Privacy Policy

Last updated: November 5, 2026

BrightFeed ("we," "our," or "us") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and share your information when you use our content aggregation service at brightfeed.io and app.brightfeed.io (the "Service").

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Account Information

When you create an account, we collect:

• Email address (used for authentication and account recovery)
• Name (as provided by your identity provider)
• Profile picture (if provided by your identity provider)

1.2 Content from Connected Sources

When you connect external sources to BrightFeed, we access and store content from those sources to power your feeds. The specific data accessed depends on the source type:

1.3 Usage Data

We automatically collect:

• Log data (IP address, browser type, pages visited, timestamps)
• Device information (device type, operating system)
• Feature usage (which feeds you use, search queries within the app)

2. Connected Email Accounts

When you connect an email account to BrightFeed, we access email content and metadata so you can search, browse, and triage your email inside BrightFeed. Actions you take in BrightFeed (marking emails read or unread, archiving them, moving them to trash, and undoing those changes) are reflected back to your email account. BrightFeed never permanently deletes an email.

2.1 What We Access

• Email content (subject lines, body text, attachment metadata)
• Email metadata (sender, recipients, dates, folders or labels, thread information)
• Email headers

2.2 How We Use Email Data

• Store and index email content so you can search and browse it within BrightFeed
• Analyze content using AI to extract topics, summaries, and priority signals
• Categorize and organize your emails based on extracted metadata
• Reflect your in-BrightFeed actions (mark read or unread, archive, move to trash, and undo) back to your email account. If you turn on the archive-on-dismiss setting, dismissing an email in BrightFeed also archives it in your email account
• Compute aggregate statistics from information about your emails (for example whether an item was shown or ignored, and its type), for your account and across all accounts, to understand how well BrightFeed is working and to improve it
• With your specific consent, review an email you share with us to improve the product

2.3 How We Store Email Data

• Email content is stored in our database and indexed in our search engine
• Data is protected using industry-standard security measures
• OAuth tokens are stored with encryption

2.4 Email Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or share your email data with third parties except:

• AI Service Providers: We send content to AI providers for analysis. They do not use your content to train their AI models. Any copy they keep is short-lived, used only to run and secure the service, and then deleted.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose data if required by law, subpoena, or court order.

2.5 Email Data Retention and Deletion

You control your email data:

• Account deletion: Deleting your BrightFeed account deletes all associated data, including email content, from our database and search index immediately. Copies in our backups expire within 7 days.
• Revoke access: You can revoke BrightFeed's access to a connected email account at any time through that provider's account-permissions page (see Revoke Access).
• Provider removals propagate to BrightFeed: when a message no longer exists in your Gmail or Outlook account, BrightFeed removes its copy on the next sync.

This applies whether the removal was explicit (you chose "delete forever" in your email provider) or automatic (the trash and spam folders typically age out after about 30 days). Propagation is best-effort. In rare cases (for example, removals that happened while BrightFeed wasn't syncing your account for an extended period), a record may remain in BrightFeed until the next time the message would otherwise be touched. If you need a specific message removed and the automatic propagation didn't catch it, contact us at privacy@brightfeed.io and we'll remove it manually.

2.6 Gmail-Specific Disclosures (Google API Services)

When you connect your Gmail account, BrightFeed uses the gmail.modify OAuth scope. The specific actions BrightFeed performs on your Gmail are described in Section 2 above.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Provide the Service: Store, index, and organize your content so you can search and browse it
• Analyze content: Use AI to extract topics, summaries, priority signals, and categories from your content
• Improve the Service: We use your content and information about it (for example whether an item was shown or ignored, its type, and the kind of source it came from) to run BrightFeed and to improve it. We also compute aggregate statistics from that information, both for your account and across all accounts. These aggregates are what we look at to understand how well BrightFeed is working, and some features may be built on them. We do not sell your data, use it for advertising, or share it with anyone outside BrightFeed. Nobody at BrightFeed reads your individual items without your specific consent.
• Communicate with you: Send service-related emails (security alerts, important updates)
• Ensure security: Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and security threats

4. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal data. We share information only in these circumstances:

4.1 Service Providers

We use third-party services to operate BrightFeed:

• Cloud Infrastructure: Amazon Web Services (AWS) for hosting and storage
• AI Analysis: AI service providers for content analysis
• Authentication: Google and Microsoft OAuth for sign-in
• Product Analytics: PostHog for usage events and aggregate statistics

4.2 Legal Requirements

We may disclose information if required by law or to:

• Comply with legal process (subpoena, court order)
• Protect our rights, property, or safety
• Prevent fraud or security threats

4.3 Business Transfers

If BrightFeed is acquired or merged, your data may be transferred. We will notify you before your data is subject to a different privacy policy.

5. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your data, including encryption, access controls, and regular security reviews.

6. Data Retention

We retain your account information and content from connected sources until you delete your account. When you delete your account, your data is removed from our systems immediately. Copies in our backups expire within 7 days.

7. Your Rights and Choices

7.1 Deletion

You can delete all your data by deleting your BrightFeed account.

7.2 Revoke Access

You can revoke BrightFeed's access to a connected email account at any time through that provider's account-permissions page:

• Google (Gmail): myaccount.google.com/permissions
• Microsoft (Outlook): account.live.com/consent/Manage (personal accounts) or myapps.microsoft.com (work/school accounts)

8. Children's Privacy

BrightFeed is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you believe we have collected data from a child, please contact us and we will delete it.

9. International Data Transfers

BrightFeed is based in the United States. If you access the Service from outside the US, your data will be transferred to and processed in the US. By using BrightFeed, you consent to this transfer.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by:

• Posting the new policy on this page with an updated date
• Sending an email notification for significant changes

Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, contact us at:

• Email: privacy@brightfeed.io