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The main problem with abandoning Google is all the services associated with it, not only mail. And paid Gmail continues to offer mobile sync, which FastMail doe

The main problem with abandoning Google is all the services associated with it, not only mail. And paid Gmail continues to offer mobile sync, which FastMail does not. Yet, FastMail looks quite nice.

masnick 13y ago
Push email isn't something I really want, but that's a good point if that is important to you. The other thing I forgot to mention in the post is contact syncing. I'm honestly not sure if I like the contact pollution gmail does more or less than not having sync between FastMail and my phone.
- davidcollantes 13y ago
  My contacts are perfect on Gmail, no pollution at all. I use Contacts extensibly (birthdays, addresses, notes and all). They are all synchronized with my OS X Contacts as well, photos included. How are yours getting polluted?
  - chadk 13y ago
    +1 to Masnick. Google Contacts wreaks havoc (when it actually syncs) on my nicely organized vCard-based Contacts, especially when they duplicate cards that are in different or special groups.
don_draper 13y ago
Also, FastMail doesn't appear to have 2 factor authentication.
- ChemicalHarm 13y ago
  Actually, they do have it: http://blog.fastmail.fm/2013/05/03/google-authenticator-now-supported-for-two-factor-authentication/ http://blog.fastmail.fm/2013/05/03/google-authenticator-now-...
  - don_draper 13y ago
    I didn't see that. thanks
  - kisielk 13y ago
    How does that work for IMAP access? Do you have an "application-specific password" like Google does, or just your regular password?
    - hillbillyjack 13y ago
      It doesn't exactly work like gmail does. You can set many alternative login passwords in fastmail and the google auth is one of those. So with the google auth you use your google auth fastmail password and append your google auth login so if your password is Password1, when you login you would be typing something like Password1123456 to login. You can also set other login passwords for applications or imap with or without delete capabilities but a lot of the time they need full permissions to work with email clients, it could be nicer.
      - stock_toaster 13y ago
        I believe pop/imap/smtp require "full access" type "regular" passwords.
ryanmcbride 13y ago
Damn, I was about to sign up until I read this. I have to handle a lot of my work from my phone, and if it doesn't work well then I don't think it would be too useful for me. Do you know if there's any plan for them to release an android app that would let my phone sync? And I do realize the irony in trying to cut out google while using an android phone.
- decode 13y ago
  > Do you know if there's any plan for them to release an android app that would let my phone sync? I use K-9 Mail on Android with Fastmail. They both support IMAP IDLE, so you get immediate push notifications of new messages.
  - brightsize 13y ago
    Ditto here, K-9 + FM works as well as any desktop IMAP client that I have.
- __mp 13y ago
  Maildroid works good for me. I made the switch to my webhoster a couple weeks ago.

The main problem with abandoning Google is all the services associated with it, not only mail. And paid Gmail continues to offer mobile sync, which FastMail does not. Yet, FastMail looks quite nice.

masnick 13y ago

Push email isn't something I really want, but that's a good point if that is important to you. The other thing I forgot to mention in the post is contact syncing. I'm honestly not sure if I like the contact pollution gmail does more or less than not having sync between FastMail and my phone.

davidcollantes 13y ago
My contacts are perfect on Gmail, no pollution at all. I use Contacts extensibly (birthdays, addresses, notes and all). They are all synchronized with my OS X Contacts as well, photos included. How are yours getting polluted?
- chadk 13y ago
  +1 to Masnick. Google Contacts wreaks havoc (when it actually syncs) on my nicely organized vCard-based Contacts, especially when they duplicate cards that are in different or special groups.

don_draper 13y ago

Also, FastMail doesn't appear to have 2 factor authentication.

ChemicalHarm 13y ago
Actually, they do have it: http://blog.fastmail.fm/2013/05/03/google-authenticator-now-supported-for-two-factor-authentication/ http://blog.fastmail.fm/2013/05/03/google-authenticator-now-...
- don_draper 13y ago
  I didn't see that. thanks
- kisielk 13y ago
  How does that work for IMAP access? Do you have an "application-specific password" like Google does, or just your regular password?
  - hillbillyjack 13y ago
    It doesn't exactly work like gmail does. You can set many alternative login passwords in fastmail and the google auth is one of those. So with the google auth you use your google auth fastmail password and append your google auth login so if your password is Password1, when you login you would be typing something like Password1123456 to login. You can also set other login passwords for applications or imap with or without delete capabilities but a lot of the time they need full permissions to work with email clients, it could be nicer.
    - stock_toaster 13y ago
      I believe pop/imap/smtp require "full access" type "regular" passwords.

ryanmcbride 13y ago

Damn, I was about to sign up until I read this. I have to handle a lot of my work from my phone, and if it doesn't work well then I don't think it would be too useful for me. Do you know if there's any plan for them to release an android app that would let my phone sync? And I do realize the irony in trying to cut out google while using an android phone.

decode 13y ago
> Do you know if there's any plan for them to release an android app that would let my phone sync? I use K-9 Mail on Android with Fastmail. They both support IMAP IDLE, so you get immediate push notifications of new messages.
- brightsize 13y ago
  Ditto here, K-9 + FM works as well as any desktop IMAP client that I have.
__mp 13y ago
Maildroid works good for me. I made the switch to my webhoster a couple weeks ago.