Your real email is used for verification and forwarding
The email address you provide is used to send sign-in codes and as the delivery destination for long-term forwarding. You don't need to provide it to use a temporary inbox.
Privacy policy · Where your information goes and where it stops
Your real email,
and how forwarding uses it
Temporary inboxes require no sign-in. Long-term forwarding needs to know where to deliver your messages. This policy explains what information each service uses, how long it is retained, and what you can stop or delete.
Last updated: · Website: letterfwd.com
Forwarding emails archived for 30 days
You can view long-term forwarding records in the dashboard. Temporary emails stay in a separate inbox and aren't included in the forwarding archive.
Pausing and deleting are different
Pausing stops future forwarding; deleting an archive removes existing records. Clearing browser credentials does not delete data from our servers.
Policy overview: what's covered
This policy applies to Letterfwd's temporary inboxes, passwordless sign-in, forwarding alias management and forwarding archive lookup on this website. It explains the information you provide or generate when using these features. It does not replace the privacy policies of third-party websites where you register, original senders or your email provider.
You can use only the temporary inbox, or use long-term forwarding through its separate sign-in page. Their credentials and message lists are independent. See the top of this page for the update date. For privacy questions, contact support@letterfwd.com. For terms of use, see the Terms of Service.
How your information is used
Long-term forwarding links aliases to your real delivery address so messages can reach you. Temporary inboxes use an inbox token to verify access. The table below describes information explicitly used by the service and its purpose; it does not claim to collect unconfirmed device profiles, advertising data or other information.
Sign-in verification, automatic forwarding and online archiving are separate processes. Providing an email address for sign-in doesn't mean you're sending email to an alias. Checking an archive doesn't mean the service is reading other messages from your real inbox.
| Information | Source | Purpose and limits |
|---|---|---|
| Real email address | You enter it when signing in without a password. | Used to send sign-in codes, identify your account and deliver alias messages. A real email address isn't required for a temporary inbox. |
| Alias address | You create it in the dashboard. You can choose the prefix or let the service generate one. | Receives incoming messages and is linked to a forwarding destination. The alias status determines whether future messages are forwarded. The address itself is not a sign-in credential. |
| Message content and delivery records | Sent to a temporary address or forwarding alias. | Used to display the subject, sender, time and message body. Alias messages are automatically forwarded and available in the online archive for 30 days. Temporary emails are not part of the forwarding archive. |
| Sign-in and inbox credentials | An account token is issued after successful sign-in verification; a separate inbox token is issued when you create a temporary inbox. | The account token provides access to protected features such as aliases and archives. The temporary inbox token provides access only to its corresponding inbox; the two credentials aren't interchangeable. |
A website may associate an alias you give it with your account, orders or browsing history on that site. Aliases can reduce how often you expose your real address directly, but they don't make you anonymous. For more, see Aliases vs. plus addressing.
Two ways to receive email, with separate access points
Temporary addresses are useful for receiving one-time codes or other short-term messages, which you can read in the temporary inbox on this website. Long-term aliases forward incoming messages to the real email address you use to sign in and have a separate forwarding archive.
Temporary inbox messages don't appear in the long-term forwarding archive, and signing out of your long-term forwarding account doesn't automatically delete them. If you can't find a message, first check which type of address you used, then look in the corresponding inbox.
- 1Create a temporary address
The service provides an address, an inbox token and an expiry time.
- 2Sender delivers to the temporary inbox
Messages stay in this temporary inbox and aren't automatically forwarded to your real email.
- 3View it in your browser with the token
The inbox credentials are required to read or delete messages.
- 1Verify your real email and create an alias
Your account links the alias to a forwarding destination.
- 2Incoming messages follow the alias status
Enabled aliases forward messages. While paused, new messages are discarded and not forwarded.
- 3Sign in to view the forwarding archive
Check existing records and their status in the 30-day online archive.
For messages received while an alias was paused, check the actual records in your dashboard; don't assume the archive can restore messages that weren't forwarded. If you still need order updates, bills or account recovery emails, update your address on the original website first. Then use Unsubscribe or pause? to decide what to do.
Retention: available online doesn't mean backed up forever
Forwarded emails are archived online for 30 days for recent reference and troubleshooting; this isn't a long-term storage service. Save any orders, bills or important notices you need to keep to an email account you control or another suitable location.
Temporary inboxes work until the actual expiry time returned by the service. The countdown on the home page shows how much access time remains. An address or message disappearing from the interface doesn't mean we've confirmed that every underlying copy, including backups, was physically erased at the same moment.
