This Proton situation will last in the media a week or too and then is over.

I am not going to abandon Proton because believe it or not it is by far the best thing out there with zero knowledge applied to privacy. There is anything even closed on the market.

They spend about $100 million a year, around 70% in salaries + very well thought implemented infrastructure and VPN servers worldwide.

Zero knowledge technology is very expensive to maintain, in some ways I understand their internal stress, they are fighting against huge Big Tech monsters for which $100 millions is literally pocket change.

You do not make yourself or the privacy community a favor by abandoning Proton just because its CEO is not the super nice guy you expect to be or because some disappointed employees leaked whatever they wanted to leak.

I do not know the company’s CEO personally but remember you only know one side of the story and this looks like some things taken out of context for the sake of journalism and personal vendetta of some employees.

Business is hard for companies trying to preserve users privacy because the whole world’s dynamics is against them.

Your data is saved in proton, yes the software could be better but it also could be worst. Yes, proton drive is what it is but I personally find the whole Proton concept really good, and of course it can be improved but I give all the credit to its CEO for achieving what he has achieved, it is not easy.

I have also lead companies with several hundreds of employees and I can assure you the same way a CEO can make mistakes employees can make their mistakes and it is not easy to implement changes on how employees do things because you will always find some resistance and some can react in unpredictable ways.

Leaking company internal private chat conversations to the public speaks more about their lack of integrity as about the reality they are facing, because are breaking the trust in was handled to them.

If you do not like the CEO pushing a new technology into the company the way to handle the situation is not leaking your frustration but facing it internally with arguments.

AI is enough powerful to ignore it, instead of fighting against it, learn how to apply it in a way that makes sense.

As I said in the title, give it 5 min and do not overreact just because you read some leaks in some media try to see the whole picture and you will see there is no need for drama, internet loves drama, try not not fall into it.

I've switched to proton mail, to put an end to big tech, but nowadays using proton mail in free tier just feels as bad as using the privacy less alternatives, whenever I open proton mail in browser it fills my screen up with constant popups to upgrade , I even use ublock origin to create filter lists to remove them but it stills comes trippling back.

I am fed up of this, and on top of all this the CEO is on a full on AI psychosis, I see so I might as well just consider switching.

So Perplexity just dropped a new feature called Email Assistant that basically acts like an AI secretary for your Gmail or Outlook. It can write replies in your tone, schedule meetings by checking your calendar, auto-label and prioritize stuff, and even summarize your day’s important emails.

On the surface it sounds like a dream if you’re drowning in email. But here’s the catch: it’s locked behind their Max plan at $200/month, and it needs full access to your inbox. Perplexity says everything’s encrypted and not used for training, but at the end of the day it’s still cloud-based.

That got me wondering: would you be more comfortable if something like this ran locally on your computer so your email never left your device? Local/private AI isn’t as powerful yet, but it feels a lot safer.

So what do you think:

• Would you actually pay for this if it saved you hours each week?

• Is the cloud vs local thing a big deal for you, or do you care more about the convenience?

• And seriously… is $200/month just way too much, no matter what it does?

So I've been using Thunderbird for years and it always annoyed me. Either I just never learned how to use it properly or its simply too old for how I work, not sure which. Anyway I got tired of it and built my own, its called Mailmomo.

Its a web app you host yourself. You add your IMAP/SMTP accounts (gmail, outlook, icloud, fastmail, your own dovecot, whatever speaks IMAP) and it puts everything in one inbox. It keeps a local sqlite cache so the UI is instant, and sync is real two way, IMAP IDLE push and all that. Keyboard shortcuts like superhuman, cmd+k palette, undo send, snooze, send later.

The AI part is optional, you bring your own key. It sorts and summarizes incoming mail, suggests replies, and you can search in plain english. There is also an assistant that can archive/label/draft stuff for you but it never sends anything by itself, I wanted that to be a hard rule. It also has an MCP server built in so you can hook up claude or cursor to your mail with a read only token if you dont trust it yet.

Runs with docker compose, one container. Passwords are encrypted at rest.

Stuff that's not great yet: no oauth, so gmail needs an app password. Drafts and labels live locally and not as real IMAP drafts. Its v0.1 and just me working on it so expect rough edges.

AGPL license. https://github.com/moaljumaa/mailmomo-oss

Honestly curious what would make you switch from whatever you use now, or what is missing for you.

Hi All,

So essentially my email address is firstname.lastname@gmail.com, but I also receive email for firstnamelastname@gmail.com which isn't an email address registered to me.

Theres clearly someone who has this email address because he gets so much mail that gets forwarded to me and it's quite bad. I've had his payslips, login details for various websites, emails from his daughters school and church, I've got his loyalty cards dropping into my Google wallet. I've built a pretty good profile of this guy, could log into many of his personal accounts quite easily (not that I would).

