Do People use iCloud for Mail

[tornadowrangler]

I use it because I was able to get the icloud.com address that is just my first and last name. Was already taken on every other platform.

I remember having a mac.com address I got with iTools but had stopped using it long ago and can't get it back.

OMG remember iTools? Had cloud storage before there was even a word for it!

 

[JamesHolden]

I use it because I was able to get the icloud.com address that is just my first and last name. Was already taken on every other platform.

I remember having a mac.com address I got with iTools but had stopped using it long ago and can't get it back.

OMG remember iTools? Had cloud storage before there was even a word for it!

I'm still using my first initial/last name @ mac.com address that I got many, many, many years ago!

 

[JamesHolden]

Which begs the question: how do you use email? Self-host? Not to mention big tech providers can profile anyone and everyone connected. It’s only a matter of how strong that profile is and how useful it can be.

There's a narcissism to the pro-privacy crowd, as if anyone cares what they're doing or what websites they're viewing. I get that it's unsavory to think about all of these algorithms capturing data and building advertising profiles, but the privacy ship sailed a long, long time ago.

Even if you self-host email, there's still your ISP to worry about, not to mention the other party (or parties) in the email exchange. You reply to an email and that person's email client/service captures all kinds of data. The only way to have truly private email is for both parties to use encryption (which is very rare).

I think people make themselves crazy worrying about privacy. I'm still waiting for someone to give me a tangible example of how big tech's data collecting and targeted advertising has negatively impacted their lives.

 

[Bananasaurus]

There's a narcissism to the pro-privacy crowd, as if anyone cares what they're doing or what websites they're viewing. I get that it's unsavory to think about all of these algorithms capturing data and building advertising profiles, but the privacy ship sailed a long, long time ago.

Even if you self-host email, there's still your ISP to worry about, not to mention the other party (or parties) in the email exchange. You reply to an email and that person's email client/service captures all kinds of data. The only way to have truly private email is for both parties to use encryption (which is very rare).

I think people make themselves crazy worrying about privacy. I'm still waiting for someone to give me a tangible example of how big tech's data collecting and targeted advertising has negatively impacted their lives.

Privacy may be a bit of an illusion, but losing the right to privacy and not caring because you have nothing to hide is a slippery slope that only gets worse. When you give up your right to privacy, you begin giving up your rights in other areas as well.

 

[JamesHolden]

Privacy may be a bit of an illusion, but losing the right to privacy and not caring because you have nothing to hide is a slippery slope that only gets worse. When you give up your right to privacy, you begin giving up your rights in other areas as well.

Ah, the slippery slope fallacy. I hear what you’re saying but rights pertain to one’s relationship with the government, not private companies.

 

[Bananasaurus]

Ah, the slippery slope fallacy. I hear what you’re saying but rights pertain to one’s relationship with the government, not private companies.

It's not a fallacy. Big tech works directly with the government. They're inexplicably intertwined, not separate issues. Calling something a fallacy doesn't make a it a fallacy. It's a serious issue that's global, such as the 14 eyes countries. Being dismissive of the problem doesn't make the problem not exist.

 

[JamesHolden]

M

It's not a fallacy. Big tech works directly with the government. They're inexplicably intertwined, not separate issues. Calling something a fallacy doesn't make a it a fallacy. It's a serious issue that's global, such as the 14 eyes countries. Being dismissive of the problem doesn't make the problem not exist.

All big industries work with the government. So what? When you’re talking about rights, you’re talking about government given rights. There’s no right to privacy in the world of private corporations. Maybe there should be, but there isn’t.

There’s no way privacy survives in the digital age. Sorry, but that’s reality. I’m not disagreeing with your overall sentiment. I just think it’s pointless to worry about privacy. I’m not going to waste my time and energy stressing about plugging all the potential privacy holes…so I, what, don’t see targeted ads? Big deal.

 

[Bananasaurus]

All big industries work with the government. So what? When you’re talking about rights, you’re talking about government given rights. There’s no right to privacy in the world of private corporations. Maybe there should be, but there isn’t.

There’s no way privacy survives in the digital age. Sorry, but that’s reality. I’m not disagreeing with your overall sentiment. I just think it’s pointless to worry about privacy. I’m not going to waste my time and energy stressing about plugging all the potential privacy holes…so I, what, don’t see targeted ads? Big deal.

I know that companies in general cooperate with law enforcement. I'm mostly referring to big tech like Facebook and Google. They're no longer private companies when the government is using them as an extension of their reach to harvest data and silence opposing opinions. People are getting arrested for sharing ideas that should otherwise be protected as free speech.

But you are correct. Privacy is dying in the digital age. And I agree that it's probably completely pointless to worry about privacy anymore at this point. It's so far gone that I don't think anything can be done about it. People flocking to garbage services like ProtonMail and putting their trust in a company that is basically an NSA honeypot disguised as encrypted email, it's getting a bit ridiculous.

There are many ways to prevent spam, though. But that's about all we can do.

The upside to all this data harvesting is it makes the user experience far more tailored. I do miss when I had a Google Pixel and literally everything on the phone was catered to me, my habits, and my interests. Also Google Assistant is far more helpful than Siri in every conceivable way. Except Google is seriously starting to suck lately as they are censoring anything that isn't left-leaning.

The world is going to crap.

 

[txscott]

I will echo some above; I use iCloud exclusively for personal email. Company email is in Outlook for which I use the Outlook app and never mingle them (don't cross the steams). iCloud is indeed great at spam fighting and lets you use the hide my email feature to create logins with fake emails that connect to your iCloud account and that can be turned off at any time.

