Privacy Notice for meil

01Who is responsible for your data

The role of WAYSCloud depends on how you use meil.

For a private or consumer meil account, WAYSCloud AS is the controller for your account, the service content you store in meil, and the personal data we process to provide and secure the service.

For a business or organisation account, the organisation normally decides why and how its users' service content is processed. The organisation is therefore the controller for that content, and WAYSCloud processes it on the organisation's behalf.

WAYSCloud remains a controller for data we process for our own purposes, such as customer relationship data, billing, account administration, security, fraud and abuse prevention, and operational records.

Legal bases

We process personal data where this is necessary to provide the service you or your organisation has requested, to comply with legal obligations, or where we have a legitimate interest in operating, securing and protecting meil and preventing fraud and abuse.

Where we specifically rely on your consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time.

If you choose to subscribe to a meil or WAYSCloud newsletter, we use your e-mail address to send it to you based on your consent. You can unsubscribe at any time.

02The short version

• We do not sell your personal data and do not share it for advertising or profiling.
• The meil apps contain no advertising SDK, tracking SDK, analytics SDK, Firebase Analytics, Google Analytics or Crashlytics.
• Your mailbox, files and other service content are stored within the EEA.
• WAYSCloud's own storage of customer relationship data is in Norway, including backups.
• Push notifications sent through push services contain no sender, subject or message content. The app retrieves notification details directly from meil.
• Received e-mail bodies are not stored in the mobile app. Offline mail lists and other cached data that need to remain on the device are encrypted per account.
• Remote images and other remote content in e-mail are blocked by default and are loaded only when you choose to load them for that message.
• When an account is deleted, its service data is permanently deleted within 30 days, including from the service backups in which that content is stored. Data that we are legally required to retain, such as certain accounting records, is handled separately.

03Your account and signing in

When you sign in, meil receives your e-mail address or username and password.

The mobile app does not store your password. It remains in memory only while the sign-in request is being completed.

If two-factor authentication is enabled, the authentication or backup code is also sent to meil for verification and is not stored by the app.

Each app installation receives a random installation ID and an installation secret. These allow meil to recognise and authenticate that particular installation. The installation secret is stored using the iOS Keychain or Android Keystore-protected storage and does not leave the device after it has been issued.

While you are signed in, the app also uses a refresh token and a short-lived access token. The refresh token is kept in protected device storage. The short-lived access token is kept in memory.

The app sends its name, version and build information so that we can maintain compatibility and, where necessary, prevent obsolete or unsafe versions from connecting.

The device name or model is sent to meil so that you can recognise active devices and sessions under Login and security and sign them out.

Active session information may include the device name and IP address.

04What the mobile apps store on your device

meil stores only the local information needed to operate the app.

The recent mail list, including information such as sender, recipients, subject, preview and message flags, is cached in an encrypted per-account database to provide a fast start and an offline message list. Received mail bodies are not stored and remain in memory only while you read them.

Task data that is cached locally is also encrypted.

Calendar events, file lists and similar data are normally loaded when needed.

An outgoing message may be stored temporarily during the Undo send period so that you can cancel the send and so that the message is not lost if the app closes. It is removed after the message has been sent.

Files and attachments opened in the app may have a temporary local copy while they are being viewed. Those temporary copies are removed when they are no longer needed by the viewer.

05Mail, calendar, contacts, tasks and files

The data you create and store in meil is used to provide the features you ask us to provide.

This includes e-mail, calendars, contacts, tasks, files and documents.

Your service content is stored within the EEA.

When you search mail or files, the search is performed on meil's servers.

Search terms are not used to build a search-history profile about you. Technical server logs are used for operation and security, not advertising or profiling.

Documents opened for editing in meil can be edited through WAYSCloud's own Collabora Online environment.

06Notifications

Notifications are designed so that the push network does not need to know the contents of your mail or other notification.

When the app receives a wake-up, it connects directly to meil over HTTPS and asks what should be displayed. You control the notification detail level.