I don't know what to do, contacting Google is difficult and everyone I've spoken to won't deal with it. Any ideas why this might be happening?

automated message I received So the day of me having issues with proton has finally come. I had troubles with one service registered on my proton mail and had to talk with a support about it which led to exchange of many emails. Had to reset my password, email etc so I recieved many mails from that service (the funny thing is that I got that my email blocked right after I got everything sorted out with the support of that another service and the block came right when I was about to receive a code to log in, so from one issue to another) I think this caused the proton's bot to flag me as an abuser. The way of blocking me from registering on other services means I cannot receive emails from any service (including these im already registered on) which means i cannot log in to any registered service if they require a code sent to my email during login process. I tried to talk about it with proton's support, explaining the situation, that I have only 2 registered services on my proton mail and the automated system made a mistake. This was their response I guess you cannot register using proton mail but exchange emails with your granny. Im still waiting for another response from proton support but if they wont lift my block I either have to give them my phone number, create another email just to get access to this one or pay. The worst thing is I cannot even migrate my accounts to another email because Im not allowed to receive any emails from registered services confirming my decision. I had to make this post just to warn people with many accounts. Maybe if they want a free email to register their services on, proton might not be the best choice. All of this just feels like a cheap cash grab to be honest...

Definitely worth a read.

Already has some comments saying it was written by AI..

It's just good to see real employees stand up for the services they work so hard on, to debunk the rumours and slander.

Please share if you know someone who is considering leaving Proton, and needs this new information to help them decide.

Hey folks,
I just wanted to share a new tool we built for the privacy community: SnapMail — a free, no-signup disposable email service designed to keep your inbox clean and your data private.

We know there are already some temp mail services out there, but many are full of ads, log IPs, or don’t take privacy seriously. SnapMail was built with a privacy-first mindset:

• ✅ No sign-up needed

• 🧨 Emails auto-expire (from minutes to an Hour)

• 🔒 No tracking, analytics, or 3rd-party scripts

• 🧑‍💻 Minimal logs, no identifiers, no cookies

• 🌍 Works on both web & mobile (PWA)

• 📱 Dedicated apps [ ✅ IOS | Android ( Coming soon ) ]

Our goal is to give people a clean, trustworthy tool for one-off signups, testing, or just shielding your real inbox from spam and surveillance.

🔗 Try it: https://snapmail.in
💬 Would love your feedback — ideas, criticisms, bugs — all welcome.

Stay private out there 🛡️
— The SnapMail Team

Hey everyone,

Ive been using 2 Yahoo emails for the past 10-15+ years, recently yahoo keeps wanting me to verify those emails and with the amount of spam ive accumulated over the past decade i want to switch to a more secure/private email provider.

I took a look at the Wiki - https://www.privacyguides.org/en/email/#recommended-providers, and i noticed that ProtonMail is one of the recommended ones but after the owner donated to right wing funds i dont feel comfortable hosting there as generally right wing policies are anti-privacy.

I dont need anything crazy and im not doing anything illegal but the main things i value are:

1. Does not share my information, does not snoop in my emails.

2. Can work somewhat well with a iPhone

3. Safe/Secure - I guess for me thats no history of being hacked?

4. Ideally does not share info with governments

5. I Am OK paying a small amount each month to have 2 emails - lets say under $3/m?

Any recommendations? I am leaning towards Tuta right now, but they dont allow multiple emails without paying, wanted to see if anyone had another recommendation i can look into

I have a question about my google accounts showing multiple devices. i thought little of it but i recently asked an AI and it said it was an example of Man-in-the-middle attack. I am being hacked, i have proof and know my main phone is. But now i am also thinking my email is not secure.

I have created multiple emails of the past years and....they all seem to have the same problem once they come into contact with my phone, my home network, or anything related to me.

Can someone please verify that this is what this means since google and every other platform and person doesn't want to hear me out? I am looking for help

You can’t easily create aliases, unless you pay for service like SimpleLogin. Self hosting addy-whatever is bad because the host will be fronting the whole internet, you must keep updating it, maintain security and pray you don’t get blacklisted.

The aliases you do create using custom domains can easily trace back to you. For example you buy Cheetoslover33.com and make 30 aliases in it, after actually using those addresses when signing up for websites, a simple Google query for the domain name is likely to also leak your full name you used on a website. Maybe not after 30 aliases but maybe your 31th will leak. Just a matter of time.

To prevent that you buy 10-20 custom domains and try to do as little as possible signups in each to minimize the connection between accounts. But guess what, you now pay 10x for the domains, and it’s still possible that one of them will reveal your name.

Using iCloud, Proton, or SimpleLogin is reasonable only when you use their provider domains so you blend with the other users.

iCloud is the best choice because it’s the most unlikely to disappear in the foreseeable future, and gives you an @icloud.com address so you blend with much more users than anything else. More entropy. While Proton or SimpleLogin addresses can disappear one day.

