What's the best Android email app? Is Thunderbird out for Android?

[MamaBear2014]

I want to start doing email on my phone. So far, all I see is the Verizon email app. Ehhhh...

So what's good and free?

Is Thunderbird out there stand-alone for Android? Or would it have to be done through Firefox, as a plugin/add-on?

 

[Crashdamage]

My absolute favorite go-to email app is AquaMail. AquaMail has configuration options out the wazoo and has a lot of little tricks to make handling email quick and easy. Supports all email services (except EAS). Very fast, rock-stable, and has a configuration backup feature so you don't have to set it up again when changing devices. Excellent support via built-in help and a user forum monitored by the developer. Under constant development and updating. Not free but only $5. I've tried a lot of email clients and AquaMail is the best yet.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...s/details?id=org.kman.AquaMail&token=MtVBD_0F

For something a little simpler and free K9 or Type Mail are good. There's many others to choose from.

No Thunderbird for Android.


Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[MamaBear2014]

Thanks Crashdamage!

 

[DrGerryC]

I've got a Samsung S4 mini and tried Aquamail. I liked the multiple options, BUT it is undependable!
My issues were:
If I had my laptop and my phone on the same wireless network, Aquamail would not send any emails. Always gave a "network error"
Aquamail account setting greyed out the option for IMAP, saying that "server does not support IMAP". That's wrong, I'm on AT&T and I know they support IMAP. (yes, I had the account setup properly)

All other functions seemed to be OK.

I tried to go to the Aquamail forum to get some help, but it never would send me an authorization for my email. (yes, I looked in the spam)

So, I deleted it. Will look elsewhere

 

[tsells]

I've got a Samsung S4 mini and tried Aquamail. I liked the multiple options, BUT it is undependable!
My issues were:
If I had my laptop and my phone on the same wireless network, Aquamail would not send any emails. Always gave a "network error"
Aquamail account setting greyed out the option for IMAP, saying that "server does not support IMAP". That's wrong, I'm on AT&T and I know they support IMAP. (yes, I had the account setup properly)

All other functions seemed to be OK.

I tried to go to the Aquamail forum to get some help, but it never would send me an authorization for my email. (yes, I looked in the spam)

So, I deleted it. Will look elsewhere

Aquamail works perfectly for me with my computer and phone on the same Wi-Fi network.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[edistopre]

Another vote for Aquamail--have used it for years with no issues.

To DrGerryC--regarding your troubles with it, have you tried contacting the developer directly? Any time I have had a question and emailed him, I have received a high-quality reply within 24 hours--usually much less. If you like Aquamail otherwise except for the issues you had, you may want to give this a try.

I've got a Samsung S4 mini and tried Aquamail. I liked the multiple options, BUT it is undependable!
My issues were:
If I had my laptop and my phone on the same wireless network, Aquamail would not send any emails. Always gave a "network error"
Aquamail account setting greyed out the option for IMAP, saying that "server does not support IMAP". That's wrong, I'm on AT&T and I know they support IMAP. (yes, I had the account setup properly)

All other functions seemed to be OK.

I tried to go to the Aquamail forum to get some help, but it never would send me an authorization for my email. (yes, I looked in the spam)

So, I deleted it. Will look elsewhere

 

[Crashdamage]

+1 What edistropre said. I've used AquaMail on several devices and several accounts (but not AT&T) with zero reliability problems on mobile data or any WiFi network. My gut feeling is your problem is not actually with AquaMail but with your WiFi network.

Also, I and people I know who joined the AquaMail forum got confirmation emails with no problem. I think mine came in seconds.

Email the developer. He really does do a great job of supporting AquaMail.

B

Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[electricpete]

I've never tried Aquamail, and I don't intend to try it. I use gmail because email security is important to me. I'm not going to hand over the keys to my email to just anyone. I can get email from any source into my gmail app.

Yes, there are some who don't even trust google. They do in fact use your email info to support targeted advertizing, but they are 100% upfront about it. Putting a relevant ad in front of me is not something I worry about. Giving info which might be used to steal my identity to unknown individuals is. I don't expect everyone to view things the same way I do. There is always a tradeoff of convenience vs security. My personal opinion the is that you gain a lot of convenience in entrusting google to meet the majority of your potentially-sensitive needs and you gain security when you avoid scattering your personal info to multiple individual app developers.

