My #firefox and #duckduckgo experiment is going well. But email feels like a bigger commitment along this #degoogle path. I looked at the usual suspects like Proton, Mailfence, Fastmail,etc. I also ran across #disroot (https://disroot.org). This is much more than just email! They offer #NextCloud#Cryptpad#Jitsi and all sorts of other stuff. A group of loosely aggregated open source stuff, and feels less seamless as a result. But definitely interesting. Anyone have any experience with them?
@brian I've been a Proton mail user for a few years and I can recommend it.
I like that they're OK with having you use the bridge on the desktop and their app on mobile rather than allowing the use of POP/SMTP/IMAP. Any "encrypted" mail system that lets you use POP/SMTP/IMAP can't really be encrypted in a way that Proton mail doesn't have the contents. It's a very small extra step you have to take when setting it up, but I think it's proof that they are at least willing to take the right steps.
They also make it really easy to setup your PGP keys. I attach my public key to every email by default, and I've had people respond saying "you're the only person I've ever seen to actually send a public key!"
This is a helpful review, thanks very much! Disroot recommends using Mailvelope via an extension to do signing and/or encryption. I’ve also experimented with Tutanota. They both get the job done, but not as elegantly as Proton. Encryption is a nice-to-have, but my highest priority requirements are supporting multiple domains (which requires that I go to the “Proton Unlimited” tier) and not having my email used for targeted ads.
Oh snap! No, that link was definitely wrong. Thanks very much for the catch! Good eye. Obviously, I’m still very new to the service and figuring it out if the name hadn’t fully stuck…noob mistake.
Yup, exactly. I’m not adverse to paying something, but I need support for multiple domains. That pushes me to the Proton Unlimited tier, which is a little salty.
@brian I’m Firefox, DuckDuckGo, and Proton for email, calendar, VPN, password manager and Drive.
I do use iCloud for photo/videos and I use an iCloud email as a backup address and to subscribe to things with an alias. iCloud has added some useful features to their email. You can also access all of it from iCloud.com of course if you prefer browser based.
@brian Are you in the Apple ecosystem? I’ve been using iCloud Mail since it was MobileMe. It’s not perfect, but it works well enough and has good integration with everything else Apple. I moved my personal domain over to iCloud+ earlier this year and it’s been fine as well.
Not really. iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, but no Mac. And I don’t really use any Apple services. I just logged into my iCloud account and I don’t even have a iCloud email address! I used my domain email to create my Apple ID.
I didn’t know you could attach custom domains to iCloud Mail. Could I do multiple?
The thing that turns me off from Apple services is that it feels like they reeeeely want you to use an app to access anything. I prefer browser based for a lot of things.
@brian looks like they support up to 5 domains now; think that must have increased at some point because I think it used to be less.
I can’t speak to how good the web client on iCloud.com is these days for day-to-day use, but I can say it’s gotten a lot better over the years. You can access everything through iCloud.com nowadays; mail, calendar, contacts, files, photos etc.
Thanks, this is great info and I never would have considered it otherwise. To be honest, it feels a little like “out of the frying pan and into the fire”, but the price & stability/longevity is attractive enough to give it a look.
@brian YW! And yeah I totally get it. I used to have my domain at Google apps or whatever they called it back then; eventually weened myself off those google services by just having my domain email forward to my iCloud mailbox and starting to use the rest of the iCloud suite. It’s been a bit bumpy at times but I at least feel a bit more comfortable that Apple isn’t scanning everything I do to market shit to me. 😂 at least with the domain email I can move again easy enough if I ever need to.
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