I’m considering switching from Gmail to Fastmail, not necessarily due to privacy concerns but because I’m bothered by the fact that I need extra hacks and additional settings on both the Gmail and Emacs side to use their service properly with mbsync and mu4e. Also, I have the impression that Google will complicate access to IMAP in the future. They’re already starting with things like passkey. I might be talking nonsense, but that’s how I see things. Not long ago, they started detecting ad blockers in the browser while browsing YouTube, so as a company, they can change whatever they want overnight.

I want to emphasize that I don’t have a lot of money to spare, and I’m taking this step more for my peace of mind, to make sure I won’t have any issues in the future. However, I would still like to ask for your advice, are you satisfied with Fastmail, have you had any problems with their service while using Mu4e and Emacs?

I’ve noticed that they also support a feature called ‘masked mail’ and an option to add additional emails. If, for example, I want to display an email address on my CV that isn’t my primary address and I’d like to deactivate it at some point, would it be better to use the option to add a new address or the “masked mail” option instead? Also, this separate mail or masked mail need a separate Mu4e context?

I would be grateful for any suggestions. Thank you.