Thunderbird for Android is go – at least the beta is
(2024/10/09)
- Reference: 1728462667
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/10/09/thunderbird_for_android_beta/
- Source link:
MZLA, the company behind the Thunderbird email client, is finally putting its mobile email client app into beta testing – but it's a lot more mature than that sounds.
Thunderbird for Android [1]has reached beta testing , and you can [2]grab it from the Google Play Store. A version should follow on the FOSS [3]F-Droid store soon. If you want to build it yourself, the [4]source code is on GitHub .
It has been a few years' wait: the Thunderbird Foundation hired the app's lead developer, Christian Ketterer, [5]nearly two and a half years ago now. But saying that, although it's officially only a beta, the app is considerably more mature than it sounds.
[6]
Not because he's had 28 months to work on the app. He has, but that's not the reason: the real reason is that Thunderbird for Android is not a ground-up new project. Thunderbird for Android is based on the existing [7]K9 Mail application, which is 15 years old: it débuted late in October 2008. We installed the beta, and it describes itself as [8]version 8.0b2 .
[9]
[10]
K9 Mail is a well-known and long established email client for Android – in fact, back in 2011 it was The Register [11]Android App of the Week . It doesn't look that wildly different today from those 13-year-old screenshots.
[12]
The beta of Thunderbird for Android, or as old friends might call it, K9 Mail version 8. - Click to enlarge
K9 Mail is also the basis of the email client supplied with several de-Googled Android phones. For instance, back around the same time as Thunderbird's acquisition, we also took a look at the [13]/e/ Foundation Murena One . This de-Googled Android phone uses a fork of K9 Mail as its email client. So too does the privacy-centric [14]Punkt MC02 that we looked at earlier this year.
We installed the Thunderbird 8 beta on our Android 14 handset and it worked just as smoothly as K9 ever did. We added Hotmail and Yahoo accounts to it, and it automatically picked up the server config from its database, asked for our [15]OAuth credentials, and that was it.
[16]Google brings better bricking to Androids, to curtail crims
[17]Epic judge orders Google to let rivals set up app stores
[18]Busybox 1.37 is tiny but capable, the way we like Linux tools to be
[19]Google's Rust belts bugs out of Android, helps kill off unsafe code substantially
This is the Android client of choice if you [20]email like a pro . (And if you don't, you should learn.) It can handle [21]proper grown-up style email [22]messages in plain text , complete with bottom-posting. This is of course how the biggest FOSS project in the world is coordinated, on the [23]LKML .
Even those poor waifs weaned on Outlook, [24]"mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration" as we feel Edsger Dijsktra would have put it, may find use for Thunderbird for Android. For instance, it can aggregate umpteen different email accounts into a single unified inbox. Different accounts are discreetly color-coded with a vertical bar in the subject line. ®
Get our [25]Tech Resources
[1] https://blog.thunderbird.net/2024/09/help-us-test-the-thunderbird-for-android-beta/
[2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.thunderbird.android.beta
[3] https://f-droid.org/en/
[4] https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-android
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/15/thunderbird_is_coming_to_android/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZwZUVgrroCZoV3csRxcKNwAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[7] https://k9mail.app/
[8] https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-android/releases/tag/THUNDERBIRD_8_0b2
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZwZUVgrroCZoV3csRxcKNwAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZwZUVgrroCZoV3csRxcKNwAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2011/10/25/app_of_the_week_android_k9/
[12] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/10/08/tbird-android-beta.jpg
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/02/murena_e_foundation_phone_test/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/05/mc02_swiss_private_phone/
[15] https://oauth.net/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/08/google_android_security/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/07/google_android_play_store_epic/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/04/busybox_137/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/25/google_rust_safe_code_android/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/23/email_like_a_pro/
[21] https://subspace.kernel.org/etiquette.html
[22] https://useplaintext.email/
[23] https://lkml.org/
[24] https://www.armandofox.com/tech%20history/retro/2017/04/21/damaged-by-basic.html
[25] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Thunderbird for Android [1]has reached beta testing , and you can [2]grab it from the Google Play Store. A version should follow on the FOSS [3]F-Droid store soon. If you want to build it yourself, the [4]source code is on GitHub .
It has been a few years' wait: the Thunderbird Foundation hired the app's lead developer, Christian Ketterer, [5]nearly two and a half years ago now. But saying that, although it's officially only a beta, the app is considerably more mature than it sounds.
[6]
Not because he's had 28 months to work on the app. He has, but that's not the reason: the real reason is that Thunderbird for Android is not a ground-up new project. Thunderbird for Android is based on the existing [7]K9 Mail application, which is 15 years old: it débuted late in October 2008. We installed the beta, and it describes itself as [8]version 8.0b2 .
