> It is not uncommon to have bugs on certain Android brands, with the community on github reporting the bug but waiting months for it to be fixed.
Welcome to Android. That's not just a React Native issue
https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail/blob/master/app/src/main/j...
In New Architecture is hereM66B
FairEmail
Java2021–2024
M66B / FairEmail
FairEmail
Fully featured, open source, privacy friendly email app for Android
24Distinct people
30Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
4.8KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
Fully featured, open source, privacy friendly email app for Android
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
- thunderbird/thunderbird-android · linked in 2 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 5:04:57 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year30 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2021-02-14 12:26:42 UTC to 2024-10-24 19:24:27 UTC.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 21 | 1 | 20 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
From the project README
An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.
Read the project’s introduction
Downloads •
Privacy •
Support •
License
Provided by FairCode B.V.
FairEmail
Fully featured, open source, privacy oriented email app for Android
FairEmail is easy to set up and works with virtually all email providers, including Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo!
FairEmail might be for you if you value your privacy.
FairEmail is an email client only, so you need to bring your own email address.
FairEmail does not support non-standard protocols, like Microsoft Exchange Web Services and Microsoft ActiveSync.
Main features
Fully featured
100% open source
Privacy oriented
Unlimited accounts
Unlimited email addresses
Unified inbox (optionally accounts or folders)
Conversation threading
Two way synchronization
Push notifications
Offline storage and operations
Common text style options (size, color, lists, etc)
Battery friendly
Low data usage
Small (<30 MB)
Material design (including dark/black theme)
Maintained and supported
This app is deliberately minimalistic by design, so you can concentrate on reading and writing messages.
This app starts a foreground service with a low-priority status bar notification to make sure you'll never miss new emails.
Privacy features
Encryption/decryption supported (OpenPGP and S/MIME)
Reformat messages to prevent phishing
Confirm showing images to prevent tracking
Confirm opening links to prevent tracking and phishing
Attempt to recognize and disable tracking images
Warning if messages could not be authenticated
Simple
Quick setup
Easy navigation
No bells and whistles
No distracting "eye candy"
Secure
No data storage on third-party servers
Using open standards (IMAP, POP3, SMTP, OpenPGP, S/MIME, etc.)
Safe message view (styling, scripting and unsafe HTML removed)
Confirm opening links, images and attachments
No special permissions required
No advertisements
No analytics and no tracking
Optional Android backup
No Firebase Cloud Messaging
FairEmail is an original work, not a fork or a clone
Efficient
Fast and lightweight
IMAP IDLE (push messages) supported
Built with latest development tools and libraries
Pro features
All pro features are convenience or advanced features.
Account/identity/folder colors/avatars
Colored stars (instructions)
Notification settings (sounds) per account/folder/sender (requires Android 8 Oreo) (instructions)
Configurable notification actions
Snooze messages (instructions)
Send messages after selected time
Synchronization scheduling (instructions)
Reply templates (instructions)
Accept/decline calendar invitations
Add message to calendar
Automatically generate vCard attachments
Filter rules (instructions)
Automatic message classification (instructions)
Search indexing (instructions)
S/MIME sign/encrypt (instructions)
Biometric/PIN authentication (instructions)
Message list widget
Export settings
Screenshots
Please see here for screenshots.
Downloads
Supported download locations:
GitHub
Play store
Play store (test)
F-Droid — Please read this FAQ
IzzyOnDroid (verified GitHub release)
AppGallery (the AppGallery app can be downloaded here)
Amazon (the APK file repackaged by Amazon is incomplete! An issue report was never answered by Amazon.)
Please see this FAQ about the differences between the different releases.
Important: Only the versions in the Play Store and GitHub are official releases. Support for other releases from alternative app stores, etc. is limited.
Important: after enrolling in the Advanced Protection Program
you cannot use third party email apps anymore, please see this FAQ for more information.
To download a GitHub release you might need to expand the assets section to download the APK file.
The GitHub version is being updated more often than the Play store version.
