Privacy and email rules differ by country. Hive Mail gives you tools and sensible defaults; it cannot decide the rules for your site, and using it does not make a site follow any law. Rules usually depend on where your visitors and subscribers live, not only where your server is. If you are unsure, ask a qualified professional.
You are responsible. Hive Mail stores everything in your own database and sends nothing to Hive Plugins, so you decide why and how personal data is used, write the privacy policy and answer people's requests.
Email #
| Topic | What Hive Mail does | What you decide |
|---|---|---|
| Permission to email | Moving a contact to Subscribed needs a ticked statement that the person gave permission; time and source are kept on the contact and timeline | Whether your permission is enough in your country |
| Double opt-in | Can send a confirmation email; the person confirms with a button, and a scanner opening the link never confirms | Whether to require it (Double opt-in) |
| Unsubscribing | Every marketing email has an unsubscribe link and the one-click header; opening a link changes nothing, the person presses a button | The page wording (Unsubscribe and email preference pages) |
| Sender identity | Your business name and address are in the footer; a campaign cannot be sent without an address | The details in Settings > General |
| Bounces and complaints | Those addresses are not emailed again | |
| Signup forms | An optional, mandatory-able consent box; wording and time recorded; no cookie, no IP | The box wording |
Counting opens and clicks is on by default, per contact; you can make it anonymous or off, and no IP address is stored. Mention it in your privacy policy (Email tracking).
Visitor tracking #
It is off until you switch it on. Hive Mail's own screen says: you are responsible for what visitors are told and asked; Full mode needs consent in the EU/EEA, the UK and most countries with similar laws, because it recognises people over time and can link them to contacts; Anonymous mode may be allowed without consent in some countries under conditions, but is not a way to avoid consent everywhere. If unsure, keep Wait for consent.
| Mode | Cookie | Waits for consent | Linked to contacts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Off | None | Nothing is recorded | No |
| Anonymous | None | Does not apply | Never |
| Full | hm_vid, 13 months |
Yes by default | Yes, after an email click, form, login or order |
With Wait for consent, nothing is sent and no cookie is set until the visitor agrees, through Hive Mail's banner, your own banner calling HiveMail.consent(true) or a consent plugin using the WP Consent API. A visitor who declines or withdraws has the cookie deleted and visits erased. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control are respected by default (details); administrators, order pages and account pages are left out; visit details are deleted after 90 days; nothing leaves your site.
The optional banner asks about Hive Mail's tracking only, with equal Accept and Decline buttons and a Privacy choices button. It does not control Google Analytics, ad pixels, chat widgets or videos; for those use a full cookie-consent plugin, which Hive Mail follows (the banner, cookie-consent plugin).
The AI assistant #
If you turn the AI assistant on, what people type goes to the AI company whose key you entered, together with names and numbers the assistant looks up on your site (list, campaign and automation names, counts, subjects and results; never contact names or email addresses). Chats and the plans it proposes stay on your site. Tell your team not to paste personal data into it unless your own policies allow it. See The AI assistant for exactly what is sent. This is information, not legal advice.
Checklist #
- Decide where your subscribers and visitors live.
- Decide how you collect permission (forms, imports, checkout) and use the consent box and double opt-in where needed.
- Check unsubscribe wording and business details in Settings: Compliance.
- Choose email tracking (per contact, anonymous, off) and visitor tracking (Off, Anonymous, Full) and how visitors agree.
- Write the real purpose in the banner text; avoid "to give you the best experience".
- Copy the suggested text from Settings > Privacy > Policy Guide into your privacy policy and adapt it (What data Hive Mail stores).
- Test in a private window and check nothing is recorded before consent.
- Plan how you will answer export and erase requests (Privacy tools).
Warning: Hive Mail does not promise that your site follows any law. A setting, banner or suggested text does not by itself meet a legal duty.
Next: Turn on visitor tracking, Uninstalling and Delete all data.
This is information, not legal advice.
