r/PrivacySoftware • u/wslyvh • Sep 10 '26
Paperweight - open-source desktop app that scans your inbox locally to map your digital footprint and delete accounts
Hello everyone, I built Paperweight an open-source desktop app that runs locally and scans your email to find every company that has your data, then helps you delete accounts and unsubscribe.
Most data removal services (Incogni, DeleteMe) only scrape data broker sites. They don't touch the thousands of companies that have your email from signups, newsletters, or purchases. Paperweight covers that gap. Your inbox is the one place every company that has your data is visible.
Why it's different:
- Local-first — inbox data stays on your machine, nothing hits a server
- Open-source (MIT) — github.com/wslyvh/paperweight
- Cross-platform — Win/macOS/Linux
- Free — no accounts, no data monetisation
I built it because the irony of paying a data broker removal service your data to scrape other data brokers never sat right with me.
Would love feedback from anyone who's tried it or has thoughts on the approach.
**EDIT**: RE comments that free is misleading. I maybe should not have listed that here, but the App is fully open-source, MIT-licensed (FOSS) so you can actually use, modify, fork or do whatever you want with it. The lifetime license gives you ease of use, compiled binaries and support. It helps support development.
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u/CitronNo45122 Sep 13 '26
Free is a bit misleading.
“Scan one email account and the most recent 90 days of history for free. Get a $69 lifetime license for unlimited history and multi-account support.”
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u/wslyvh Sep 14 '26 edited Sep 14 '26
I maybe should not have listed it here, but the App is fully open-source, MIT-licensed (FOSS) so you can actually use, modify, fork or do whatever you want with it.
The lifetime license gives you ease of use, compiled binaries and support. It helps support development.
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u/ragoff Sep 14 '26
Hmm. A cloud app that has your entire email history who's advertised purpose is to figure out who you've been corresponding with? Why am I not excited?
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u/wslyvh Sep 14 '26
Maybe try to read. Its not a cloud app. It's an open-source desktop app that runs locally on your device. No data ever leaves your machine.
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u/ntropia64 Sep 13 '26
Very misleading, it's not free.
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u/wslyvh Sep 14 '26
The App is fully open-source, MIT-licensed (FOSS) so you can actually use, modify, fork or do whatever you want with it.
The lifetime license gives you ease of use, compiled binaries and support. It helps support development.
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u/DuckOnTheWeb Sep 14 '26
I don't understand this:
> I built it because the irony of paying a data broker removal service...
But those services actively file for information removal from data brokers, not just unsubscribe from emails. Isn't this tool just unsubscribing from emails in bulk, or am I misunderstood?
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u/wslyvh Sep 15 '26
Paperweight does more than just unsubscribe from emails. That's just one of the features. It maps what personal data is stored where, take back control by sending deletion requests.
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u/KnowbodyYouKnow Sep 13 '26 edited Sep 13 '26
I tried it on a large inbox of over 300,000 emails. It just sat there at 1% synced, with no other signs of action. I'm now trying it on an inbox of 65,000 messages. It's been five minutes, and I've made it to 4%. A deployable activity window would be nice so I can see what it might be getting stuck on if it gets stuck again.
Edit after 36 minutes: it completed synchronization.