Brief

Privacy Policy

Brief Mail app and this website · Last updated

The short version

  • Brief Mail runs on your Mac. Your mail, its search index, embeddings and AI conversations are stored only on your Mac.
  • We don't run servers for the app, and we never receive your mail, your Google account data or your credentials.
  • Your mail only leaves your Mac when it goes to your mail provider, to an AI provider you have set up yourself, to a relay you run yourself, or to an agent you have connected.
  • No telemetry, no analytics, no ads, no cookies.

1. Who is responsible

The controller for the processing described in this policy, under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is:

Digilize Agency B.V.
Nassaulaan 68a
2011 PE Haarlem
Netherlands
Email: info@digilize.agency

"We", "us" and "our" in this policy mean the controller above. "Brief" and "Brief Mail" mean the macOS app.

Brief is designed so that we don't process your mail at all. It runs entirely on your device, under your control. For the data Brief handles only on your Mac, you decide what happens to it, and we have no access to it. Where this policy describes such processing, it does so to be transparent about how the software works.

2. The Brief Mail app

Stored only on your Mac

To show, search and organise your mail, Brief stores the following data locally, in the app's storage on your Mac:

  • your messages, attachments, folders, labels and account settings, as synced from your mail provider;
  • the search index and the embeddings (numerical representations of text used for search and Ask) built from your mail;
  • the transcripts of your conversations with Brief's AI features, such as your questions and the answers;
  • your Smart Folder rules, categories and preferences.

This data is not uploaded to us. We don't operate any server that receives it. If you use the macOS backup features (for example Time Machine or iCloud), that data may be included in your backups under the terms of the backup service you use.

Credentials in the macOS Keychain

Passwords, OAuth tokens and API keys you enter in Brief are stored only in the macOS Keychain on your Mac. They are used only to connect to the service they belong to, and are never sent to us.

No telemetry

Brief contains no analytics, tracking, advertising or crash-reporting SDKs and sends no usage data to us or to anyone else. Brief has no user account with us.

3. Google account data

If you add a Google account (Gmail or Google Workspace), Brief signs in with Google OAuth and asks for this permission (scope):

  • https://mail.google.com/: read, compose, send and permanently delete mail in your Gmail account, and manage its labels and settings.

What Brief uses it for. Brief uses this access only to provide the mail features you see in the app, for your own account: downloading and showing your mail, searching it, organising it (archiving, labelling, moving, deleting, marking as read), and sending mail you have written or approved. Brief needs the full scope because it is a full mail client that syncs your mailbox and acts on it on your behalf.

Where the data goes. Brief connects directly from your Mac to Google's servers. Google user data is stored only on your Mac as described in section 2. It is not sent to us, and we can't see it.

Sharing. Google user data is only passed on if you explicitly ask Brief to do so through a feature you have turned on: an AI provider you have configured (section 4), a relay you run yourself (section 5), or an agent you have connected (section 6). It is never sold, never used for advertising, never used to train general-purpose AI or machine-learning models, and never read by people at our company.

Brief Mail'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.

Revoking access. You can remove a Google account in Brief at any time. This deletes the account's local data from your Mac. You can also revoke Brief's access in your Google Account under Security → Third-party apps & services.

4. AI features

Brief's AI features (for example category sorting, Ask, and drafting replies) process your mail. Where this happens depends on what you choose:

Apple on-device models

By default, Brief uses the on-device language models provided by Apple Intelligence on your Mac where they are available. This processing happens on your device.

Apple Private Cloud Compute

For some requests, Apple Intelligence may use Apple's Private Cloud Compute. According to Apple, data sent there is used only to fulfil the request, is not stored, and is not accessible to Apple. This processing is under Apple's responsibility. See Apple's privacy policy and Apple's description of Private Cloud Compute.

Providers you configure with your own key (optional)

If you choose to, you can connect Brief to an AI provider using your own API key. This is off unless you set it up. Supported options are:

  • OpenRouter
  • Anthropic
  • OpenAI
  • Google (Gemini API, paid tier)
  • Mistral
  • Ollama, running locally on your own machine or network

When you use a feature that relies on a configured cloud provider, Brief sends the content needed for that request directly from your Mac to that provider: for example the message you want a reply drafted for, or the parts of your mail that are relevant to a question you ask. Nothing is sent to a provider unless you have configured it and use such a feature. The request is sent under your own account with the provider. That provider's terms and privacy policy apply, and the provider may be located outside the EU, for example in the United States. We don't receive these requests or the responses. If you use Ollama locally, the data stays on the machine that runs it.

