HackerReposA FIELD GUIDE TO OPEN SOURCE
ProSponsor the shelf♧ 0
← Back to top all-time
M66B
FairEmail
Java2021–2024
M66B / FairEmail

FairEmail

Fully featured, open source, privacy friendly email app for Android

Security & PrivacyMobile & DesktopCommunication & Social
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
24Distinct people
30Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
4.8KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

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

Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 6:01:32 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.

051015202021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 6 mentions; 0 submissions, 6 comments20212022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 21 mentions; 1 submissions, 20 comments20222023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 1 submissions, 0 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2024

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC606
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC21120
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC110
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202

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 GitHub

What Hacker News says

21 sources
okasaki·Sep 25, 2022
> 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?”
g_p·Jun 2, 2022
In 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...
In Google contacted me directly to help restore FairEmail on the Play Store
megous·May 19, 2022
Yes, 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 spyware
my69thaccount·May 19, 2022
For 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
boole1854·May 19, 2022
[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...
In Tell HN: FairEmail terminated after Google falsely flagged as spyware
boole1854·May 19, 2022
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 email contact domain. Note that this is the sending of information off each user's contact list (the emai
Read the rest
l 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...
In FairEmail stopping development after Google falsely flags app as spyware
crowbahr·May 19, 2022
I just commented on the reddit post about this but I'll bring it in here too: The app implementation is out of touch with modern Google Play privacy requirements and APIs. I read through his code, starting with the Main Activity: https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail/blob/master/app/src/main/j... 1. He's using ancient APIs. All written in Java with Activities instead of Kotlin with a single Activity and many Fragments. There are some fragments but it's definitely an old writing style 2. He's using Tasks for multithreading/event handling 3. Using Handlers & runnables is a terrible idea and intrinsically fragile 4. The way he's handling synchro (persistent foreground service) is _explicitly something Google is targeting for battery issues_ 5. This code is entirely unmaintainable. He's got a 3k line service file here: https://github.com/M66B/Fai
Read the rest
rEmail/blob/maser/app/src/main/ja..., nested deeply with multiple different handlers running. I'm not even going to discuss the fact that he has Logging statements peppered throughout the code etc. This app looks like a 5+ year old code base, not something persistently maintained. He also does not appear to use any modern Android APIs that Google requires, despite declaring the following restricted permissions: 1. READ_CONTACTS 2. READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE In fact I see him explicitly calling deprecated methods that Google has declared off limits: Line 474 of https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail/blob/master/app/src/main/j... `requestPermissions` is an illegal call, which he has documented as throwing an exception that he can't figure out. That's absolutely a smoking gun and potentially the reason Google would ban him. ActivityResultLauncher is required for permissions grants. My summary of this is: This is what bitrot looks like and what happens when you don't manage app scope to handle tech debt. It got too big to maintain.
In FairEmail stopping development after Google falsely flags app as spyware

Showing the 15 most recent of 21 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.

MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME

A few shortcuts

/
Search the collection
?
Open this guide
Esc
Close dialogs and navigation

Your saved repositories and interests stay in this browser.