How & why Hark
How Hark works, without ever touching your inbox
Setting up Hark takes about a minute. Here is each screen you'll see, exactly what it asks for and why. Then, plainly, what happens to a single email once it arrives. Nothing here touches your private inbox.
Free for a week, then $5 a month. No credit card to start, cancel anytime.
HARK!NEWS
When do you want your daily audio?
We'll text you a link to press play, every morning at this time.
Screen 1
Pick a delivery time
The only thing this screen decides is when your one morning text goes out. Set it for your commute, your coffee, your dog walk.
What it gives us
A time of day.
What it doesn't
Anything at all about your email.
HARK!NEWS
Create your account
↑ Shares your name and email only, never your inbox
Screen 2 · the one people ask about
Prove it's you, with your name and email and nothing more
Signing in with Google here works exactly like “Sign in with Google” on any other website: it confirms who you are and hands over your name and email address. That's the whole grant.
It is not the “connect your inbox” permission other newsletter apps ask for: the one that lets an app read your entire mailbox. We never request that. There's no button in Hark that could, so there's nothing to accidentally leave switched on.
What it gives us
Your name, your email, proof it's you.
What it doesn't
Any access to your mailbox. None is requested.
HARK!NEWS
Your local weather is set
✓ Noted automatically. You can change it anytime in Settings.
Screen 3
Your city, set automatically
There's nothing to type here. We note your city automatically from your connection when you start, and show it in Settings afterward, where you can change it whenever you like.
We use it for exactly one thing: to open your audio with a simple local forecast for the day.
What it gives us
A city, for the weather line.
What it doesn't
Your precise or ongoing location.
HARK!NEWS
Forward your newsletters here
if an email has an unsubscribe link → send a copy here.
✓ 2 newsletters received, building your sample…
Screen 4 · the heart of it
Your own private forwarding address
We give you an address that's yours alone: a PO box just for newsletters. You forward mail to it by hand, or set up one Gmail rule to do it automatically.
The rule looks for a single thing: an unsubscribe link. By law, every marketing and news email must carry one; personal mail from a real person doesn't. Has the link? Gmail sends a copy here. Doesn't? Gmail leaves it alone. The sorting happens inside your Gmail, on your rule; we're just the address at the other end.
What reaches us
Copies of the newsletters your rule forwards.
What never does
Anything without an unsubscribe link. Your private mail stays in Gmail.
HARK!NEWS
Where should we text your briefing?
One text each morning with your link. Nothing else.
Screen 5
The morning text
Your briefing arrives as a single text with a link to press play: no app to download, no notifications, just that one message a day. Your number is also how you sign back in later.
What it gives us
A number for your daily link and sign-in.
What it doesn't
Any reason to message you beyond your briefing.
HARK!NEWS
Your newsletters
You decide what makes your briefing.
After setup · Settings
Everything that came in, sorted, and yours to change
Once mail starts arriving, your settings show every newsletter we've received, sorted for you: the ones we read as news are switched on, the ones that look like marketing are switched off. Flip any of them yourself.
Behind the scenes we keep the news, drop the marketing, and delete the raw mail once your audio is built. Change your mind about the whole thing? Delete the Gmail rule and the pipe simply closes.
Free for a week, then $5 a month. No credit card to start, cancel anytime.
The core idea, made concrete
Follow one email
The clearest way to understand Hark is to watch what happens to a single email after it lands in your Gmail. Some mail becomes part of your morning briefing. Most of it never moves at all. Here's the fork in the road, and who decides which way each email goes.
Why the unsubscribe link? By law, every marketing and news email must include one. Personal email from a real person doesn't have one. So it's a reliable, automatic way to tell “bulk newsletter” apart from “private mail,” without anyone reading a word.
How you got here
Setting up takes about a minute; here's what each step is for
- A delivery time
So we know when to send your one morning text. That's all it sets.
- Your account, Google or email
Just to know it's you and where to reach you. Signing in with Google shares your name and email only. It is not the “connect your inbox” permission other apps ask for. We never request access to your mail.
- Your city
Noted automatically for the one-line local weather your briefing opens with, and editable in Settings.
- Your private forwarding address, plus one Gmail rule
The PO box for your newsletters, and the rule (which you set and can delete) that does the forwarding above.
- A phone number
Where the daily link is texted, and how you sign back in. No app, no notifications.
The bottom line
“Your bank statements are none of our business, and they shouldn't be anyone else's either.”
Your statements, medical results and password resets have no unsubscribe link, so they never leave Gmail. And because you never connected your inbox, we couldn't read them if we tried. No connection exists.
Free for a week, then $5 a month. No credit card to start, cancel anytime.