TraceGraph privacy policy

Last updated: 31 October 2026

Who we are

TraceGraph is a Windows and Mac app. Data controller: Davide Padoan, an individual, who publishes the app under the name DavPad. Contact for any request about your data: support@tracegraph.app.

In short

• Your data stays on your computer. No TraceGraph server receives your emails and no account is needed.
• We do not sell or share your data. We do not use it for advertising.
• We use no artificial intelligence on message content and the app does not send email. The public version sends no usage statistics; only the beta version does, and only if you accept (see "Usage statistics in the beta version").

What the app does

TraceGraph reads the mailbox you connect to show you which online services you gave your address to, which ones appear in known breaches, which send you newsletters and how to unsubscribe. It also helps you prepare GDPR letters that you send yourself. The processing happens on your computer.

Google account data

If you connect a Gmail account, the app asks Google for two permissions: https://mail.google.com/ (needed to read mail over IMAP; no narrower IMAP permission exists) and https://www.googleapis.com/auth/userinfo.email (to know the account's address).

• How it accesses data. You sign in in your system browser; the app receives Google's response on a local address of your computer (127.0.0.1) only during sign-in. It then connects to imap.gmail.com with the token received.
• How it uses data. Only for the features visible in the app: recognizing services, message types, unsubscribe data and anomalies. Mail is read read-only; the app does not modify, move or delete messages.
• How it stores data. Only on your computer, in a local database. The token is encrypted with the operating system's encryption (on Windows tied to your user account, on Mac the Keychain) before being saved; if encryption is unavailable it is not saved.
• Who it shares data with. No one. No content of your emails, and no data derived from their content, is sent to us or to third parties for analysis, advertising or anything else. The only outgoing traffic is listed below. The one exception concerns the beta version only, and only if you accept: the pseudonymous usage statistics described below.

The statement required by Google:

The use of information received from Google Workspace scopes will adhere to the Google User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

The standard Limited Use statement:

TraceGraph'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 practice: we use the data only for the app features you see, we do not transfer it except in the cases Google allows, no person reads it except in the cases the policy allows, and we do not use it for advertising or to assess creditworthiness. References: Google API Services User Data Policy and Gmail API: user data requirements.

What is read from your email

For each message the app reads the headers (sender, subject, date, unsubscribe headers) and at most the first 128 KB of the message, to build a short excerpt and find the unsubscribe link. It never downloads more than the first 128 KB of a message and does not store attachments. It does not read other apps or browsers.

The first scan reads the last three years of the mailbox; the rest of the history is read in the background, a little at a time, while the app is open. The same rules apply to older messages.

What is stored and where

Only on your computer, in a SQLite database in the app's data folder. For each message: headers, an excerpt of about 1,500 characters (never the full text, no attachments) and the unsubscribe data found. From these the app builds lists of services, message types and the categories of personal data present. Sign-in tokens, app passwords and the optional Have I Been Pwned key are encrypted with the operating system's encryption (on Windows tied to your user account, on Mac the Keychain). Credentials never reach the user interface.

Personal data found in emails

The app recognizes, with hand-written rules and no artificial intelligence, which categories of personal data appear in the emails you receive from a service (for example payments and accounts, purchases, address and phone, documents, health data, work, accounts and sign-ins). These are categories found in your emails: it does not mean the service holds that data, or that it holds nothing else. For each message it stores only the category name, a likelihood level and a short reason (for example "order total present"), to help you rebuild your digital footprint from the traces in your emails.

The app does not copy the actual values into a list: names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, usernames, employers, cities, card digits or account numbers. The message excerpt described above may still contain personal data present in the text, such as your name in a greeting. Everything stays only on your computer and is deleted when you remove the profile from the app.

GDPR letters

For a service you can prepare an access letter, an erasure letter, a stop-marketing letter or a reminder. The app writes the text and opens a draft in your mail program (Gmail, Outlook on the web or the system mail program): you send it and the app sends no email. You type the recipient yourself: the app does not guess it. If the text is too long for the link, the draft opens short and the full text is copied to the clipboard only after you click "Open the draft". The "Find the privacy policy" button opens a search on duckduckgo.com with the service's domain in your browser, only when you press it.

For each request you mark as sent, the app stores on your computer only: the service, the type (access, erasure, marketing), the language, the date sent and the status (waiting, answered, extended, date of the reminder). It does not store the letter text, the recipient or the name written in the letter. This data is deleted with the profile or the service.

Data breaches (Have I Been Pwned)

The app downloads the public list of breaches from Have I Been Pwned and compares it on your computer: the domains of your services are not sent. A small request checks whether anything is new; the whole list is downloaded only if it changed or if the saved copy is over 7 days old. Your email address is sent only if you enter your own optional key and start the check. Breach data come from Have I Been Pwned, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Usage statistics in the beta version

In the beta version, only if you accept (the choice is off by default), the app sends pseudonymous usage statistics (counts and codes: email types recognized by language, durations, error codes, screens opened, outcomes of actions) to a Firebase / Google Cloud database run by the developer. No email content, addresses, senders, subjects, names or domains of services, passwords or error messages are sent. The data is tied to a random code generated on your computer, which you can reset at any time. Google, as the infrastructure provider, may process the IP address of the connection in its own logs. They are tied only to a random code, with no name, address or email content: in law they are pseudonymous data, which is why you have the rights described below over them.

