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

mailmemories.com - 75 poäng - 20 kommentarer - 13727 sekunder sedan

Hey HN, I’m the creator of Mail Memories. Like many of you, I've had my Gmail address for more than 20 years. A few years ago, I got curious and wanted to see what photos were buried deep in my account. I ended up finding lots of "lost" pictures of old friends, family members, and a ridiculous number of vintage memes.

I originally built and launched this as a SaaS, but even with code and policies in place that kept users' photos private, I figured everyone would feel more comfortable with a desktop app.

So, I threw out the server architecture and completely rewrote it as a 100% local desktop app for Mac and Windows.

How it works now: The app connects directly to Google's server from your computer, processes everything entirely on your system, and saves photos straight to your hard drive.

You can download your 50 oldest photos for free (no credit card required) just to see what's in there. If you want to download all the pictures in your account, it's a one-time payment of $29. No subscriptions.

If you have an old, pre-2010 Gmail account, definitely give it a spin. You'll be surprised at what you find deep in your archive.

I'd love to hear your feedback on the layout, scanning performance, or anything else.

TL;DR: I turned my SaaS into a local desktop app (Mac/Windows) that recovers decades of forgotten photos from your Gmail. 100% local, no cloud, no subscriptions, no AI.

Kommentarer (11)

KomoD - 9778 sekunder sedan
Or you can just use Google Takeout: https://takeout.google.com
Deselect everything, select "Mail", create export, wait until it's done, and then download the zip.
baron3dl - 10667 sekunder sedan
First, I really love this idea, and I thank you for getting it into my head.
That said, if no AI is really important, I guess it's worth $29, though I can't tell if you used AI to build it or not from here.
Like, I just one-shot a script that does the same with Claude, after it listed 5 free projects that do the same, including one GUI. The whole thing took less time than writing this comment.
Now, if it were $2.99, I probably would have just paid you.
Thaxll - 9703 sekunder sedan
For $30 you should sign your binary so you don't have a UAC popup.
Also is it not doable with Google takeout ( with Gmail )?
ks2048 - 6044 sekunder sedan
“I found photos of my niece I thought were lost forever. Thank you so much!” Emily D.
Be honest, is "Emily D" a real person you got organic feedback from? Small thing that makes the vibed site off-putting.
It says "Storage: 1.3 GB saved", but then says it is Read-only.
artisinal - 7973 sekunder sedan
> 100% local, no cloud, no subscriptions, no AI.
The world needs more of this
shuirong - 9384 sekunder sedan
I like your idea. While installing the app, I suddenly had an idea for the logo: what do you think about using a tilted old photo of a child as the app icon?
murats - 9509 sekunder sedan
I like the idea. Google Takeout works, but a focused app that helps you actually find and recover old photos could still be useful.
tribal808 - 12191 sekunder sedan
idk if other tools do it for free, but cool idea, hope that it gains the deserved visibility
TazeTSchnitzel - 7409 sekunder sedan
If I have to look at yet another website with this same fucking AI-generated theme I'm gonna have to kill somebody.
T3RMINATED - 11189 sekunder sedan
[dead]
- 13718 sekunder sedan