Magpie Mail privacy policy

Magpie Mail is an app for your Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Tasks. It talks directly from your device to Google, and to nobody else on your behalf. We run no server for it, and it has no ads, no analytics, no tracking and no third-party code. We, Pronghorn Labs, never receive your Google data: not your mail, events, tasks, contacts or sign-in.

Signing in with Google

You sign in on Google’s own page, shown by your device’s system browser sheet. Magpie Mail never sees your password. Google gives the app a token that lets it act for your account. The long-lived token, with your name and email address, is saved in the Keychain on that device only. It is not synced to iCloud. Short-lived access tokens are kept only in memory.

What Magpie Mail can access, and why

When you sign in, Magpie Mail asks Google for these permissions, and uses each one only for the part of the app it is named for:

• Your name, email address and profile picture (openid, email, profile): to show which account you are using and to tell your accounts apart.
• Read, compose, send and organise your Gmail (gmail.modify, gmail.send): to list and show your messages and attachments; to send, reply and forward, with any files you choose to attach; to archive, delete, star, label and mark messages read or unread; and to use your send-as addresses and signatures. Magpie Mail does not permanently delete mail; Delete moves it to Gmail’s Trash.
• Your calendar events and calendar list (calendar.events, calendar.calendarlist.readonly): to show your calendars and events, create and edit events, and answer invitations.
• Free and busy times (calendar.freebusy): when you plan an event, to show whether the people you invite are free. Only busy times are read, not what the events are.
• Your tasks (tasks): to show, add, edit, complete and delete your Google Tasks.
• Your contacts, other contacts and company directory (contacts.readonly, contacts.other.readonly, directory.readonly): to suggest addresses as you type and to show a person’s contact card. Magpie Mail only reads these; it never changes them.
• Google Meet records (meetings.space.readonly): to show the recordings and transcripts of a meeting you were in. Magpie Mail only reads these.

Where your data is kept

Magpie Mail fetches your mail, events, tasks and contacts from Google while you use it and keeps them in memory. It does not save copies of your mail or calendar to your device’s storage, and none of it goes to iCloud or to us. A few things are kept on your device:

• Your sign-in, in the Keychain, as described above.
• Widgets. So that widgets can show something, the app writes a small summary to a file shared only with its own widgets: your email address, your unread count, and your next few events in the coming 48 hours with their title, time, location, calendar colour and Meet link. It is replaced each time the app refreshes and emptied when you sign out of every account.
• Attachments you open are written to a temporary folder on your device so another app can show them. The system clears that folder from time to time. On the Mac, an attachment you drag out is saved where you drop it.
• Settings, such as your viewing and sidebar choices, the order of your accounts, and the date of the newest message you have been alerted about, are saved on your device only.

Notifications and the badge

To alert you to new mail, Magpie Mail checks Gmail every minute while it is running and, on iPhone and iPad, whenever iOS lets it refresh in the background. Alerts are made on your device and show the sender, subject and the start of the message. They are not sent through Apple’s push service or any server. The unread count on the app icon works the same way. You can turn both off in Magpie Mail’s settings or your device’s settings.

Images and links in messages

Magpie Mail shows a message the way it was written, with scripts turned off. Pictures in a message are loaded from wherever the sender put them, as in most mail apps. That server sees an ordinary request from your device, including its IP address, and may be able to tell that the message was opened. Links you tap open in your browser or the app they belong to, such as Google Meet, Google Calendar, Google Docs or Google Chat. Profile pictures are loaded from Google.

Sharing

Your Google data is sent only to Google, to do what you ask: send a message, save an event, update a task. We do not sell, rent, share or transfer it to anyone, use it for advertising, or use it to train AI models. No person reads it, at Pronghorn Labs or elsewhere. Mail you send goes to the people you address it to, through Gmail.

Google API Services User Data Policy

Magpie Mail’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. In particular:

• Google user data is used only to provide and improve the features of Magpie Mail that you can see and use.
• It is not transferred to anyone else, except to Google to carry out your requests, or if required by law.
• It is never used or transferred for advertising, including retargeting or personalised or interest-based ads, and never sold.
• No person reads it, unless you ask us to and give your permission, it is needed for security or to comply with the law, or the data has been made anonymous.
• It is not used to develop, improve or train generalised or non-personalised AI or machine-learning models.

Removing your data

To disconnect an account, open Magpie Mail’s Settings › Accounts and tap Remove. Magpie Mail asks Google to cancel its access and deletes the saved sign-in from your device. Deleting the app removes everything else it kept on the device. You can also remove Magpie Mail’s access at any time from your Google Account. Your mail, events and tasks stay in Google, governed by Google’s privacy policy and, for a work account, your organisation’s Workspace settings.

What Apple may collect

Apple handles the download and, if you have agreed to it in your device’s settings, may share anonymous crash and usage reports with developers. That is governed by Apple’s privacy policy. Email you choose to send us reaches us with whatever you put in it; we use it only to answer you.

Children

Magpie Mail is meant for Google Workspace accounts and is not directed at children. We collect nothing from anyone, including children.

Changes and contact

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date. Magpie Mail is made by Pronghorn Labs, part of Prairie Fire, LLC, in Colorado. Questions: hello@pronghornlabs.net.