The default private mode shows the account and that there is a new notification. You may choose to show the sender, or the sender and subject.

Delivered notifications may remain in the operating system's notification centre until you dismiss them.

Pending notification records on meil, including sender and subject where these are needed for the detail level you selected, expire and are deleted within a maximum of seven days.

07Contacts on your phone

meil is designed to keep its contacts separate from unrelated address books on your phone.

On Android, meil contacts can be stored in a separate meil account in the phone's Contacts system. The app reads and writes contacts belonging to that account and does not read or modify unrelated Google, Exchange, Samsung or other address books.

On iPhone and iPad, meil contacts can be added through a meil CardDAV account. iOS then synchronises those contacts with meil without the meil app reading your other address books.

If you choose to import contacts, you select which contacts you want to import. Only the contacts you select are sent to meil.

When composing an e-mail on iOS, you may also use the system contact picker to select an individual recipient. In that case, the app receives only the contact information you selected.

We do not upload your entire unrelated phone address book in the background.

08Sharing files and content to meil

You can choose a photo, video, document or other file and upload or attach it to meil.

The normal system picker is used when you manually choose a photo or video. This allows the app to receive the selected item without granting it unrestricted access to your photo library.

You can also use the operating system's share function to save an item from another app to meil. A temporary local copy may be held until the upload succeeds and is then removed.

Files retain the metadata contained in the file unless a particular feature states otherwise.

09Photo and video backup

Automatic photo and video backup is optional.

If you enable it, the app needs permission to access the photos and videos to be backed up. You can turn backup off again at any time.

meil preserves the original metadata associated with backed-up photos and videos. This can include the date a photo was taken, its dimensions and location information such as EXIF GPS coordinates, when that information already exists in the media.

This allows features such as organising and viewing your own photos by where they were taken.

meil does not request or continuously collect the live location of your device for this purpose. Location information comes from the media you chose to store.

10Chat and meetings

meil chat is provided using Matrix on WAYSCloud-operated systems.

Chat supports end-to-end encryption. Each account on each app installation has a chat device identity, which includes the device name. Chat attachments are encrypted by the app before they are uploaded.

When you join a video meeting, the meeting is provided through WAYSCloud's own Jitsi environment.

Camera and microphone access is requested by the operating system and is used when you choose to join or participate in a meeting using those features.

meil does not request permanent background access to your microphone or camera merely because the app is installed.

11Web pages inside the app

Some account settings and support functions can be shown as meil web pages inside the mobile app.

The app creates a short-lived session for the page. Cookies and local site data created by that embedded page are removed from the device when the page is closed.

Analytics are disabled for meil pages when they are displayed inside the mobile app.

Links to unrelated external websites open in the system browser.

On the normal meil websites and webmail, WAYSCloud uses self-hosted Matomo for website statistics. It does not use third-party advertising tracking, uses anonymised IP information, does not require tracking cookies for these statistics, honours Do Not Track, and provides an analytics opt-out in account settings.

12Remote content in e-mail

HTML e-mail can contain images and other resources hosted on servers controlled by the sender or another third party.

meil blocks this remote content by default.

If you choose Show content for a message, the requested resources are loaded directly from the servers specified in that e-mail. Those servers can then see technical information associated with the request, such as your IP address and browser or app user agent.

meil does not proxy those requests and does not load them before you choose to do so.

JavaScript in e-mail is not executed.

13Diagnostics and crash information

The meil apps do not contain an analytics, telemetry or crash-reporting SDK and do not send WAYSCloud usage statistics or crash reports in the background.

Application logs remain in the operating system's local logging facilities.

The operating system or app store may separately provide platform crash information under your settings with that platform. For example, Apple may provide crash reports to developers where you have enabled Apple's Share with App Developers setting, and Google Play may provide Android vitals from users who have enabled Google's usage and diagnostics features.

These are platform functions and are not meil analytics.