The GitHub release will automatically check for updates on GitHub (this can be turned off in the miscellaneous settings).
F-Droid builds new versions irregularly and you'll need the F-Droid client to get update notifications.
To get updates in a timely fashion you are advised to use the GitHub release.
Important: There is support on the F-Droid build only if the version number of the F-Droid build is the same as the version number of the latest GitHub release.
Please see here for more information on third-party builds.
Because F-Droid builds and GitHub releases are signed differently, an F-Droid build needs to be uninstalled first to be able to update to a GitHub release.
The best way to verify the integrity of an APK file is documented here.
Certificate fingerprints:
MD5: 64:90:8E:2C:0D:25:29:B0:D0:26:2D:24:D8:BB:66:56
SHA1: 17:BA:15:C1:AF:55:D9:25:F9:8B:99:CE:A4:37:5D:4C:DF:4C:17:4B
SHA256: E0:20:67:24:9F:5A:35:0E:0E:C7:03:FE:9D:F4:DD:68:2E:02:91:A0:9F:0C:2E:04:10:50:BB:E7:C0:64:F5:C9
One line command to display certificate fingerprints:
unzip -p fairemail.apk META-INF/CERT.RSA | keytool -printcert
Alternatively, you can use this online tool.
I do not hand over the signing keys of my apps to Google.
Please see this Google blog
and this article
for more information.
Compatibility
FairEmail requires at least Android 6 Marshmallow.
FairEmail is supported on smartphones and tablets only, and for example not on TVs and E Ink devices.
Individual message notifications are available on Android 7 Nougat and later only
because earlier Android versions do not support notification grouping.
Notification settings (sounds) per account/folder/sender are available on Android 8 Oreo and later only
because earlier Android versions do not support notification channels.
FairEmail will work properly on devices without any Google service installed.
Please see here for known problems.
Privacy
Please see here for the privacy policy.
Support
Please see here for a list of often asked questions and about how to get support.
Contributing
Documentation
Contributions to this document and the frequently asked questions
are preferred in the form of pull requests.
Due to abuse, prior contact is required for pull requests.
Translations
You can translate the in-app texts of FairE
Read the full README on GitHubWhat Hacker News says
30 sourcesI hadn't heard of ente.io, is there a way to selfhost, ideally as a container? I've been looking for a few minutes on their website and github repo and I can't seem to figure it out (maybe I am just short on coffee today)?
also, have you tried fairemail? I like it a lot better than k9 mail, mostly because it appears more paranoid. https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail
In Ask HN: What currently is the best, nerd-friendly, rootable Android phone?FairEmail development may cease due to Google 'security' requirements
3 points · Open discussion> I do have to wonder how long until Google decides that only certain clients can connect with Gmail?
Already the case on mobile:
> If you use the Play store or GitHub version of FairEmail, you can use the quick setup wizard to easily setup a Gmail account and identity. The Gmail quick setup wizard is not available for third party builds, like the F-Droid build because Google approved the use of OAuth for official builds only. OAuth is also not available on devices without Google services, such as recent Huawei devices, in which case selecting an account will fail.
https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail/blob/master/FAQ.md#user-co...
In When did POP and IMAP become a “legacy protocol?”He only stopped for a few days before the Google issue ended up being resolved. He's still developing.
https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail/releases/tag/1.1957
In Google cracks down on VPN based adblockersFairEmail is also open source [1]
[1]: https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail/
In Our plans for Thunderbird on AndroidThere's guidance in the FAQ document at https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail/blob/master/FAQ.md#user-co... that seems to cover Oauth2. For the parent, they seem to be on a Huawei device without Google Services, which may complicate matters.
In Google contacted me directly to help restore FairEmail on the Play StoreIn this case, it seems like "recency" was a big issue - the change wasn't recent in any sense of the word, since it seems like the feature has been there since at least mid 2020. [0]
The explanation in this case also seemed to focus on a (false) assertion the app uploaded the user's contact list - the app wasn't doing that. If a user turned on fetching favicons (it was off by default, with a red-coloured privacy warning in the app), then the app would fetch a favicon for received emails in non-junk folders, directly from the server in question.