[9]
[10]
K9 Mail is a well-known and long established email client for Android – in fact, back in 2011 it was The Register [11]Android App of the Week . It doesn't look that wildly different today from those 13-year-old screenshots.
[12]
The beta of Thunderbird for Android, or as old friends might call it, K9 Mail version 8. - Click to enlarge
K9 Mail is also the basis of the email client supplied with several de-Googled Android phones. For instance, back around the same time as Thunderbird's acquisition, we also took a look at the [13]/e/ Foundation Murena One . This de-Googled Android phone uses a fork of K9 Mail as its email client. So too does the privacy-centric [14]Punkt MC02 that we looked at earlier this year.
We installed the Thunderbird 8 beta on our Android 14 handset and it worked just as smoothly as K9 ever did. We added Hotmail and Yahoo accounts to it, and it automatically picked up the server config from its database, asked for our [15]OAuth credentials, and that was it.
[16]Google brings better bricking to Androids, to curtail crims
[17]Epic judge orders Google to let rivals set up app stores
[18]Busybox 1.37 is tiny but capable, the way we like Linux tools to be
[19]Google's Rust belts bugs out of Android, helps kill off unsafe code substantially
This is the Android client of choice if you [20]email like a pro . (And if you don't, you should learn.) It can handle [21]proper grown-up style email [22]messages in plain text , complete with bottom-posting. This is of course how the biggest FOSS project in the world is coordinated, on the [23]LKML .
Even those poor waifs weaned on Outlook, [24]"mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration" as we feel Edsger Dijsktra would have put it, may find use for Thunderbird for Android. For instance, it can aggregate umpteen different email accounts into a single unified inbox. Different accounts are discreetly color-coded with a vertical bar in the subject line. ®
Get our [25]Tech Resources
[1] https://blog.thunderbird.net/2024/09/help-us-test-the-thunderbird-for-android-beta/
[2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.thunderbird.android.beta
[3] https://f-droid.org/en/
[4] https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-android
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/15/thunderbird_is_coming_to_android/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZwZUVgrroCZoV3csRxcKNwAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[7] https://k9mail.app/
[8] https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-android/releases/tag/THUNDERBIRD_8_0b2
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZwZUVgrroCZoV3csRxcKNwAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZwZUVgrroCZoV3csRxcKNwAAAJU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2011/10/25/app_of_the_week_android_k9/
[12] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/10/08/tbird-android-beta.jpg
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/02/murena_e_foundation_phone_test/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/05/mc02_swiss_private_phone/
[15] https://oauth.net/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/08/google_android_security/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/07/google_android_play_store_epic/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/04/busybox_137/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/25/google_rust_safe_code_android/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/23/email_like_a_pro/
[21] https://subspace.kernel.org/etiquette.html
[22] https://useplaintext.email/
[23] https://lkml.org/
[24] https://www.armandofox.com/tech%20history/retro/2017/04/21/damaged-by-basic.html
[25] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I shall be testing it shortly; I've been waiting.
Neil Barnes
I currently use K9 on the phone but it has a couple of quirks where Outlook (gasp) is superior: it has a habit of showing very long lines of very small text instead of flowing it, and when attaching a picture from the phone camera it doesn't offer an option to shrink them as Outlook does.
But on the other hand, it doesn't stuff advertising emails in the list
I use Thunderbird on the (linux) laptop and it suits me fine; in particular it doesn't need to be connected to reference older emails.
Re: I shall be testing it shortly; I've been waiting.
Neil Barnes
Hmm. First sight is not significantly different from above. Though it seems the long lines are an Outlook effect too - perhaps some bozo is sending text as a picture or something equally stupid.
tony72
Based on K9 Mail, hmm. I used K9 for ages, but eventually switched to FairEmail - K9 was a little clunky, and aesthetically somewhat lacking - it didn't really even try to fit in with Android visually. I hope the Thunderbird fork has made significant progress in those areas.
No unified inbox please!
Long time user of K9 email - still using 5.600 as the later versions appear to lack the ability to disable the annoying unified inbox and return to the older layout I prefer. I am sure I am a niche-case as most mobile users will only have one email address. Shock news for younger readers: I run my own email server at home (Rocky Linux/Sendmail/Dovecot) with several mailboxes on different domain names! This often leads to the question from dumb-people: "why don't you have a normal email address, like gmail/hotmail?". Answers on a post card...
I hope TB on mobile is more like the TB on the desktop with separate mailboxes. It is slightly tedious to keep side-loading the older K9 app each time my phone/tablet have a fit and decide to update everything - even when the auto-update is disabled for K9.