Before you add a provider, read its data-use terms. Several providers state that data sent through their paid API is not used to train their models, but these terms are set and changed by the providers.

5. Self-hosted relay (optional)

Brief can work with an optional relay that you install and run on your own server. If you use it, data passes through and may be stored on that server, as you configure it. The relay is operated by you, not by us. We have no access to it and receive no data from it. You are responsible for that server, its security and, where applicable, your obligations as its operator.

6. Local MCP server for agents

Brief includes a local server using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It lets AI agents that you choose to connect, such as an assistant running on your Mac, access your mail through Brief. It runs on your Mac and is not reachable from the internet through us.

  • You decide which accounts an agent can access and what it may do, per account.
  • Sending mail through an agent always requires your confirmation in Brief.

Mail that an agent reads is handled by that agent and, if it uses a cloud AI model, by that model's provider, under their terms. We don't receive any of it.

7. This website

This website (brief.digilize.agency) is hosted on a server operated by us. It uses no cookies, no analytics, no tracking pixels, no embedded third-party content, and no external fonts or scripts.

Server logs

When you visit the site, the server processes the technical data your browser sends in order to deliver the pages: your IP address, the date and time, the page requested, the HTTP status, the amount of data transferred, the referring page, and your browser's user-agent string. This data may be recorded briefly in server logs to operate the site and to detect and fend off misuse.

The legal basis is our legitimate interest in providing a secure, working website (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Log data is deleted after no more than 14 days, unless a specific security incident requires us to keep it longer to investigate it. It is not combined with other data and not used to identify visitors.

Contacting us

If you email us, we use your address and message only to respond to you (Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR) and delete them when they are no longer needed, unless we're legally required to keep them.

8. Recipients and transfers

We don't sell or share personal data. We don't receive personal data from the app, so we pass none on. Data only goes from your Mac to third parties when you direct it to: to your mail provider (such as Google), to an AI provider you configured, to Apple through Apple Intelligence, to a relay you run, or to an agent you connected. Some of these parties are outside the EU/EEA. Such transfers happen at your request and under your relationship with that party.

Website server logs stay on our server and are not shared, except where we are legally required to share them.

9. Retention and deletion

  • App data stays on your Mac until you delete it. Removing an account in Brief deletes that account's mail, index, embeddings and AI transcripts from your Mac. Removing the app and its data deletes everything Brief stored.
  • Credentials are removed from the Keychain when you remove the account or provider in Brief.
  • Data at third parties (your mail provider, an AI provider, your relay) is kept according to their settings and terms, or yours.
  • Website logs are deleted after no more than 14 days, as described in section 7.

10. Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to:

  • access the personal data we hold about you (Art. 15);
  • have it corrected (Art. 16) or deleted (Art. 17);
  • restrict its processing (Art. 18);
  • receive it in a portable format (Art. 20);
  • object to processing based on our legitimate interests (Art. 21);
  • withdraw any consent you gave, with effect for the future (Art. 7(3)).

To use these rights, contact us at info@digilize.agency. Because the app keeps your data on your Mac, we usually hold no app data about you. You can view, export and delete it yourself, directly in Brief and on your Mac.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, in particular in the EU member state where you live or work, or where an alleged infringement took place (Art. 77).

We don't use automated decision-making or profiling that has legal or similarly significant effects on you.

11. Security

Brief stores credentials in the macOS Keychain and connects to mail and AI providers over encrypted connections (TLS). Data stored on your Mac is protected by your Mac's own security, such as your login password and FileVault, which we recommend you turn on. This website is served only over HTTPS.

12. Changes and contact

We will update this policy if Brief or this website changes how it handles data, and change the date at the top. If a change affects how Brief uses Google user data, we will tell you in the app and ask for your consent before the new use begins.

Questions about privacy: info@digilize.agency.

Brief is not directed at children under 16.