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Show HN: GoodByEmail -A Privacy-First Email Inbox Cleaner. No OAuth Token Needed (goodbyemail.com)
5 points by celue 979 days ago
Hello HN!

My inbox was overflowing with unread emails and 98% full. I wanted a clean inbox, but I didn't want to hand over my logins or OAuth tokens to third-party tools. That's why I've created GoodByEmail, a privacy-first inbox cleaning tool.

On my first sweep with GoodByEmail, I reclaimed over 5GB of storage space from small emails alone—none of it from attachments.

This wasn't just about creating another inbox cleaning tool; I wanted to build one I'd be comfortable using.

GoodByEmail stands apart from other inbox cleaning tools by not requiring you to grant access to your email account. You don't have to "trust" GoodByEmail, since, by design, your emails are never uploaded to GoodByEmail's servers. No OAuth, no third-party permissions. Heck, you can even run the tool offline.

Addressing the Real Inbox Challenge: Most inbox cleaning tools focus on unsubscribing from mailing lists, which is great for stopping future clutter but doesn't necessarily help with the heaps of old emails already in our inboxes—many of which aren't even from mailing list senders.

GoodByEmail's inbox analytics feature addresses this challenge by showing users exactly who their biggest inbox space offenders are and how much space all those smaller emails take up. Oh, and of course, I've also sprinkled in a handy unsubscribe feature.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or questions on this. https://www.goodbyemail.com

2 comments

First time I’ve seen an email cleaner that doesn't ask for my oauth tokens and can't access my data, so decided to give it a go. Took a while to export my inbox from Gmail to use in the tool, but maybe that's expected, given the indecent size of my inbox. In the end I've freed 8gb and deleted 80k emails.
Interesting concept. I've experimented with a couple of inbox cleaners before, and both times, I had to share my login details. Unfortunately, one of them was a total disaster and deleted some crucial emails. Seeing that goodbyemail doesn't require my logins and puts me in control of mails I want to delete, I'm thinking of giving it a shot. Anyone else tried it yet?
Glad to hear you are vibing with the concept. Let us know how your inbox decluttering goes.
Yeah, the unroll.me fiasco was really disappointing. I was a user and felt so deceived when the news broke about the data misuse. It definitely made me more careful about the tools I grant access to my inbox. I haven't tried goodbyemail yet, but it's refreshing to see this approach to privacy here.
Thanks for the kind words. Let us know how it all goes. Happy safe cleaning!