 

[xDeadTechx]

I use iCloud mail just because I'm "all in" in the Apple eco-system. I do like knowing the fact that when I do bring up a iPhone or an iPad all my information is there.. I don't have to download the apps, sign in.. configure it then make sure it works.. (first world problem for sure)

I've had my issues with iCloud mail for certain, I think the mail client on iOS/iPadOS/MacOS is well behind Microsoft Outlook or Google's Gmail apps available.. but that's me personally and I'm a UX junkie who likes the way Outlook looks and such.

My employer has a bluecoat filter on the network so accessing iCloud.com/Mail is very difficult so in that respect mail seldom to never loads correctly.

 

[FireFish]

Still somewhat new to Macs and am wondering if people use Apple’s iCloud mail for email. I’ve always used my gmail but I’ve wondered if there’s any advantage to just using iCloud.

Th.

Absolutely. I use it as my primary email.

 

[boswald]

I use my iCloud address for Apple stuff only. The rest goes to my Gmail. I’m debating transferring everything to iCloud though.

 

[Shirasaki]

Ah, the slippery slope fallacy. I hear what you’re saying but rights pertain to one’s relationship with the government, not private companies.

To be perfectly honest, slippery slope is like our own mechanism to prevent foreseeable disaster from happening. However, it has been misused to no end to a point that is not effective and working as intended anymore. Just like many rules in electrical engineering industry, all written with someone‘s blood And lives.

 

[Beefbowl]

I use iCloud for mail. I used to have a hosted Exchange account with a custom domain name through Rackspace, but they got hacked/ransomwared and rather than restoring their hosted Exchange service after the breach they decided to simply drop the service. iCloud let me get my custom domain back up and running with only a couple of days of missed email.

My only frustration is that I can't use my iCloud email as my AppleID so I have a gmail account that is the key to all of my Apple services.

 

[AlixSPQR]

OK, so now I have an email in my inbox (”inkorg” in Swedish) on my iPhone, but not in my inbox on my Mac, in spite of having refreshed the email clients several times. The syncing sucks. I'll probably go back to Gmail again, this is stupid.



Edit: After ten minutes or so the email turned up also on my mac. But that doesn't cut it.

 

[Ahmamies]

Have used it for years. Also use my own domain with iCloud and I am also heavy user of the hide my email.

It's quite interesting that you cannot use your own domain anymore with Outlook. Existing ones still work but cannot add new ones anymore, unlike with iCloud.

 

[ChrisA]

I use iCloud Mail yes.
My whole ecosystem is Apple...iPhone/iPad/Mac, so emails show up on all devices.
Also I only have Apple emails, no gmail etc.

You can pull gmail into the Apple mail-ecosystem. So my gmail shows up on all my apple devices. The Apple mail app allows you to add any number of email providers and it treats them pretty much as peers. The mail app works as well with either service.

 

[ChrisA]

I have never and will never use "cloud" anything. People concerned about privacy should be aware that big tech providers (Yahoo, Gmail, Facebook in particular) share data amongst themselves. So anything you type in your Yahoo e-mail is shared with Google and Facebook. I wouldn't doubt Apple is among the sharers.

You just made that up. No one reads our emails and sells the data. Not one of the companies you listed does that. Yes, they might share browser clicks but not "everything you type" that is just not true.

The other problem with your reasoning is that email is impossible without picking a server someplace. You need "The Cloud". What is "The Cloud"? It is just a computer that you do not own. That's it. You have no options, email does not work without email servers.

 

[Starfia]

You just made that up. No one reads our emails and sells the data. Not one of the companies you listed does that. Yes, they might share browser clicks but not "everything you type" that is just not true.

Hasn't this been true of Google for ages…?

Gmail does scan all emails, new Google terms clarify

Search giant modifies terms of service to specifically state ‘automated systems analyse your content’. By Samuel Gibbs

www.theguardian.com

 

[MarkC426]

You can pull gmail into the Apple mail-ecosystem. So my gmail shows up on all my apple devices. The Apple mail app allows you to add any number of email providers and it treats them pretty much as peers. The mail app works as well with either service.

I have no use for gmail.....

 

[ju3rg]

Yes! Still using my @me.com email. It's great. Nobody trying to sell me anything when I check my email.👍

 

[frex]

use iCloud email, but not @iCloud.com domain. This gives you flexibility in case you would like to leave Apple one day.

 

[Aleco]

Hmm...

View attachment 2251518

That doesn't sound ... good.

Thanks for the quick research, at least they're upfront about it. Unroll me and any of the other "tools" all collect data, order history etc... It's a shame there is no paid private version, and I still worry even then they might still keep some data.

Can't you set the inbox to auto trash anything over [some number of] days old?

I'm not too annoyed about the number of unread messages in my inbox. My displease is with the spam filter. I have important 2FA emails/order confs go in the junk folder when toenail fungus ads are going through to my inbox. It makes no sense.

 

[maflynn]

Curious as why people would disagree about gmail being a better product? The functionality and feature-set that is included is more beneficial than what iCloud email offers.

I’m no fan of gmail but gmail is a superior product

 

[Clix Pix]

Gmail works fine for me for providing an address when signing up for a membership at a forum or when purchasing something from an online vendor. I use only the web-based version so none of the usual resulting spam and adverts, etc., pours into my actual email client on my computer. I just need to remember to check that site on a daily basis.

Since I'm an old-timer when it comes to the Mac, I do indeed have a dot MAC address and am still happily using it for personal emails.