Connecting your mailbox
Signal connects to your inbox over IMAP using an app password — a 16-character code your email provider generates specifically for apps like this one. It is never your regular email password, and Signal never stores it; it's used once to fetch and score your messages, then discarded.
Gmail
- Go to Google Account → Security and turn on 2-Step Verification if it's off.
- Open myaccount.google.com/apppasswords.
- Name it anything (e.g. "Signal") and click Create.
- Copy the code using the copy button, and paste it into the App password field on the triage page.
Outlook
See Microsoft's app passwords guide. Two-step verification must be enabled on the account first.
Yahoo
See Yahoo's app passwords guide.
Common issues
"Invalid email or app password"
This means your provider rejected the login. Double-check you generated an app password (not your normal login password), that the email field matches the account it was created for, and that your browser's autofill didn't silently swap in a different saved password — use the Show toggle next to the password field to confirm what's actually in it before connecting.
"Unsupported email provider"
Signal currently supports Gmail, Outlook/Hotmail/Live, and Yahoo addresses. Support for other providers is on the roadmap.
Nothing happens when I click Connect Mailbox
Try a hard refresh (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+R) or a private/incognito window to rule out a cached older version of the page, and check that your connection isn't being blocked by an ad blocker or privacy extension.
Is my password stored anywhere?
No. Your app password is sent once, used to fetch your inbox for that single request, and never written to a database or log.
Still stuck?
Email us at signaltriage@gmail.com and we'll get back to you.