If you choose to send a diagnostics report to WAYSCloud support, the report is sent only after your action and the app removes personal details intended to be excluded from the report before sending it.

14Permissions

meil asks for permissions only when a feature needs them.

Notifications

Notification permission is used for notifications.

Contacts

Contact permission is used where necessary for the meil contacts features or a contact import that you start.

Photos & videos

Photo and video access is used if you enable automatic media backup. Manually selecting an individual image or file uses the operating system picker where available.

Camera & microphone

Camera and microphone access is used for meetings and other features that explicitly require them.

The app does not request access to your live location, health data, advertising identifier or Bluetooth merely to operate meil.

meil does not use Apple's App Tracking Transparency permission because meil does not track you across other companies' apps or websites.

15Identity verification

Most ordinary use of meil does not require identity verification.

Where an account is required to complete identity verification, WAYSCloud opens its verification service in the browser. An identity-verification service provider handles the identity document and face verification.

The meil mobile app itself does not receive or store your identity document.

The applicable provider and processing location are documented as part of WAYSCloud's service-provider information.

16Who receives personal data

WAYSCloud does not sell personal data and does not provide it to third parties for advertising or profiling.

We use a limited number of service-provider categories where they are necessary to operate the service. These include infrastructure and hosting providers, mobile platform and app-store providers, push-notification services, SMS delivery providers and, where required, an identity-verification provider.

Our current SMS delivery provider processes verification messages within the EEA.

On iOS, Apple receives the APNs push token and the content-free wake-up notifications necessary to deliver push notifications.

On Android, a push server selected for the user's UnifiedPush distributor can receive the encrypted wake-up message. If you use WAYSCloud's own push.onmeil.eu, the service is operated by WAYSCloud and hosted in Norway.

Apple App Store and Google Play distribute their respective versions of the app under their own terms.

The Google Play build contains Google Play client components required for platform functionality such as credential/passkey support. meil does not use Google services for advertising, analytics or its built-in push-notification system. The F-Droid/direct APK variant does not contain Google Play services.

When you deliberately open an item in another application, such as a browser, file viewer or maps application, the information needed to open that item is provided to the application you selected.

When you allow remote content in an e-mail, the servers referenced by that e-mail receive the network request as explained above.

A separate WAYSCloud service-provider index will provide current information about relevant external providers, their function and processing location.

Where WAYSCloud transfers personal data outside the EEA, we use a transfer mechanism permitted under applicable data-protection law.

17Where data is stored

Some limited information is necessarily transmitted to service providers to perform a particular function, for example an SMS delivery provider or a mobile push service.

All network traffic between the meil apps and meil services is protected using TLS.

18How long we keep data

We keep personal data only for as long as it is needed for the relevant purpose or for a period required by law.

Your active account and service content are kept while the service is in use.

Pending notification records expire within seven days at the latest.

App installation and push-registration records are kept while an installation is active. When an installation or push registration is revoked, de-registered or signed out, its associated records are deleted within 30 days. Credentials stop being accepted when they are revoked.

Security and audit records relating to sign-in, two-factor authentication, token refreshes, device registration and related security events may be retained for 12 months. These records can include IP address, user agent and device information.

Support records may be retained for up to 24 months where they are needed to handle or document the support relationship.

If you unsubscribe from a newsletter, we stop sending the newsletter to you.

Different statutory retention periods apply to accounting records as explained below.

19Signing out

Signing out of an account in the mobile app removes that account's data, tokens and keys from the app and stops notifications for the account on that device.

The corresponding server session is ended. If the device is temporarily offline when you sign out, the server-side sign-out is completed when the device can reconnect.

Signing out of an app is different from deleting the meil account itself.

20Deleting your account

Before deleting an account, we recommend that you download or export any data you want to keep using meil Takeout.

A private account can be deleted through Login and security, including from the corresponding account page accessible through the app. Account deletion requires verification, including an SMS code and an explicit confirmation.

Once account deletion has been requested, new sign-in is blocked.