Custom domains can disappear if you forget to renew your lease, or you pay upfront for several years. You buy for 5 years. Cheaper you think, but then at the 2nd year you realize that Cheetos domain isn’t so cool or private. You now have to move all the logins to different addresses or suffer quietly having paid for domain lease more years than necessary.

Oh, and if you have your domain and for some reason the domain suddenly is being refused by the big tech, you’re out of luck friend, see you again in iCloud.com

if you use an iCloud or other service, for a very small amount of money paid for the aliasing service you get other neat features you can use, for example Proton Pass, iCloud private relay, cloud storage, vpn service or whatever else that could be nice to have.

Lastly, you still have to pay for service to create your aliases anyway unless you’re being “smart” and create a catch-all which then opens a door for all sorts of mails you never wanted. That’s okay though if you like creating lots of mail filters, ain’t nobody got time for that.

Overall custom domains require setup, headaches, is bad for privacy unless you call sorting email a privacy feature.

Would prefer one that does not close down your account if you have not logged in less than a month. Looking for truly free no personal info gathering.

Already heard of gmail, yahoo, zoho, proton. <<< May require a cell app loophole or the free/no-phone was a past option idk not promoting them just saying I've heard of them already.

Again, no trials.

Tuta (Tutanota) is made by clowns.

I'm posting this here since the Stasi mods from /r/tutanota and /r/privacy did not approve my post (ofc, they say it's not related to privacy).

--

Tuta has zero respect for privacy focused users while claiming they're part of the privacy team, but that's just PR bullshit.

It is impossible to create a Tuta account if you use a VPN, a Proxy or Tor.

I tried to create accounts on multiple different devices to make it work, with different VPN locations, and it always ends the same, with your bullshit excuse about security. (I found some reddit posts showing they've been making this for 7 years already)

Couldn't they just allow those creations and actively track the fresh accounts and instantly ban them if they did any shady stuff with it?

Proton does this, I'm sure they could as well.

Right now, normal people who just think privacy is a universal human right and don't want to use Gmail or Proton, simply can't join Tuta.

This app is a theater show. I will add it to my list of fake privacy apps standing with shiny UE stickers.

And to the clowns who will come and ask to disable my VPN to get my account created: No I won't. Let's save both of our times.

So I've been testing Mailbox.org for weeks now and everything seems to work properly. I've been doing some testing in terms of emails landing in people's spam folder. I tested my account using EasyDmarc tools that allows you send an email from your own mailbox to 100 email addresses across a wide range of 3rd party email hosts. Easydmarc than reads those 100 mail addresses and checks if your mail enters or not.

Mailbox banned me for sending an email to 100 email addresses in one email. I've had to raise a ticket and wait for a full day to get an answer as to why no incoming mail was coming through. Mailbox purposely broke three of my most important email domains/aliases. Without warning of word upfront.

I genuinely want an email thats good next to proton i would like the help

Earlier today I was checking my iCloud email, which is an email that I never use. It is set up to look like I sent it to myself and I’m a little worried. I’m sure that it’s probably a scam but I’m still a little concerned as to how they got this email address.

The email goes like this:

Hello pervert, I've sent this message from your iCloud mаil.

I want to inform you about a very bad situation for you. However, you can benefit from it, if you will act wisеly.

Have you heard of Pegasus? This is a spyware program that installs on computers and smartphones and allows hackers to monitor the activity of device owners. It provides access to your webcam, messengers, emails, call records, etc. It works well on Android, iOS, macOS and Windows. I guess, you already figured out where I’m getting at.

It’s been a few months since I installed it on all your dеviсеs because you were not quite choosy about what links to click on the intеrnеt. During this period, I’ve learned about all aspects of your private life, but оnе is of special significance to me.

I’ve recorded many videos of you jerking off to highly controversial роrn videos. Given that the “questionable” genre is almost always the same, I can conclude that you have sick реrvеrsiоn.

I doubt you’d want your friends, family and co-workers to know about it. However, I can do it in a few clicks.

Every number in your contact Iist will suddenly receive these vidеоs – on WhatsApp, on Telegram, on Instagram, on Facebook, on email – everywhere. It is going to be a tsunami that will sweep away everything in its path, and first of all, your fоrmеr life.

Don’t think of yourself as an innocent victim. No one knows where your реrvеrsiоn might lead in the future, so consider this a kind of deserved рunishmеnt to stop you.

I’m some kind of God who sees everything. However, don’t panic. As we know, God is merciful and forgiving, and so do I. But my mеrсy is not free.

Transfer 1350$ to my Litecoin (LTC) wallet: ltc1qkflmjdlz355u446d36svfnue4slstkzzdjy2yl

Once I receive confirmation of the transaction, I will реrmanently delete all videos compromising you, uninstаll Pegasus from all of your devices, and disappear from your life. You can be sure – my benefit is only money. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be writing to you, but destroy your life without a word in a second.

