Experts criticize: Well-known mail apps read e-mails and addresses
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Special functions, a different design. Why not try a new mail app? But if you rely on the apps listed high up in the Play Store, you can easily make a mistake.
Email apps are a matter of trust. And dubious app providers often exploit this trust of users. Many mail apps are not reliable in terms of security and privacy, and some are downright disastrous. This is the conclusion drawn by the consumer protection portal after a current mail app comparison in which it examined 20 applications for Android smartphones and tablets.
The losers in the mail app comparison
The mail app that you want to use on your smartphone or tablet can be freely selected and installed. It does not have to come from the email provider with whom you created your email address, but it can. It doesn’t have to be the mail app that is pre-installed on the smartphone at the factory.
Seven apps, downloaded millions of times from Google’s Play Store, actively read e-mail content in the test, and also gained access to the addresses of senders and recipients. In addition, some app developers have their e-mail account password sent to their server, which is also not necessary for the provision of the service. In the mail app comparison, the experts spoke of no less than a data protection disaster.
At the end of the comparison, the experts were able to assign the seven particularly intrusive mail apps to three different companies, which, according to the research, are even intertwined with one another:
- Mail.ru – email app (Mail.ru Group, Russia)
- myMail (My.com BV, Netherlands)
- Email for Outlook & others (Craigpark Ltd., British Virgin Islands)
- Email for Hotmail & others (Craigpark Ltd., British Virgin Islands)
- Yahoo & Others Email App (Craigpark Ltd., British Virgin Islands)
- Outlook Pro Email (Craigpark Ltd., British Virgin Islands)
- Lite Mail (Craigpark Ltd., British Virgin Islands)
Also interesting: Call back incorrect emails on Gmail
Well-known names aren’t quite convincing either
In comparison, nine e-mail apps did not read any e-mail content, but incorporated advertising and tracking and transmitted user data to the app provider and third parties. These included the mail apps from well-known companies such as Telekom and Samsung:
- Telecom Mail
- Spark email
- Blue Mail
- Aqua Mail
- Samsung Email
- Email TypeApp – Mail & Calendar
- Mailbox
- Email – Quick login for Hotmail & Outlook
- Email – Fast & Smart email for any Mail
Also read: Link your Gmail account to other email accounts
The three test winners in the mail app comparison
However, in the mail app comparison with ” FairEmail “, ” K-9 Mail ” and “pEp Mail ” there were also three applications that behaved “all around exemplary”. In the test, the developers of these applications received neither information about the emails sent, nor addresses or passwords.
“FairEmail” and “K-9 Mail” are kept simple and functional, are developed on a voluntary basis and financed by donations. According to the information, “pEp Mail” is a development by a foundation and offers a function for the end-to-end encryption of mails.
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