What are the best/safest email services to use in your opinion?

[Badran]

Just curious as to what people think is the best/safest email service.

I’ve used outlook for a long while now, and I’m a fan of the ability to create different email aliases, as I suppose it lets you put the main one to sign into the account less at risk since you can have one alias you don’t share to sign into the Microsoft account, while the others can be used for various other sites like social media while they also can’t be used to sign into the Microsoft account.

I just wish there was a way to view and manage which devices are signed into the account, since it’s baffling that a security feature a lot of services have isn’t here (I think it’s only available for business/school accounts, but not for the common consumer)

You only really have a sign me out everywhere button, or to change your password to force sign outs, and for some services and browsers, it can take up to 24 hours for them to be signed out!

[AdvancedSetup]

Review your email and Office choices

Quit Gmail for free encrypted email - Tutanota
Why ProtonMail Is More Secure Than Gmail
LibreOffice - Free and open source office suite

 

[NewTricks]

@Badran, this may or may not be what you are looking for, but if you want to break out of your comfort zone slowly, you might try Tutanota Mail. It's German and encrypted both sending and receiving. This is part of a "welcome" tutorial I received which outlines some process.

"Tutanota lets you send encrypted emails to any email address in the world - automatically if the recipient uses Tutanota as well, or via a shared password if the recipient uses another service. Even emails sent or received unencrypted are stored encrypted on our own servers based in Germany.

Please browse the Tutanota FAQ and the support forum to learn everything you want to know about your new secure mailbox:

• FAQ
• Support Forum

Search on encrypted data

Tutanota lets you search your encrypted mailbox locally on your device to guarantee the confidentiality of your data. Please click on the search bar at the top. Standard search goes back one month into the past. To unlock unlimited search, unlimited offline mode and lots of other neat features, a paid subscription of Tutanota is required. You can check your subscription and update it under Settings -> Subscription.

You will find more information on how to improve your search results here.

Support

At Tutanota we enable everyone in the world to own a secure mailbox. With millions of users, we can not answer everyone’s questions via email. In case you cannot find answers to your questions in our FAQ, please ask the community. Direct support via email is available to paying users only.

Perfect for professional use.

As a business professional, you can save time and money by hosting all your company emails with end-to-end encryption on Tutanota's secure servers, based in Germany: Use your own domain, manage users, whitelabel Tutanota for your business, and place the login on your own website. Find out more about Tutanota's comprehensive business features on our website.

Stay secure,
Your Tutanota Team"

I was nervous at first, but that quickly resolved. The only part which you need to pay attention to is your "shared password" with people who don't use Tutanota mail. Obviously, you would not want to put that in a text message or email, but use another means to communicate it. (I chose US mail)

For an overall transition experience, I don't have answers, because it means the recipient must have and enter that password to view your mail. Perhaps someone here can speak to that. I can say the interface is absent of color beside maroon, and nothing is moving or distracting. I find it refreshing. No backgrounds, plain Jane.

The free version is not supported, which means if there's any problem, a bit of tough luck. The paid version is affordable I think the equivalent of $5 a month. If you start with like minded family or friends, you'll be on your way.

[Badran]

Tutanota has been one I’ve been thinking about for the past week, though I saw a review on the AppStore which complains about how they’ll delete inactive accounts.

Im wondering what counts as an inactive account. I don’t normally send many emails at all, so would my account get lumped into the inactive account pile, or would it be fine since I would be opening and reading emails.

[AdvancedSetup]

I would try it out if you want to try it. Once you do decide you want to keep it then either actively set it as your default mail app and use it daily or pay for an account.

 

[NewTricks]

Hello @Badran,

The following text is from Tutanota FAQS which does not define "inactive accounts" other than a time period. FAQS

"Free of charge accounts are deleted after an inactive period of six months. A regular login is necessary to prevent automatic deletion. We delete such accounts for security reasons and also to allow us offering free of charge Tutanota accounts at all. However, the email addresses of such deleted accounts may be taken over into another paid account and re-used as email aliases or additional user addresses if you still have the valid login credentials." *

7 hours ago, Badran said:

would it be fine since I would be opening and reading emails.

This sounds like others have Tutanota and want you to engage with them. Since Tutanota requires a log in each time you send/read, that means you would prevent the automatic deletion.

Other email providers also delete after you don't use their platform for a certain length of time. But you'll also note above * that even a free account address can be revived and transitioned into a paid one. I've been able to maintain a free account and add people I never would have expected to use it. I'm sure you can find reviews/complaints or drawbacks of any secure mail platform-however the only hope is that it's close enough. "Something is better than nothing."

[Badran]

Thank you for the responses!

I set up an account today, unfortunately it needs to wait for up to 48 hours before it can send/receive messages. Going to continue to try and learn more about it, as it seems there are features that the app itself doesn’t support like payment options.

Maybe you can add a recovery email via the browser client? I’ll have to find out soon.

[NewTricks]

Curious, there was no 48 hour wait with mine. Maybe phone app vs desktop have different rules. 

45 minutes ago, Badran said:

Maybe you can add a recovery email via the browser client? I’ll have to find out soon.

I am not 100% sure this supports any other "recovery" options. My only caution would be to "save" your password in a fool proof way because they do not "reset" - ever.  The account would be locked & inaccessible, period. 

It's taken me months to learn & remember my 22 character password. My longest yet! 😉

[AdvancedSetup]

8 hours ago, NewTricks said:

It's taken me months to learn & remember my 22 character password. My longest yet! 😉

You need to kick it up a notch @NewTricks I updated mine to about 36 characters after reading some of the ongoing updates to quantum computing coming down the line.  😄

That is to open my Keepass database

 

[NewTricks]

Yes, you obviously are serious about your password length-that puts you in a small, select class. The rest of us struggle to attain that. Change occurs incrementally. I'll give you a scientific reference when I'm fully conscious. Keep up the fine example.

Once I had a password hacked and since then, I've upped my game. Never used 123 or password but reused and now check 'em regularly. All strong. 

[NewTricks]

Stages of Change

Using this to keep on track. Still in stage 3 with passwords. 

Edited May 15 by NewTricks
Clarity

[Badran]

I finally got full access to Tutanota, so now I can properly start using this. I’m going to look up whether or not they support any sort of recovery email options with their premium options. Im good at keeping information like the recovery code hidden in a spot only I remember, but having a recovery email also helps put my mind at ease a bit more.

Ive already been using proton mail for about a month now, and I do like it more than Gmail, since you’re not getting bombarded with advertisements in your inbox, and it gets rid of trackers. I just need to move some more of my accounts over and I’ll be set.

The only thing I think gmail has a leg up over is the audio notification options on the app, as you’ve got the choice of a bunch of different sounds as opposed to using the default IOS notification sound. This is incredibly minor though.

Edited May 17 by Badran

[NewTricks]

6 hours ago, Badran said:

I finally got full access to Tutanota

FANTASTIC @Badran

 

6 hours ago, Badran said:

the audio notification options on the app

we do have our favorite ways of using things-😊

Edited May 17 by NewTricks
grammar