If apps are expected to treat the user's DNS server as hostile, then web browsers had better talk about how they send user browsing history to third parties (by querying DNS!). Similarly, the app connecting to the site and asking for a favicon is not really a leak to a third party, as the domain is
Read the rest
owned by the sending user. If they chose to outsource their website to a third party, that's their choice (and problem).
If the app was uploading user contacts to a third party, that would be very bad. It wasn't. But rival apps do (for monetisation etc.) Making benign apps write declarations that suggest it is doing something akin to that is (to be cynical) helpful for Google and other ad/data supported business model actors, who benefit from obscuring their practices by forcing others to make similar-looking declarations.
[0] https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail/commit/57cf22b1193b43ca979...
This is nice:
https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail/blob/master/PRIVACY.md#sum...
Albeit I am undecided whether we should really force every FLOSS developer to create a table like this, apparently Google has decided that yes, we do.
In Google contacted me directly to help restore FairEmail on the Play StoreCould you provide the source code where this is supposed to be happening? I see the favicons being discussed, and the source clearly shows requests only made to domains: https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail/blob/master/app/src/main/j...
This is certainly not "shipping people's contact lists off to a third party". Is there somewhere else this is happening or are you mistaken?
In FairEmail stopping development after Google falsely flags app as spywareYes, in that hypothetical this may be an issue. But if you fear a DNS resolver, it is really not sensible to use Android and any Playstore app without some filtering proxy in between: 1) first for verification in a safe environment and 2) in real dangerous scenarios once you're sure it's safe, and without installing/using any previously unverified apps or any new updates (good luck ensuring that).
Google didn't save anyone, by discouraging an exceptional developer with this kind of privacy policy https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail/blob/master/PRIVACY.md from contributing anything further on to Android app ecosystem, while keeping all the data stealing apps and ad supported apps, and Facebook SDK using apps, in play store.
In FairEmail stopping development after Google falsely flags app as spywareFor as long as I've been aware of the feature it's been opt-in and _does_ have a privacy disclosure. FairEmail is better about its privacy disclosures than most apps are. Maybe they just didn't do it in the Google-approved way?
Preference that defaults to false: https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail/blob/master/app/src/main/j...
As to it being contact info, the file is literally called ContactInfo.java.
In FairEmail stopping development after Google falsely flags app as spyware[Copied from my post on the other HN thread about this (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31432334)]:
I guess I'll take the contrarian view here: the developer violated a reasonable Play Store policy, refused to fix the problem, and received an expected outcome.
If you read the details of the Play Store complaint, you will see that they say the app was uploading information from the user's contact list without properly disclosing to the user that this was happening [1]. This is a violation of Play Store policy (a disclosure is required). It's not an unreasonable policy.
You can see in the app's source code where some of this happens [2]. In short, the contact list is read off the device, email addresses associated with each contact are parsed out, and the app does HTTP requests to remote servers to get the favicon associated with each
Read the rest
email contact domain. Note that this is the sending of information off each user's contact list (the email address domains) to those remote servers. As such, it requires a disclosure to the user.
The developer's response is that he refuses to add a disclosure to the app because he is not uploading "contact info". [3]. Ok... not a great response. Certainly I would expect apps to disclose whether or not they are using any information on my contact list to reach out to third-party servers, even if only domain names. In any case, it's Play Store policy.
In the end, he finally removed the favicon feature. And Play agreed to allow the app back into the store. [4] But he has not yet backed down on shutting down the whole project because he's still upset.
Sources
[1] https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/app-5-0-fairemail-fully-f...
[2] https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail/blob/master/app/src/main/j...
[3] https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/app-5-0-fairemail-fully-f...
[4] https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/app-5-0-fairemail-fully-f...
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