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Comment by ddalex | Hacker News Reader

Thanks for the pointers. I understand well how the OAuth scopes work. What I don't understand is - if the server doesn't handle my email, why does this need to be hosted on a server? Package it as a browser extension and this way I can be sure that my email is not leaked.

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Wow. This is an eye-opening comment.

I like your point. It's fascinating.

Right now, I need to look into the implications of running DarwinMail as a browser extension would be. To be sure your security would be maintained, the core functionality is not lost and DarwinMail remains usable (landing page with about, features, testimonials, pricing etc).

Thank you for your suggestion!

So the actual problem is that it seems to you you that one can't SELL a product as a browser extension. However Grammarly is a beautiful showcase of an actual product as an extension, with payment and everything you need (landing, testimonials, upsells, etc).

But browser extensions can't be used on mobile?

perhaps not on mobile chrome (it's been a while since I've tried) but certainly on mobile firefox and mobile samsung (which is chrome rebadged).

I'd not say - go and build this as an extension on mobile; but if you have the code built to run as an extension, it should be fairly quick to repackage it as a standalone mobile app, i.e. get a dedicated instance of the browser that runs your app).

Another successful example of this model is LastPass - they deliver the functionality via browser extensions and mobile apps, but they handle all the payment and marketing and CRM via their own product site.

That is a very good point!

Thank you for the feedback!

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