent”), to see which of our ads bring people to the site and join the waitlist.
Who else handles your data
- Vercel runs the app, in London.
- Neon holds the database, in London.
- Amazon Web Services sends and receives the mail and stores the original copies, in Ireland.
- The Minds platform (hellominds.ai) is a separate service. When you use Ask or Delegate, or write to a Mind, the message is emailed to that Mind, and when you connect a key we talk to the platform on your behalf. What the platform keeps is covered by its own privacy policy.
- Meta (Meta Platforms Ireland), only if you say yes to its pixel: it learns that you visited, which page, and when you join the waitlist, with nothing that names you. What Meta does with it is covered by its own privacy policy.
- TypeSafe makes the quick-answer decision when you write to a Mind. When search by meaning is enabled, it also receives your search and short passages from matching emails to put the most relevant results first. Searching does not send email to a Mind.
- OpenRouter and the model providers it routes to produce quick answers and, when search by meaning is enabled, turn email text and searches into numeric representations called embeddings. These calls require endpoints marked zero data retention. Search embeddings and passages are stored in our database and deleted with their messages. The one exception is a picture or video you choose to make for a Feed post: the post’s headline and summary, or your own description and image, go to an image or video model whose provider may keep them under its own terms. No email is sent with them.
Vercel, Neon and Amazon are US-owned companies. Your data is stored in the UK and Ireland, and where any processing happens elsewhere it is under safeguards the law recognises. AI processing through TypeSafe, OpenRouter and its model providers may take place outside those regions. We share your data with no one else, unless the law requires it.
How long we keep it
- Your account, mail and Minds: until you delete your account.
- Your place on the waitlist: while you are on it or have an account, or until you ask us to remove it.
- Sign-in codes: 10 minutes. Sessions: up to 7 days.
- Our database keeps a short safety history so mistakes can be undone. What you delete drops out of it within 30 days at the latest.
- The name of a deleted address stays on a list of names that can’t be reused, with nothing to say whose it was.
Deleting your account
In the app: Settings, then Delete account. You type a phrase and confirm with a code we email you, and it is done straight away. It erases your addresses, every conversation, message and attachment (and the stored originals), your connected Minds accounts and their keys, each Mind’s settings here, your name and picture, your Circle history, and your sign-in on every device. It can’t be undone. We email you once to confirm it, and after that we don’t keep your email either, so signing in with it again is treated as someone new.
It can’t reach mail you have already sent, which is in other people’s inboxes, or what the Minds platform holds from Consult and Delegate. Your Minds and your Minds account are only disconnected, not deleted.
Your rights
You can ask to see what we hold about you, to correct it, to have it erased, to limit or object to how we use it, and to receive a copy you can take elsewhere. Erasure is in the app as above; for anything else, email jason@minds.email. We’ll answer within one month. If you’re not happy with the answer, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.
Children
Minds Email is for people aged 18 and over.
Changes
If we change this in a way that matters, we’ll email you before it takes effect. The date at the top says when it last changed.