You can withdraw your consent in Settings and see the latest events in plain text; if you decline, the app works the same and sends nothing. Events already sent are kept for the duration of the beta and deleted within 30 days of its end. This collection is not present in the public version.

External services contacted

Legal basis for processing

• Analysis of your mail on your computer and the features you start (list of services, breaches, unsubscribing, GDPR letters): performance of the service you asked for by installing and using the app (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). This data stays on your computer.
• Pseudonymous usage statistics of the beta version: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a)). It is off by default, you can decline it and you can withdraw it at any time in Settings; withdrawal does not affect what was done before.
• Messages you write to support@tracegraph.app: answering your request (Art. 6(1)(b)).
• Technical logs of the site: legitimate interest in keeping the site secure and working (Art. 6(1)(f)). We do not use them to profile you. You can object by writing to us.

Recipients and processors

• Google (Firebase / Google Cloud): receives the pseudonymous usage statistics of the beta version only, if you accepted them. It acts as a processor on our behalf, under Firebase's data processing terms.
• Cloudflare: hosts this site and forwards messages sent to support@tracegraph.app to the controller's mailbox (a Gmail account, so Google also handles those messages as the mailbox provider).
• Have I Been Pwned: receives your email address only if you enter your optional key and start the check; it then handles it under its own notice (haveibeenpwned.com/Privacy).
• Google, Microsoft and your mail provider: they provide the mailboxes you connect; the app connects to them directly from your computer.
• There are no other recipients. We do not sell data and do not give it to advertising or analytics companies.

Transfers outside the European Economic Area

Google / Firebase. Google states that it adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework; where that is not available, the standard contractual clauses apply (Firebase data processing terms, privacy and security in Firebase). The statistics database is in a European Union region (location eur3); Firebase's anonymous sign-in service (Authentication) processes data only in the United States and, according to Google, keeps IP addresses for a few weeks.

Cloudflare. Cloudflare stores data mainly in the United States and the European Economic Area and, for transfers to the United States, relies on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, with the standard contractual clauses as a fallback (Cloudflare privacy policy, data processing agreement).

Have I Been Pwned and your mail providers. These are services you choose and contact yourself from your computer; transfers of the data they receive depend on their own terms, not on us.

Sale and sharing

We do not sell your data and do not share it with third parties. There is no advertising and no tracking. Usage analytics: none in the public version; in the beta version only, and only with your consent, the pseudonymous usage statistics described above.

Retention, removal and uninstalling

Data on your computer stays until you remove it. If you remove a profile from the app, that profile's data is deleted from the database and, for Google, access is revoked. The full reset (Settings) deletes from the database profiles with their credentials, accounts, analyzed emails, detected data, unsubscribe history, GDPR requests and scores; it does not withdraw the authorization at Google (removing a profile does). For Microsoft and app passwords, access is revoked from your account or by changing the app password. According to Microsoft's documentation, when you uninstall the Windows Store version the app's files are removed with the app. For Mac, the procedure will be described when the version is released. If you also want to remove the authorization given to Google, remove the profile from the app first: an uninstalled app can no longer do it. The authorization given to Microsoft is removed from your Microsoft account (account.microsoft.com, privacy section / apps with access).

Beta statistics are kept for the duration of the beta and deleted within 30 days of its end. Messages you write to us are kept for as long as needed to answer and handle your request.

How to revoke Google access

Remove the profile from the app, or open your Google account permissions page (myaccount.google.com/permissions), choose TraceGraph and select "Remove access".

This website

The site uses no cookies, does not measure visits, includes no trackers and loads no fonts, scripts or images from other sites. It is hosted by Cloudflare, which processes technical access data (such as the IP address, the page requested, date and time, the browser) to run and protect the site. Cloudflare's privacy policy sets no fixed retention period for these logs: it says it depends on the purpose, the nature of the data and legal requirements (cloudflare.com/privacypolicy). We do not use them for any other purpose.

Automated decisions

We make no decisions based solely on automated processing that produce legal effects on you or similarly significantly affect you. The recognition of services and message types, done on your computer with hand-written rules, only serves to show you information: the choices (for example unsubscribing) are yours.

Minimum age

The app is meant for people aged 14 or over. In Italy a person may give their own consent to the processing of data for online services from the age of 14 (Art. 2-quinquies of the Privacy Code); below 14, the person with parental responsibility must give it. If you are under 14, use the app only with a parent or guardian, and do not turn on the beta statistics without them.

Your rights

You have the right to:

• access your data and get a copy;
• have it corrected if it is inaccurate;
• have it erased;
• ask for the processing to be restricted;
• receive the data you gave us in a structured format (portability), when the processing is based on contract or consent;
• object to processing based on legitimate interest;
• withdraw at any time your consent to the beta statistics, in Settings.

Because the data stays on your computer and we do not receive it (except the pseudonymous usage statistics of the beta version only, if you accepted them), you can view and delete it directly in the app. For any other request write to support@tracegraph.app: we reply without delay and in any case within one month. Beta statistics are tied to a random code and not to your name: to exercise your rights on them we may need that code, which you find in Settings. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection authority: in Italy the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali; elsewhere in the Union, the authority of your country.

Changes

If this policy changes, we will update the date at the top of the page.