30days of online archiving
For long-term forwarding, not temporary inboxes
You can view forwarding records in the dashboard during the retention period and delete individual archived messages. Deleting an archive here does not retract copies already delivered to your real inbox.
| Item | Stated retention period or limit | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Forwarding email archive | Kept online for 30 days; not guaranteed to remain available indefinitely. | Sign in to the dashboard to view or delete records. Save important content separately. |
| Temporary inbox and its messages | Valid for 3 hours by default. Each extension adds 3 hours, up to a maximum of 24 hours. The expiry time returned by the service takes precedence. | Use the inbox before it expires or destroy it yourself. Don't count on being able to restore it after expiry. |
| Forwarded copies in your real inbox | Managed by your email provider and your own deletion and retention settings. | Manage them in your real inbox. Deleting messages here won't retract delivered emails. |
| Browser credentials | Used to restore local access; they don't determine how long server-side records are retained. | Sign out or clear site data. To deal with server-side data, use the relevant deletion action or contact support. |
Your choices: stop future messages or delete existing records
Different actions affect different things. Pause an alias to control future forwarding, delete an archive to remove existing records, or destroy a temporary inbox to stop using that temporary address.
Before deleting anything, check whether you still rely on the address for verification codes, account recovery or order updates, and save anything you need. Clearing your browser cache does not delete your account. Disabling an alias does not delete its existing archive.
| Action | Direct effect | What it does not do automatically |
|---|---|---|
| Pause an alias | New messages received while paused are discarded and not forwarded. You can re-enable the alias. | Doesn't delete existing archives or retract messages already delivered to your real inbox. |
| Delete an alias | Removes the alias's current forwarding configuration. Don't rely on it to keep receiving account notifications. | Doesn't delete existing archives or close your account on the original website. We can't guarantee you'll be able to get the same address again. |
| Delete an archive | Deletes the corresponding message records in the dashboard. Deleting one message and clearing the entire archive have different effects. | Doesn't delete the alias, stop new messages or remove copies in your real inbox. |
| Destroy a temporary inbox | Ends access to the inbox and processes its messages according to the inbox destruction procedure. | Doesn't affect your long-term forwarding account. Destruction doesn't mean every underlying copy is immediately erased from storage. |
To manage aliases and archives, go to the long-term forwarding dashboard. If you need to address account-related information—not just a message or alias—use the privacy contact details below to explain what you need. We don't claim that an account deletion feature is available unless it appears in the interface.
Browser and email security: credentials aren't addresses to share
You can give an alias address to websites that need to email you, but never share its token. Anyone with a valid temporary inbox token may be able to access that inbox. Anyone with a valid account token may be able to access your aliases and archives. Don't include tokens in screenshots, public links, chat logs or support emails.
Your browser may store credentials to restore access. Long-term forwarding sign-in credentials and the sign-in email are stored locally; temporary inboxes use a separate set of credentials. Signing out of long-term forwarding clears the account sign-in state, but does not destroy a temporary inbox or delete aliases and message records from our servers.
Message bodies are isolated when displayed, but still need your judgment
Incoming HTML emails are sanitized and displayed in a separate sandboxed iframe to reduce interaction between message scripts and this website. Isolation does not verify that an email is genuine or that its links or attachments are safe, and it cannot guarantee that every phishing message will be detected.
Don't trust an email based only on the sender's display name. Check the destination before opening a link and verify the source before downloading an attachment. We will never ask you to send sign-in codes or authenticator keys to support. Delete suspicious messages without following instructions to share this information.
On a public or shared device, sign out of long-term forwarding when you're done and make sure you've destroyed any temporary inbox you no longer need. Clear the browser's site data if necessary. Closing a tab doesn't sign you out. Clearing local credentials may also prevent you from accessing a temporary inbox, while server-side data continues to follow its original lifecycle.
Privacy questions
Tell us what you need help with—never send credentials
For questions about how information is used, retention or deletion, email support@letterfwd.com. You can include the relevant alias, an approximate time and a description of the issue. For account-related requests, we may need to verify that you're authorized to make them.
Send only the information needed to identify the issue. Redact unrelated message content and personal details. Never send sign-in codes, account tokens, temporary inbox tokens, authenticator keys or QR codes. If we need to verify anything further, we'll tell you what information is required next.
If an email hasn't arrived, check the records in your dashboard first. If you just want to understand what a feature means, see the Alias glossary.