What is a Mailspring ID and why do I need one? How is it different from my email address?
When you install Mailspring for the first time, you’ll need to create a Mailspring ID. Your Mailspring ID is separate from your email account(s) and you can use any email address or password you’d like.
Your Mailspring ID allows you to manage your Mailspring subscription. You can have as many mailboxes and email addresses as you like within Mailspring, but your Mailspring ID allows our team to keep track of your subscription and address your support requests. In the future, your Mailspring ID will be your common identity across Mailspring products.
Creating a Mailspring ID is necessary because existing email protocols like IMAP and SMTP do not provide a way to associate metadata with email messages. For example, to snooze an email on your laptop and unsnooze it on your work computer, Mailspring needs to be able to store the date you’ve selected on it’s own and sync it between your devices.
Mailspring does not store your email passwords in the cloud. It syncs only the minimal amount of data required to power features like snooze, send later, etc., and uses a hashing mechanism to identify emails and associate it’s metadata across installs.
If you upgrade to Mailspring Pro, you pro subscription is attached to your Mailspring ID and you can access Pro features on any computer signed in to your account. No serial numbers required!
Why is it required?
Creating a Mailspring ID is required to use the app. Many of the features on the roadmap (like shared templates for teams and a “Chrome Web Store”-style UI for installing third-party plugins and themes), rely on or significantly benefit from us having lightweight user accounts. If and when we create a mobile version of Mailspring, having snooze, send later, and read receipts metadata in the cloud will also be a necessity.
Update
We’re working now on making Mailspring ID optional in an upcoming release. More details here: A free, open-source future for Mailspring
What if I change my mind?
If you create a Mailspring ID and later decide you don’t want one, you can sign in to the Mailspring ID dashboard (https://id.getmailspring.com) at any time and permanently delete your account and all data associated with it.
Where are the privacy policy / terms of service?
Privacy Policy: Mailspring Privacy Policy
Terms of Service: Mailspring Terms of Service
See also, Mailspring Without Mailspring ID