Even though email is not as popular as it once was, it is still a widely used medium for corporate communications or password recovery. In this article we will discuss a couple of open source email applications.
Although most home email users use the web interface provided by each service, it may be interesting to use a clientIn this case we will ignore the clients that come by default in the operating systems and talk about other possibilities.
Advantages and disadvantages of using an email client
Unlike the web interface that allows you to interact with an external server from the browser, nn email client is an application installed on the device that allows us to manage multiple email accounts. To do this, it connects to the email servers. This allows you to download, send, receive and organize your emails.
Some features:
- Download: Emails are downloaded from the provider to the device so that they can be read and managed offline. The download can be of just the headers or of the entire content.
- Creating emails: Emails can be created and saved locally until you decide to send them.
- Organisation: The application allows you to customize the way emails are saved.
- Multi-account: The same client can work with several email accounts at the same time.
- Better user interface: Interfaces are usually better in apps than on websites.
- Security: It is possible to incorporate measures such as email encryption, two-step authentication or digital signature.
- Synchronization: Any action done on one device will be reflected on the server and on all linked devices
Advantages and disadvantages of email devices
Arguments in favor of email clients include:
- Offline access: We can work with the downloaded or locally created emails and wait for synchronization at a later time.
- Integration with the operating system: The email client can interact with other applications such as the word processor, calendar and contact managers or system notifications.
- Performance: Email clients can better handle large amounts of email because they have more powerful search and organization tools.
- Personalization: Email clients allow you to create templates and change display options among other customization features.
- Privacy & Security: Emails can be downloaded locally and stored with the security measures considered most appropriate.
The disadvantages of email clients are:
- Need for configuration: Customers are required to know and enter their account access data. This procedure must be repeated each time the client is installed.
- Updates: If the client was updated manually, the user has to take care of keeping up to date with the latest version.
- Space on disk: If you download emails, they will take up some of your storage space.
- Device dependencyo: If emails are downloaded without saving a copy on the server, access will be lost if the device is lost.
Two open source applications for emails
This Android Mail Client Replacement It is supported by the company that developed a security tool and a community of users. It has a basic version for managing emails and a paid version with additional functions.
- Unlimited account management.
- Two ways of synchronization.
- Message encryption.
- Anti-phishing measures.
- Efficient battery use.
betterbird
It is about a fork of Thunderbird that can be installed alongside it. It includes enhanced features such as multi-line message viewing, vertical tabs, resizing the header pane, viewing attachments at the top, searching by complex parameters and in encrypted archives, and working with over 500 folders. It can be installed in Flatpak format with the command:
flatpak install flathub eu.betterbird.Betterbird
In the Linux repositories and in the F-Droid app store you will find other options that may interest you.