 

[Crashdamage]

I see what you're saying, and I kinda agree in principle. But the reality is that once an email is sent it's out there, it's monitored by 3-letter government agencies and who knows who else. I'm far more worried about that than the slim and none chance that a developer is putting out an email client so they can spy on my electronic correspondence. They're too busy for that and there's nothing to see in my email anyway.

I had a small business for years and my wife still has hers. I know what it's like and I like supporting hardworking individuals who put out quality work.

Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[electricpete]

To each his own. Security is full of grey areas. Regarding the NSA, my level of concern that they will steal my identity or try to hijack financial accounts is pretty low. More importantly I can't do anything about the NSA but I CAN control what programs I install on my phone and I would never consider existence of NSA as any basis to conclude that I should be less careful when reviewing permissions of apps installed to my phone. As for "too busy", it doesn't have to be a human scanning your emails. It's easy to imagine that someone savvy enough to develop email client can develop programmatic rules for recognizing sensitive info and forwarding it to external storage location and the human is notified only when enough pieces of sensitive info on a given individual are collected.

Email is involved in a lot of activites related to security of other accounts:
* email is sometimes used as part of identify verification related to other accounts.
* many accounts with email on record can have a password email reset link emailed to the email of record (so anyone with access to email can reset the password).
* Email is also one of the primary means which we receive notifications about of suspicious activity on credit cards, bank accounts etc (which could be easily intercepted by someone with access to your email account).

When you combine all the above with the ability to mine personal info not only from incoming/outoing/historical emails but also from device storage, it seems a little scary to me. And yes there are often barriers other than email (SMS notifications, phone notifications) but somehow people still get their accounts hacked and their identities stolen so to my thinking we should not give up any of these barriers lightly.

Is putting out a good (even awesome) product enough make a dev trustworthy? I think you know the answer if you have been following comments about ES file Explorer on that other android forum.

Sorry if this comes off overly-argumentative or fear-mongering. I'm just giving my view of things. I don't claim to be any expert.

Also I should clarify that I’m just mentioning these things as GENERAL principles related to security/permission management because it seemed absent to me initially. I’m certainly not making any judgement on this particular product or dev as I don’t know anything about them. If you’ve followed the developer / product closely enough to have a good feeling about him, that certainly counts as a big factor in the equation.

 

[Crashdamage]

OK...security is such a huge subject...but to try wrap this up...

I agree in principle with what you're saying. And I really do take security seriously but I'm not wearing a tinfoil hat. Probably the last point you made sums up my feelings about this as far as it applies to the subject of this thread. I've used AquaMail long enough to have a good feeling about the product and developer.

I'm curious...what's up with ES File Explorer? I haven't heard anything. Do you have a link?

Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[electricpete]

Earlymon has been warning everyone about ES File Explorer. Usually it shows up in side conversations on threads. Here is one of the less detailed:
Android Apps - Android Forums at AndroidCentral.com
"Does it route your Dropbox login through its own servers in China like ES? "
He has gone into a lot more detail in other threads but the search feature is letting me down.

 

[electricpete]

I just posted a thread asking for more details on the ES question (since it always seemed a big enough deal to warrant its own thread rather than just side discussions). Here is that new thread:
http://androidforums.com/threads/es-file-explorer-privacy-security-concerns.914178/

 

[Crashdamage]

Thanks! I'll be watching that. Really curious about what Early Mon said. And I'm glad now that I use FX File Explorer!

Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[Britt Ross]

Unfortunately...the authors of all these cookie cutter email apps to this date can not hold a candle to thunderbird and it's useful productive features..including Outlook for Android.
Specifically the full option/or even partial option to create a re-useable template that will include a file attachment.

To me this cripples an email client.
Better off sticking with the good ole Gmail app and forgo installing another one on top of your already depleted storage space.

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

I have had aquamail for years but got fed up with it. I have installed BlueMail. It is free I think. But I love it. Really easy to configure and adds email addresses from all major brands. I heartily recommend it.

 

[2440SAdams]

I am using the Netease mailmaster. I think it's enough for me.

 

[maildroiddev]

We modeled our app in 2010 after Thunderbird and Outlook, you may want to look at MailDroid. We don't spin or tout the app as much as others, but many users have used it over the years (and we don't have servers and are direct to your mail server)