Why I Started Sentrya
I remember my first email from over 15 years ago – a cringe-worthy Yahoo! account I made for Yahoo Messenger. By 18, I switched to Gmail for a more professional email but soon found myself flooded with spam, including the infamous Nigerian Prince scams.
Even though I always unsubscribed from unwanted emails, spam kept coming, and I became obsessed with checking and deleting emails constantly. In 2019, after entering the Data Protection industry, I learned how companies mishandle user data, selling or sharing it cheaply with third parties, including scammers. That’s when my passion for protecting personal data grew, and Sentrya was born.
How Sentrya Differs
All email providers have spam filters, but it’s a never-ending "cat and mouse" game. Spammers continually find ways around filters, no matter how advanced they are. Gmail, for example, updates its filters regularly, but spammers change tactics just as fast. Realising this wasn’t sustainable, I sought a simpler solution.
The key insight? Most people only need emails from a handful of contacts; the rest are redundant. That’s how Sentrya’s permission-based email filtering (whitelisting) was developed to stop junk at the source.
How Sentrya Works
Sentrya’s core feature is permission-based emailing rules. It scans your inbox, identifies your contacts, subscriptions, and interactions, and allows you to whitelist only the senders you need.
To counter new scams, even from legitimate providers like Gmail or Yahoo, Sentrya also lets users whitelist personal contacts. The result? I went from 250 emails (and 60 spam) a week to just 20 important emails and zero spam. It’s been over a year, and now I only get notified for important messages.
Can You Set Up Permission Rules Yourself?
Yes, you can. I’ve shared the steps on my blog, but here’s the gist:
- List the services and subscriptions you still need
- In Gmail, use the filter icon to input this list in the "Doesn’t have" field (format: {(from:sender1 OR from:sender2 OR from:sender3)})
- Set the filter to delete any emails not from these whitelisted senders
While this works, it can be time-consuming. Sentrya simplifies the process, saving you hours of research, manual filtering, and maintenance.
With Sentrya, it takes just 15 minutes to set up a comprehensive and automated system.
A Long-Term Solution
Spam, scams, and junk can overwhelm your inbox, causing many people to give up on email altogether. Permission rules give you the space to regain control of your inbox.
Additionally, companies often sell or share users’ data, increasing your risk of being exposed in a breach. A long-term solution involves sending deletion requests to companies holding your data to ensure they have nothing to sell or expose. Removing your info from data brokers is another step to protect your digital footprint.
Sentrya offers three plans:
- Free: For setting up basic permission rules
- Base ($12/month or $72/year): Offers comprehensive permission rules and helps remove personal data from the web
- Pro ($15/month or $96/year): Includes everything in Base, plus data removal from over 200 brokers and monthly breach reports
Both paid plans include a 14-day free trial, so you can try it risk-free.
To learn more, visit sentrya.net.
Thank you❤️
