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Mozilla Android Communications

Mozilla Thunderbird for Android is Almost Ready After 2 Years (itsfoss.com) 47

Posted by EditorDavid from the email-efforts dept.
An anonymous reader shared this post from the blog It's FOSS It has been more than two years since K-9 Mail (an open-source email client for Android) joined the Mozilla Thunderbird project. Instead of making a new mobile app from scratch, Mozilla decided to convert K-9 Mail slowly into the new Thunderbird Android app.

While we have known about it for some time now, we finally have something to test: Thunderbird for Android (Beta). Mozilla is looking for users to test it and plans a stable release at the end of October. The new Thunderbird app is now available on the Play Store as a beta version for user testing. So, we are closer to the stable launch than ever before.
The article includes a few screenshots of the app...

"For the functionality side, you can expect things like light/dark theme, email signature, unified inbox, ability to enable/disable contact pictures, threaded view, and opt out of data usage collection for privacy..."
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Mozilla Thunderbird for Android is Almost Ready After 2 Years More

Mozilla Thunderbird for Android is Almost Ready After 2 Years

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  • Oh thank god! (Score:4, Funny)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Monday October 07, 2024 @02:53AM (#64845037)

    It looks like Mozilla did nothing for 2 years. Which is a good thing. I was dreading they were going to f--- up K9 Mail now too, but based on the screenshots it looks no different.

  • K-9 DB export/import (Score:5, Informative)

    by alantus ( 882150 ) on Monday October 07, 2024 @02:59AM (#64845051)
    One of the great things about K-9 is how easy it is to migrate the settings to a new phone.
    Go to settings > export DB > save the file somewhere.
    Then on the new phone: settings > import DB > select the file > type in your account passwords.
    I hope they implement the same thing for Thunderbird on desktop and for Firefox on both Android and desktop.
    For Firefox the only way is to use their sync server or implement host your own (with their over-complicated solution).
    I know they provide a docker image for this, but come on, this should be way easier.

    • For Firefox you can move the profile. It isn't user very friendly but it is supported. https://support.mozilla.org/en... [mozilla.org]

      How I found this information: Go to help / move to a new device, it takes you to a page asking you to create an account. There is an FAQ down the page, one item is "can I move to another computer without a Mozilla account" (or something like that).

      • That's with desktop Firefox and Thunderbird but on mobile not so much... for mobile the suggestion would probably be to use account sync (works on FF, not yet on TB).

    • Does docker run on Android yet?
      Or do I need a Linux VM on Android to host a docker?

      Asking for a friend.

  • Mozilla added default-on "telemetry" (Score:5, Informative)

    by TheNameOfNick ( 7286618 ) on Monday October 07, 2024 @03:10AM (#64845077)

    https://github.com/thunderbird... [github.com]

    You cannot avoid it. If you turn it off, the horse has already left the barn.

    Disable an anti-tracking plugin that doesn't track for tracking - check. Track without user consent - check. Mozilla being Mozilla.

  • FairEmail? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Skinkie ( 815924 ) on Monday October 07, 2024 @04:41AM (#64845133) Homepage
    FairEmail [github.com] is something I put my trust in.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      Was about to post this here. Hands down the single best email client for power users on android. You can make it simple, or you can do some very complex things with it.

      One thing to remember is that if you need OAuth (google login), you want to grab the github version. Last I checked, F-droid one didn't have it.

      Github version has a function to check for new updates and prompt you to download it when it's relevant (and of course you can turn it off if you don't want it).

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Blymie ( 231220 )

        Yup, Mozilla has been caught more than once collecting information it should not, and up-post seems to confirm.

        On top of that, while an excellent client and great to use before all development(and security updates) stopped, K-9 was never a 'privacy first' client.

        FairEmail has many defaults specifically designed to keep your info private. And it also has no tracking/etc. It's FairEmail's "thing". I cannot imagine a Mozilla product with zero tracking. Even though I don't have to, I donate every new device.

      • One thing to remember is that if you need OAuth (google login), you want to grab the github version. Last I checked, F-droid one didn't have it.

        FYI: The Play Store version also works with OAuth (and will update just like anything else downloaded from the play store. And the updates are frequent. I honestly can't remember if the github version auto-updates.)

        But as others have stated, it's basically a desktop email client on android.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          Github version is the primary version. Play version is updated whenever github updates are pushed down it, and then accepted by google.

          Most updates nowadays are minor translation fixes, as client is basically feature complete.

          • Github version is the primary version. Play version is updated whenever github updates are pushed down it, and then accepted by google.

            Oh, okay. I had the github version on my old phone, but just grabbed it off the play store after that phone got destroyed (I was downloading eight other things from the play store anyway).

            I thought the github version seemed to update pretty much weekly (but as you said, mostly translations), with the play store version not being quite as frequent. But wasn't going to say

    • I was using it before. Lots of options, but worked well once setup.
      Then I changed to another phone. And lost all my config in the process. Never had the time/will to reconfigure again.
      I know privacy is their motto, but how about an optional automatic backup to Google Cloud feature?

  • Does anyone else experience their threads getting all messed up if you are using Thunderbird to send to someone using Gmail?

    • I have something related. I use TB to consult offline emails previously acquired by other softwares (old emails that are in Maildir format). I do "thunderbird myemail.eml &" which then I forward or reply to inside TB. I noticed that when the emails come from contacts that use gmail, the "reply" function does not work well, it is unable to pre-fill the subject, date, name of sender. I can only guess that it fails to parse the headers when written by gmail. I assume the threads are all messed up as a cons

      • But hasn't that all been completely standardized for 30 years now?

