Last updated November 11, 2026
Pigeonhole is an iPhone email app. Your email stays between your iPhone and your mail provider, except in the cases described under Instant alerts and Sharing.
With permission from the signed-in person, Pigeonhole reads, sends, and organizes that person's email, including messages, senders, recipients, labels, and folders. It connects directly to Google for Gmail and to Apple for iCloud Mail.
For each email in the inbox and each pinned email, Pigeonhole stores the sender, recipients, subject, preview, date, and status on the iPhone, along with app settings. Full messages and attachments are downloaded when opened and aren't saved by Pigeonhole. Drafts, snoozed emails, follow-up reminders, and addresses the person has sent to (used to suggest recipients) are also stored only on the iPhone. Sign-in credentials are stored in the iPhone's Keychain. Pigeonhole doesn't collect analytics. Unless Instant alerts is turned on, Pigeonhole checks for new mail from the iPhone in the background when iOS allows it, and those alerts are created on the iPhone.
Instant alerts is an optional setting, off by default, that sends new mail alerts within seconds. Pigeonhole asks before turning it on. When it's on, Pigeonhole's alert server watches each signed-in inbox for new mail so the iPhone doesn't have to.
To do this, the iPhone sends the server each account's email address and sign-in: a Gmail sign-in token, or an iCloud app-specific password. It also sends the iPhone's Apple push token and whether alerts may show senders and subjects. The server stores these encrypted, and only Pigeonhole's developer can access the server. It's hosted by Fly.io in the United States.
When new mail arrives, the server reads only the new email's sender, subject, date, and read status, to write the alert. It sends the alert to the iPhone through Apple's push notification service. If alert details are hidden or App Lock is on, the alert says only that new email arrived, without the sender or subject. The server doesn't store email, and its logs don't contain email addresses or email content.
Turning off Instant alerts deletes the iPhone's sign-ins and push token from the server. They're also deleted when Apple reports that Pigeonhole was removed from the iPhone, and an account's sign-in is deleted when the account is removed in Pigeonhole.
Pigeonhole doesn't sell email data or use it for advertising. Besides Instant alerts, email data is shared in one case only: if the person adds their own API key for an AI service, such as Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini, and taps Summarize with AI or Draft with AI, that conversation is sent to the service they chose to produce the result. Separately, Pigeonhole loads images hosted online when an email is opened, unless this is turned off in Settings, so the servers hosting them can see that the email was opened and from what network address. When the person taps Unsubscribe, Pigeonhole contacts the sender in the way the sender's email asks for: a request to the sender's unsubscribe address, a short email from the person's account, or the sender's own web page.
Pigeonhole's widget and Siri can show the number of new emails and, unless turned off in Settings, the latest senders and subjects. These stay on the iPhone and appear on its Home Screen or Lock Screen. When App Lock is on, only the number is shown.
Tips and the monthly subscription are handled by Apple through the App Store. Pigeonhole doesn't receive payment details. It only learns whether a purchase went through and whether a subscription is active.
Pigeonhole's use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Gmail data is used only to provide Pigeonhole's email features to the signed-in person, including Instant alerts when it's turned on, and isn't read by people or transferred to others except as described above.
Removing an account in Pigeonhole's Settings deletes its sign-in credentials and stored messages from the iPhone, and from the alert server if Instant alerts is on. Google access can also be revoked at myaccount.google.com/permissions. Removing Pigeonhole doesn't delete email from the Gmail or iCloud account.
Questions can be sent to the support email shown on Pigeonhole's Google sign-in screen.