Two years ago, I introduced you to Ik.me, Infomaniak's email service.It's free, ad-free, and doesn't sell your data, and was therefore presented as an excellent alternative to Gmail. Today, the Swiss service provider is launching an open-source, ad-free email application that respects privacy and helps protect users against fraud and security risks. It's a complete, ethical alternative for managing your email and files in a sovereign cloud.
Infomaniak, an ethical Swiss service provider
Infomaniak is a cloud service provider that I really like, and which has been hosting my blog and other sites for several years now. Not only does the company offer quality services, but it also has a genuine commitment to ecology and privacy. For example, it received the 2023 Swiss Ethics Award for its new data center, which will fully recycle the energy it consumes to heat up to 6,000 households! Infomaniak uses exclusively local renewable energy, builds its own data centers, and develops its solutions in Switzerland, without relocating. The company develops a suite of online collaborative tools and cloud hosting, streaming, marketing, and event solutions. It employs more than 200 people, nearly half of whom have European training programs. Independent, it is owned by some of its employees and relies solely on its customers to cover its expenses.
As an ICANN-accredited registrar, Infomaniak's solutions are used by millions of users, including myself :). The company powers major websites, such as that of Belgian Radio and Television (RTBF), and provides TV and radio streaming for over 3,000 radio and TV stations in Europe. In short, it's serious and solid! An ethical alternative to the free services of web giants
When you want to create a free email address with a cloud for your photos and documents, you always face the same problem: on the one hand, web giants rely on advanced features but abuse users' privacy to develop their AI and sell ads in return; on the other, encrypted email services are complicated and limited in features and storage, which hinders their adoption. With Infomaniak Mail, we wanted parents and individuals to have a real ethical alternative to the web giants, who have far too much control over people's data and privacy. Everyone can now manage their emails and files in a sustainable, independent cloud that directly contributes to developing the local economy and technological expertise. Marc Oehler, CEO of Infomaniak Secure, privacy-friendly, and sustainable Infomaniak has been developing its own data centers and email service for over 20 years and manages nearly two million professional email addresses in Europe. Whether users access their emails from the online interfacemail.infomaniak.com
or from the new Mail app, access is directly encrypted to Infomaniak's servers, preventing emails from being retrieved by a third-party company via IMAP access, for example. This direct, secure access also ensures the service's availability abroad when Internet Service Providers (ISPs) block certain IMAP connections to foreign services.
Data is stored in Switzerland in compliance with the DPA and the GDPR. To ensure maximum security, it is continuously replicated across three data centers located in Infomaniak's Swiss data centers, which are powered exclusively by certified renewable energy, cooled without air conditioning using filtered air, and regularly awarded for their energy efficiency.
Today, very few email solutions are developed and hosted locally, and even fewer by independent companies that don't outsource everything outside of Europe. It is precisely this expertise that allows us to never compromise on our values and to develop our long-term commitments.
Boris Siegenthaler, Founder and Strategic Director of Infomaniak
Infomaniak Mail actively helps users protect themselves against security risks and fraud:
Automatic reporting and protection against phishing.
Automatic protection against viruses and spam. Reporting of messages from new senders or contacts not added to the address book.
Automatic blocking of potentially dangerous remote content. App locking using Face ID or the device's lock method. Infomaniak's Mail app is open source. Developers worldwide can read its code, view the access permissions requested by the app, and verify how they are used to access user data. Everything is available on the company's GitHub.
A standalone email solution with 20 GB free
Simply download the Infomaniak Mail app from the App Store, Google Play, or F-Droid to enter the secure Infomaniak ecosystem. New users can create a free account with an @etik.com, @ik.me, or @ikmail.com address, and business customers can log in immediately to manage their email addresses with their own domain name. In its free version, Infomaniak's email service offers 20 GB for storing emails and 15 GB for sharing and synchronizing documents and photos in Infomaniak's sovereign cloud.
The application is immediately accessible. From the advanced actions in the main menu, you can automatically retrieve emails from a previous Gmail, Outlook, etc. address. Otherwise, the app will continue to evolve and already offers all the common features for managing emails efficiently:
Sending and receiving emails with Infomaniak addresses
- Forwarding, moving, etc. Messages
- Sort emails into personalized folders
- Quick search with filters (favorites, recipients, attachments, etc.)
- Instant notifications of new messages
- Personalized user experience (colors, swipe options, etc.)
Advanced protection against viruses, phishing, and spam Secure access with device lock method (Face ID, etc.)Synchronization of contacts and appointments across all devices via the online interface https://mail.infomaniak.com
Free services where the user is not the product
Our business model is based on the sale of our paid solutions. We do not exploit or resell our customers' data to third parties, and the personal data requested upon registration is collected strictly for authentication and security reasons.
Tiago Pedro, Data Protection Officer at Infomaniak
- Aside from the following security limitations, which are common in the industry, Infomaniak's free email service is designed so that users can use it as their primary email address for normal private use:
- 20 GB of free email space
- 15 GB of space for documents and photos with kDrive
- Up to 100 messages sent per day
- Up to 10 simultaneous recipients per email
- 1 free email address per Infomaniak account
- If you're looking for an alternative to Gmail or another provider that uses your data, Infomaniak's solution is definitely worth considering! Don't hesitate to take a look at its other solutions, such as
- KSuite
- which can replace the Office/Google suite,
- SwissBackup
for backing up your data, or
SwissTranfer
, a WeTransfer equivalent, but located in Switzerland and free. The services offered by Infomaniak are truly comprehensive.
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