Gmail and message protection
Gmail protection checks recent inbox messages for risk indicators. Message Protection checks supported messaging-app notifications. These features have different permissions and coverage.
Enable Gmail protection
Gmail protection runs on a scheduled cycle, roughly every 15 minutes. It does not scan email in real time as messages arrive.
- Open Preferences, or menu > Detection preferences.
- Turn on Gmail Email Protection.
- Follow Google's account and authorisation prompts.
- Read the requested access and approve it if you want the feature.
- Return to Argus and check that protection is enabled.
Google authorisation permits reading messages and modifying their mailbox labels so you can move a flagged message to spam. This is separate from signing into Argus with Google.
Argus queues an initial check and schedules further checks at roughly 15-minute intervals. Android scheduling, connectivity, and account authorisation can delay them; this is not an immediate scan of every arriving email.
Checks cover a limited set of recent inbox messages, up to 50 per check, and normally skip messages already processed. This is not a full scan of every folder or your entire mailbox history.
Review flagged email
- Tap Gmail Protection on the dashboard.
- Open a flagged email's review action.
- Read the sender, subject, risk reasons, and message text.
- Review attachment names if shown, without opening unknown attachments.
Email text may be shortened in the review. A listed attachment name does not mean its file contents were fully scanned.
Flagging a message does not automatically delete it or move it to spam. An empty flagged-email list means there are no stored findings to display; it does not prove every email has been checked or is safe.
Move a message to spam
Use Mark as spam for the flagged message. Wait for Moved to Gmail spam before assuming the action succeeded. The message should leave the Argus flagged list after a successful move.
If you moved a legitimate email by mistake, use Gmail's own controls to review Spam and restore it.
If Argus asks you to re-enable Gmail protection to grant access, return to Detection preferences, turn the feature off and on, and complete Google's authorisation. Then retry the action.
Disable Gmail protection
Turn off Gmail Email Protection in Detection preferences. This stops scheduled Gmail protection work. It does not delete previously stored findings or undo a message already moved to spam.
If you also want to revoke Google's permission, review Argus's access in your Google Account's third-party connections settings. Disabling a feature in Argus and revoking account access are separate actions.
Gmail troubleshooting
| Symptom | What to do |
|---|---|
| Authorisation was cancelled or not granted | Retry the toggle and complete the Google prompt if you want protection. |
| Google blocks access or an account cannot authorise | Record the visible error and contact support or your account administrator. Do not bypass Google's warning. |
| Enabled but no alerts arrive | Check internet access, the selected Google account, notifications, and Android background restrictions. Allow time for scheduled work. No alert is not proof that a message is safe. |
| A message was not flagged | It may be outside the recent inbox checks, already processed, or not identified as risky. Verify suspicious requests independently. |
| Mark as spam fails | Check connectivity and re-authorise Gmail protection if prompted. Confirm the outcome in Gmail. |
| Findings remain after switching protection off | The switch stops future checking; it is not a stored-data deletion command. |
| Repeated errors | Use the Gmail diagnostics share control if support requests it; review the file and recipient before sending. |
Enable Message Protection
- Open App preferences, or Preferences.
- Turn on App Notifications and allow Android notification permission if requested.
- When directed to Android's Notification access screen, enable Argus Message Protection.
- Return to Argus.
The current feature processes notification text from Google Messages and Samsung Messages. The source messaging app must post a notification containing message text. Hidden or empty previews, silenced conversations, or messages that generate no notification may not be assessed.
This is not access to the entire SMS history and does not cover every messaging app.
Two different notification permissions
- Permission to send notifications: lets Argus show warnings.
- Notification access: lets Argus receive supported message-notification content for checking.
If you want to stop notification-based message checks, revoke Argus Message Protection in Android's Notification access settings. Turning off warning notifications alone should not be treated as revoking that access.
Respond to a suspicious-message warning
Read the warning without following the suspicious link. If a message claims to be from a familiar organisation or person, verify it through an independently known app, website, or contact method.
A warning does not mean Argus deleted the message or prevented every possible interaction with it. Use the messaging app's own block or report controls as appropriate.
Privacy and family sharing
Email and supported message content are assessed on the phone. Flagged-email reviews retain information including message text and attachment names on that phone.
If Share flagged email subjects and senders is enabled, family summaries can include sender, subject, date, and risk status. Family email summaries do not include message bodies or attachments. See privacy and permissions for the wider app's online processing and sharing.