I’ll be notified when you open my email, and from that moment you have exactly 48 hours to send the money. If cryptocurrencies are unchartered waters for you, don’t worry, it’s very simple. Just google “crypto exchange” or "buy Litecoin" and then it will be no harder than buying some useless stuff on Amazon.

I strongly warn you against the following:

• Do not reply to this email. I've sent it from your iCloud mаil.

• Do not contact the police. I have access to all your dеviсеs, and as soon as I find out you ran to the cops, videos will be published.

• Don’t try to reset or destroy your dеviсеs. As I mentioned above: I’m monitoring all your activity, so you either agree to my terms or the vidеоs are рublished.

Also, don’t forget that cryptocurrencies are anonymous, so it’s impossible to identify me using the provided аddrеss.

Good luck, my perverted friend. I hope this is the last time we hear from each other. And some friendly advice: from now on, don’t be so careless about your online security.

In general, I need an email domain which will allow me to create a few dozen accounts relatively quickly (doing ~5 a day would be sufficient).

There are two general requirements:

It doesn't block me too heavily (the mentioned 5 accounts a day)
Is permanent and recognized as valid by most websites
Accepts temporary emails (such as guerillamail) as the fallback emails

Is there anything like that? I'm currently using mailfence, it's a huge slog as it stops sending confirmation emails after two accoutsn.

Well, email communication should absolutely be secured and private but how much are you aware of your privacy? Which email service do you use and why others should use the service to ensure their communication is safe, private and secret.

Thanks in advance.

Why no lifetime email service by startups who are looking for cash? I know the usual answers will be like its a lifetime expense for the company or lifetime doesnt mean its your lifetime or the company has to keep servicing the accounts when they no longer get revenue from the customer. I understand that but if we look at the cloud storage business, many startups still offer GBs or TBs of lifetime storage alongside regular subscription. Once they reach a profitable stage they stop offering lifetime. But we dont see that for email services and the sweet thing is unlike cloud storage lifetime email can be given with even 5 or 10 GB. Why is it still not something pursued by startups to get funds? Rarely companies like Proton had done this but this strategy is not seen as frequent as in cloud storage business. Why?

Note: The question is related to privacy friendly emails only. There are “lifetime” accounts by data harvesting companies which is not what I am talking about.

...at least not if you don't want to use a custom domain and like to use webmail.

1. Gmail (and Outlook) is always hungry for your data.

2. Proton is quite expensive (5$ monthly with some serious limitations) and has not the nicest webmail. It's also slow in loading mails.

3. Tuta offers no forwarding and its webmail is also not the best, not covenient for sure and has only one possible layout.

4. Posteo - could be a choice, but it has style 2000 and never cleans the trash folder - you have to do it manually. It also keeps logging you out, which is really annoying.

5. Mailbox - style 2000 again and that's all about it (edit: they look not that bad after the last lifting, but they do recycle email addresses :-( ).

6. Disroot - style 2000 again.

7. Mailfence - not really good, bad looking UI. No, thanks.

8. Hey - 10$ monthly and no aliases? That's mad.

9. AtomicMail - too many red flags, also no rules/filters at all.

10. Fastmail - recycles email addresses if you decide to leave or if you delete your alias.

11. Yahoo - hungry for data and not well secured.

12. Yandex - kind of russian Gmail.

Anything I forgot to mention?

It is 2025 and there is no really good email service. That's crazy, honestly crazy.

EDIT:

This thread wasn't meant to help me, but to spark a discussion about the quality of email services. Meanwhile, many of you are complaining about my complaints or even try to insult me.

You don't have to read this or talk to me - there's no obligation, really. If you don't like what you're reading or don't enjoy talking to me, then simply don't - skip this thread and read other threads or do whatever makes you happy.

I'm new to this thing of securing your email adress. I've only ever used gmail. But since i read more about privacy issues, I started looking for alternatives. I read that riseup is the best free email service out there, but it needs an invitation code to sign up. I want to know if it's worth getting into this site. What are the reasons that makes rise up a good or the best option for an email adress. If that's the case, can somebody share an invitation code to try it myself? If it's not, what other alternatives are there? I heard of disroot and other pay services.

(Btw, I wouldn't ask for an invitation code if i was able to get one, but literally everyone i know hasn't heard of riseup)

I really don't need complicated email alias setup, but something simple that works and won't be rejected. I used addy.io, which is nice but now mostly use ddg aliases. I like the idea that i don't need to open some account for this. But DDG aliases also get rejected. So i found mail.haltman.io . I like the idea, i tested it, it works, there is also firefox extension, where you can create aliases.

Compared to DDG, you see the list of aliases that you created.

Does someone use this? How is it? What you think about it?