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FairEmail: Open-source, privacy friendly email app for Android

email.faircode.eu

51–60 of 121 posts

Re: FairEmail: Open-source, privacy friendly email app for Android

#51
Is anyone else getting this error on F-Droid?

    Download failed!
    The requested file was not found.
    https://f-droid.org/repo/eu.faircode.email_1518.apk
How can I download this app? I use K-9 Mail at the moment, but I'd like to try this to see if it's any better.

Re: FairEmail: Open-source, privacy friendly email app for Android

#52

I have been using this email app for months, with 4 different email providers. It works like a charm, it's snappy, and privacy-oriented (preview links before opening them, block pixel tracking, and lot of other clever features.) Oh and the developer is very active (several versions a week), very kind and answers very quickly. One of the best bargains. (I bought the full version)

> preview links before opening them

I noticed this feature in the default macOS mail App too but I'm not quite sure I understand correctly. If you click on the little arrow next to a link, it opens the website in a little window -- from a privacy/security POV, is that really helpful? Wouldn't the sender know you read the E-Mail if my computer sends a request to their server using that URL, no matter if it's for a preview window or my actual browser (except the latter has cookies etc)

Re: FairEmail: Open-source, privacy friendly email app for Android

#53
post #29

I'm using F-droid K-9 and am happy with it. What would be the point of switching? If the new thing is flat-out better then it might be worth considering, but I haven't seen any explanation of this.

IMAP IDLE push support for any server that supports it, good configurability in settings for a wide range of advanced power user features, and good private-by-default settings (avoiding and blocking tracking pixels/images in emails, and stripping known tracking parameters from links you click, etc.) Those would be my top 3 personally.

Doesn't k9 already supports IDLE? I kinda remember researching about this years ago, unfortunately, IDLE on it's own is no equivalent to native push notifications that use google services. Either way, it was just a hobby research and I might be wrong.

Re: FairEmail: Open-source, privacy friendly email app for Android

#55
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMAP IDLE push support for any server that supports it, good configurability in settings for a wide range of advanced power user features, and good private-by-default settings (avoiding and blocking tracking pixels/images in emails, and stripping known tracking parameters from links you click, etc.) Those would be my top 3 personally.

Doesn't k9 already supports IDLE? I kinda remember researching about this years ago, unfortunately, IDLE on it's own is no equivalent to native push notifications that use google services. Either way, it was just a hobby research and I might be wrong.

Last time I looked into this, K9 didn't work in background continuously (since Android requires displaying a notification for that, and K9 never implemented it). And nothing seems to be happening in this regard.

However, I wasn't able to make FairMail to deliver without a considerable delay either—despite it displaying a notification and being excluded from ‘battery optimization’. But apparently it's just me.

Re: FairEmail: Open-source, privacy friendly email app for Android

#57
It's interesting that the FAQ says:

> FairEmail will send the Autocrypt header for use by other email clients, but only for signed and encrypted messages because too many email servers have problems with the often long Autocrypt header.

That might be out of date, now that Autocrypt version 1.1 has been published:

> the 1.0 version of the Level 1 spec mandated RSA 3072 keys for ecosystem reasons and only the more recent 1.1 version from February 2019 now mandates that the new default scheme for creating Autocrypt keys is Curve 25519 keys.

https://autocrypt.org/faq.html#why-also-rsa3072-and-not-only...

Re: FairEmail: Open-source, privacy friendly email app for Android

#58
post #9
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm using the FDroid version of K9. What do you like from FairEmail over K9?

I've been on the Google Play version of K9 for years and I must say that it was perfectly fine. I changed to FairEmail as I thought having a very old version of an email client might not be ideal from a security perspective. At the moment the biggest change from my workflow is the UI, which looks better that the old K9. Now I am not switching to K9 F-Droid version just because I am lazy to configure everything again…

K9 has an export settings feature.

Re: FairEmail: Open-source, privacy friendly email app for Android

#59
post #39

Am I a weirdo for using POP mail on an Android? I don't trust any third party with storing my email. Is there a reason why I should move to IMAP? I mean I know the technical reasons. But it says on the FairEmail page: "FairEmail might be for you if you value your privacy." and also says "works with virtually all email providers, including Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo!" For me, privacy is more than what's on the client -…

FairEmail does support POP3 accounts.

Re: FairEmail: Open-source, privacy friendly email app for Android

#60
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm using the FDroid version of K9. What do you like from FairEmail over K9?

One great feature is that when you add images in FairEmail, it removes metadata, renames the file and other privacy-preserving data.

Unless that is optional, it's a bug, not a feature. Attachments should never be manipulated unless asked.
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