Show HN: Mail Memories – A desktop app to rescue photos from Gmail

Mail Memories | Rescue Your Photos ⚡️ Try It for Free: Retrieve your first 50 oldest photos at no cost.

[Download Now]

📌 Overview

For decades, countless forgotten images have been trapped within the confines of your Gmail account. Mail Memories allows you to securely scan your entire email archive to identify every photo attachment you have ever received.

Unlike cloud services, Mail Memories operates 100% locally on your machine to recover your memories, ensuring they are neatly organized and ready for sharing.

---

⚠️ The Problem: Existence $\neq$ Ownership

Having a photo stored in a cloud archive isn't the same as owning it. A precious memory buried under a mountain of spam, receipts, and newsletters is essentially just data.

If you cannot locate it, view it, or share it, it might as well not exist.

Take ownership with Mail Memories. This utility scans your full email history, extracts every single image, and archives them into a structured folder on your local drive.

• Rediscover: That photo of your first car, your first pet, or your first professional job.
• Reconnect: "I remember them!" — Find images of old colleagues and friends from decades ago.

Example Recovery:

• Total Rescued: 3,402 photos
• Timeline: 2004 – 2026
• User Quote: "I found photos of my niece I thought were lost forever."

---

🛠 How It Works

The Technical Flow

Mail Memories ensures your data never touches a third-party server. The architecture is as follows:

Security & Privacy

Mail Memories is a standalone desktop application, not a cloud-based service.

1. Direct Connection: Your computer communicates directly with Google's secure servers.
2. No Intermediaries: Your passwords, emails, and photos never pass through any external servers; the developers have zero access to your data.
3. The Access Code: Instead of a password, you generate a dedicated, single-purpose 16-character code within your Google account settings.
4. Volatile Memory: This code is stored in your computer's RAM and is instantly wiped the moment the application is closed.
5. User Control: You can revoke this access instantly with one click inside your Google account.

---

💰 Pricing & Licensing

You can scan your inbox and rescue your oldest 50 photos for free. You only pay when you decide to bring your entire multi-year archive home.

What's included in the paid version?

• Unlimited photo downloads for one account.
• Original, full-quality image resolution.
• Preservation of metadata and dates.
• Secure in-app checkout via Stripe.

Cost Breakdown

The primary license is a one-time payment. If you have multiple accounts, the cost is reduced:

$\text{Total Cost} = \$29 + (n \times \$14)$ (Where $n$ is the number of additional licenses)

---

📂 Organization & Reliability

Smart Archiving

The app automatically creates a directory named Mail Memories inside your system's Pictures folder. To keep things tidy, it sorts images by year:

Pictures/
└── Mail Memories/
    ├── 2004/
    ├── 2005/
    └── 2006/

This structure makes it seamless to import your rescued files into Apple Photos, Windows Photos, or any other archival software.

Robust Syncing

If your connection is interrupted or your laptop lid closes, don't worry. The app is designed to:

• Resume automatically upon restart.
• Avoid duplicates to save bandwidth.
• Preserve originals (it copies the photos and leaves the original emails untouched).

---

❤️ Why I Built This

I created Mail Memories out of a simple, nostalgic curiosity: What was I doing 20 years ago?

When I ran the first scan, I found photos of my late grandmother, pictures of old friends, and moments I’d completely forgotten about. I was really surprised by what I found, and I think you will be too.

Ready to see what's waiting for you? Download the desktop app and rescue your oldest 50 photos completely for free.