Anyone knows of a free alternative to gmail that works equally well or better, but is more privacy-conscious?
I tried the promising Proton mail, but it didn’t integrate with Apple Mail app, so I had to put it away.
Define privacy?
I don’t believe there is such a thing as end to end privacy with email, unless you are sending and receiving only within a closed system.
You’re absolutely right, Steve. However, most people must rely on a global system of communication.
That said, we need to avoid systems that exist solely for the purpose of harvesting our private information and making billions of dollars every quarter, selling that information to advertisers (which is so dumb of said advertisers, because people, like me, never pay any attention to their ads).
So, there is a clear difference in minding the customer’s privacy between such products as Chrome versus Firefox or Brave, Google Search versus DuckDuckGo, etc. If we didn’t need privacy and security, why would anybody want https versus http?
The Proton mail, which I’ve mentioned before, comes very close to the standards I subscribe to, with the main disadvantage of not being integrated with Apple Mail.
I use proton mail. I think it is great. I do have a paid account though which lets you integrate with Apple Mail (via a Bridge application) - works well. If it’s something you need it might be worth the few bucks per month?
I have certainly considered that, Stuart. But, being a retiree, living off of the government benefits only, I must conserve my very limited budget. That’s the main reason why I avoid any and all subscription plans, which can add up very quickly and bury me, financially.
In terms of free options how about your iCloud email? There are options out there like Proton, but they tend not to be very user friendly. Does this mean you do not have a website with hosting? If you did, surely you could have SSL enabled email through that at no extra cost. You may find something here https://www.cloudwards.net/most-secure-email/
Personally I find one of the biggest issues here is having so many logins and purchases tied to a specific email address if you have used something for several years.
Thanks, Ashley, I will check out the link you provided, as soon as I get home.
As Ashley suggested iCloud is excellent and I have several addresses with apple. The only limitation is their spam protection, which is very limited.
I removed myself from everything google long ago - I now use outlook email for various levels of ‘shield accounts’ as MS is far more privacy conscious than google and everything is free & apple mail compatible.
I’ve used Apple Mail app exclusively since 1994 (with a variety of email services, like Earthlink, Verizon and Gmail) and yet, somehow, I was never aware of the free iCloud email service! But then again, I haven’t been looking for the gmail replacement until recently, so that may explain my ignorance.
I think I will go with iCloud. Thank you, Ashley, Nick, for opening my eyes.
You can send attachments up to 5 gigs in Mail using maildrop, which is linked to iCloud https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202305