The account and its service data are then permanently deleted within 30 days. This includes mail, files, contacts, calendars, tasks and other service content associated with the account, including copies in the service backup systems in which that content is stored.

For a business or organisation account, user accounts and service content are managed by the organisation's administrator. The organisation determines when a user's account should be removed, and WAYSCloud processes the service content on the organisation's instructions.

Deleting service content does not require WAYSCloud to delete information that we have an independent legal obligation or legitimate legal reason to retain, such as required accounting records or security records still within their applicable retention period. Such information is kept separately and is not used to restore the deleted mailbox or account.

21Accounting records

Paid subscriptions create accounting records that WAYSCloud is legally required to retain under Norwegian bookkeeping law.

This can include invoices and documentation of booked transactions and payments.

Accounting records are retained for the periods required by Norwegian law. Primary accounting documentation is generally retained for five years after the end of the financial year to which it relates. Other categories of accounting material can have different statutory retention periods.

This does not mean that your mailbox, files or deleted meil account are retained for five years.

A free account does not acquire a five-year retention period merely because the account existed.

22Children and young people

You must be at least 13 years old to create a meil account.

We want children and young people who are old enough to use the service to have access to privacy-respecting e-mail.

meil does not require you to upload identification or perform an identity check simply to prove your age when creating an ordinary account, and we do not routinely collect your date of birth for age verification.

If you are under the age of legal majority, permission from a parent or guardian may be required for particular actions or processing under applicable law.

Where a particular processing activity relies on consent and applicable law requires consent from a parent or guardian, we follow that requirement.

23Marketing and newsletters

Creating a meil account does not automatically subscribe you to marketing newsletters.

If you choose to subscribe, we use the contact information needed to send the newsletter.

Subscription is voluntary. You can unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe option in the message or the relevant account setting.

Withdrawing newsletter consent does not affect your ability to use meil.

We do not use your phone number for marketing.

24Your rights

Where WAYSCloud is the controller, you may have the right to request access to your personal data, correct inaccurate information, request deletion, request restriction of processing, object to certain processing, and receive applicable data in a portable format.

Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent.

You can export service data using meil Takeout.

For a business or organisation account, requests concerning service content should normally be directed to the organisation that controls that account. WAYSCloud assists the organisation as its processor where required.

You can still contact WAYSCloud directly about personal data for which WAYSCloud itself is the controller, such as security or customer relationship information.

To exercise your rights or ask a privacy question, contact gdpr@wayscloud.net or our Data Protection Officer at dpo@wayscloud.net.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with Datatilsynet, the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, or with the competent data-protection authority in your country.

25Supervisory authorities

The supervisory authority for WAYSCloud AS in Norway is Datatilsynet.

If you reside in another EEA country, you may contact your national data protection authority. A current list of all EEA supervisory authorities is maintained by the European Data Protection Board:

edpb.europa.eu — Members of the EDPB↗

26What the meil apps do not do

• The meil apps do not contain advertising and do not use an advertising ID.
• They do not track you across other companies' apps or websites.
• They do not contain third-party analytics, behavioural telemetry or advertising SDKs.
• They do not use Firebase Analytics, Google Analytics or Crashlytics.
• They do not send sender, subject or message content through push notifications.
• They do not load remote e-mail content without your action for that message.
• They do not execute JavaScript contained in e-mail.
• They do not store received e-mail bodies as an offline mailbox on your device.
• They do not sync sign-in keys through iCloud Keychain or transfer those keys to another device.
• They do not continuously collect the live location of your phone.
• They do not read unrelated address books on your phone in the background.
• They do not sell your personal data or share it for advertising or profiling.

27Changes to this notice

We may update this Privacy Notice when meil changes, when we introduce new features, or when legal or regulatory requirements change.

The date at the top of the notice shows when it was last updated. Where a change materially affects how we process your personal data, we will provide appropriate information about the change.

28Contact

General WAYSCloud privacy information is also available from WAYSCloud's legal and privacy pages.