      • Reply-To, has not to be the sender.
        It is a feature if some bot mails stuff about automated things and it adds an Reply-To in case you want to respond to a real human.
        99% of emails do not have an Reply-To, as you simply answer to the person who sent it, by replying to it.

  • One thing I miss is the tags I set in thunderbird don't show in k9. I checked this beta, doesn't show work there either, so what exactly changed since the last k9?

  • Turn K-9 Mail into Thunderbird (Score:3)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Monday October 07, 2024 @05:05AM (#64845159)

    means turning a light, fast and pleasant to use email client into a slow bloated whale of a program with a million features nobody wants.

    I sure hope Mozilla exercised restraint on that one.

  • and opt out of data usage collection for privacy...

    Why would Thunderbird on my phone need to collect any data at all? They aren't providing email servers, just a client?

    • Why would it have anything to do with email servers. It's about app usage. You know app usage right? That thing that Slashdot users don't share and then afterwards complain about how vendors are dumbing down their apps, and that the power users are being forgotten. Yeah no kidding they are, the telemetry shows that.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

        If a developer depends on telemetry instead of engaging with customers the old fashioned way then they are idiots, and they will do something stupid no matter what. The telemetry only tells you what, it doesn't tell you why.

        • That's easy to claim when you're not a developer. The reality however is that engaging with customers is difficult, leads to insanely small sample sizes, and addresses the issues of the squeaky wheel.

          I would argue the opposite. A developer who does *not* use telemetry to understand how their apps are used in the real world they are idiots. It is literally a tool at your disposal to get more information.

          The telemetry only tells you what, it doesn't tell you why.

          And a customer tells you fuck all, because the first thing you do is hit the delete button when you get th

  • What i would like is email in a messaging client type UI like whatsapp or telegram.
    Then there would be no issue of everyone being on the same app. And email is also almost real time i guess.
    There's some app called Delta Chat that does it i read but yet to try it

    • Repeat after me: "Email is not an IM tool".

      In fact what I would like is the opposite. I would like an email client that interfaces with electrodes attached to a user's nipples, so that they get zapped every time some idiot sends a one word email like "Thanks" as if my inbox needs your useless idle chitchat clogging it up. Bonus points if the zapping of the nipples spells "S-E-N-D-T-H-I-S-V-I-A-W-H-A-T-S-A-P-P-N-E-X-T-T-I-M-E" in morse code.

      • I also hate when people waste my time with "thanks" emails. But I still agree with the poster that one could build an IM tool on the email protocols. Nearly everything is there, only very little tweaking is needed: a "skin" for TB with bubbles and colours for certain email accounts, and implementing a mode that group emails per person or per group. The email protocols have everything good: open protocols, decentralized, data ownership, clear text data but can support encryption, very mature ecosystem with p

        • It's been over a decade since Google introduced Waves but I remember that a lot of aspects of that protocol would fill your requirements.

        • But I still agree with the poster that one could build an IM tool on the email protocols.

          But why though? I mean I could hammer a screw into a piece of wood as well, but it just wasn't be as effective as using a proper tool for the job. Email is absolutely archaic on a protocol level. Bonus points for the amount of modding you'd need to do with the protocol to make it secure.

          • But why though?

            Because it's easy and it fills a need. I want to own my data in clear so I can process it and archive it myself, and I want to have it all in one place so I can search it easily.

            I commonly have technical conversations over SMS (I have no interests in installing "apps" and I don't think I need additional secrecy), and I also commonly consult emails that are over 10 years old. At a point we used Slack, now we use Teams. My slack logs are therefore lost, but fortunately I clicked the option to always send me a

          • Primarily so that you don't need everyone to install the latest flavour IM app. If it was on email protocol you could IM anyone without both of you needing to install whatsapp or telegram or snapchat or signal. or tiktok.

            Other probably bigger advantage as pointed out by test321 is that now all your IMs would be searchable and archivable without going through the hoops of trying to backup whatsapp or some app regularly and then once that app is no longer the flavor of the month you are stuck not being able t

        • But I still agree with the poster that one could build an IM tool on the email protocols. Nearly everything is there, only very little tweaking is needed: a "skin" for TB with bubbles and colours for certain email accounts, and implementing a mode that group emails per person or per group. The email protocols have everything good: open protocols, decentralized, data ownership, clear text data but can support encryption, very mature ecosystem with plenty of FOSS clients. For the best of humanity, the notion of (IM) apps that sequestrate our data in remote silos must die.

          There is one, a helpful user posted the name on here a month or so ago in response to my very similar question. Unfortunately I simply can't find the name of the software anywhere now, nor is a search giving me what we are looking for. Help?

      • You know you can delete that, right?
  • Without this and X.509 certificates I'll have no choice but to stay with FairEmail and its cluttered interface.

  • Why? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Mr. Slippery ( 47854 )
    Why do I want or need Thunderbird on my mobile device when I have K9 Mail?

    • Because the K-9 dev will stop maintaining K-9. He's busy turning K-9 into Thunderbird.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by erice ( 13380 )

      Why do I want or need Thunderbird on my mobile device when I have K9 Mail?

      Because Thunderbird has important features like virtual users that K9 lacks. It mostly for this reason that I try to never reply from K-9. Let's just hope they actually included virtual users in the port.

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