iCloud mail silent filtering and options

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Level 1

22 points

iCloud mail silent filtering and options

I've looked into this to some length online but was hoping for some Apple forum input. Basically, I'm looking for opinions and thoughts on whether I need to bite the bullet and migrate to Outlook or (back to) Gmail for mail, and potentially other services as well.

I'm currently an all-Apple home -- MBP, iPhone, iPad, AppleTV. I am not insistent on staying that way and have no allegiances. Currently using iCloud for everything (mail, contacts, calendars, tasks/reminders, notes, photos, etc). I like a minimalist approach and enjoy having everything on one service, but I'm worried this may need to change.

I like much about iCloud, but its issues with silent filtering of spam email are well-documented online over the last several years, including a lengthy Reddit conversation with a post from someone purporting to be a former iCloud engineer who details the mechanism behind this. I'm aware all services do this to some degree. I think it goes without saying that iCloud is perhaps more heavy-handed about this than other major players, namely Outlook and Gmail, bringing reliability into question.

With what I do, emails of various importance come and go through my personal account. Silent filtering, with no bounce or failed delivery notifications, for anything but the most blatantly egregious spam is unacceptable in my line of work. I much prefer a service which dumps things in any way questionable into a spam folder and lets me sort out the rest.

My options, as I see it:

- Forget about it, leaving me uneasy and untrusting of my mail service;

- Move back to Gmail and lose push for the default mail app, leaving the question of where to best house my contacts and everything else;

- Move to Outlook, keep push, unclear degree of silent filtering versus Gmail, leaving question of where to put everything else, and with contacts fields that do not fully map via ActiveSync.

Would not use the web interface much at all. Do not have my own domain. Almost everything is done through Mail apps on OS X and iOS.

Appreciate any thoughts.

Posted on Mar 24, 2016 10:09 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 25, 2016 10:29 PM in response to exigence

I was in same position as you. I switched everything to icloud except email. Contacts/calendars/ sync perfect and was wishing icloud email would be same. For same reasons I had worries about icloud mail reliability. About 6 months ago I started using fastmail.com. Best email service I have ever used. They have agreement with Apple and the email has imap push and syncs perfect with ios and osx. They have several domains and you can also use your own domain that you own. Costs $40 year but to have an email that is rock solid and not being spied on is worth it. They are headquarted in Melbourne Australia but their servers are located in NYC by NY Internet with backup servers in Amsterdam. Works flawless they have a 30 day free trial.

On another note my wife has been using icloud email for years and never had an issue.

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Answer 2

zinacef

Level 10

88,407 points

Mar 26, 2016 11:49 AM in response to exigence

exigence wrote:

My options, as I see it:

- Move back to Gmail and lose push for the default mail app, leaving the question of where to best house my contacts and everything else;

Appreciate any thoughts.

My suggestion would to be return to Gmail and still use iCloud to house your contacts as this issue has been ongoing for many years.

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Answer 3

exigence Author

Level 1

22 points

Mar 26, 2016 4:55 PM in response to fastbagger

Appreciate the input. Been debating the best choice for a long time.

Gmail seems like it's the most reliable of the free services, but at the expense of push (barring a third-party client, like Outlook on iOS, where your login credentials are stored with a third party) unless I were to use Google's own app.

Outlook supports push / EAS natively, but I've found more mentions of "silent filtering" with Outlook than I have Gmail.

Fastmail seems an interesting option.

Any Outlook-specific thoughts?

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Answer 4

zinacef

Level 10

88,407 points

Mar 26, 2016 11:04 PM in response to exigence

exigence wrote:

Gmail seems like it's the most reliable of the free services, but at the expense of push (barring a third-party client, like Outlook on iOS, where your login credentials are stored with a third party) unless I were to use Google's own app.

If you're concerned about the withdrawal of push, you could opt to use the Gmail app like I do which offers adequate push notifications.

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Answer 5

exigence Author

Level 1

22 points

Mar 27, 2016 4:39 AM in response to zinacef

I have been experimenting with it. Might end up doing that. In the meantime, I still have a separate Exchange account which I cannot forward to Gmail, so I am a little reliant on the stock app.

Have you come across anything talking about the reliability of Outlook in the sense of not having messages go missing? I would assume that, with the move to an Exchange backbone, I would be just fine there as well.

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Answer 6

zinacef

Level 10

88,407 points

Mar 27, 2016 7:07 PM in response to exigence

exigence wrote:

Have you come across anything talking about the reliability of Outlook in the sense of not having messages go missing? I would assume that, with the move to an Exchange backbone, I would be just fine there as well.

No I haven't come across anything on the reliability of Outlook as I don't use it over Gmail.

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Answer 7

exigence Author

Level 1

22 points

Apr 14, 2016 8:10 AM in response to zinacef

Have been playing with Fastmail lately. Excellent push support (updates read/flagged status in the background, unlike iCloud); speedy, heavily optioned, power user-friendly. Couldn't use it as an iCloud replacement due to how I use iCloud Photo Library and Reminders, but still robust, pure IMAP.

Unsure as to reliability as far as that versus Gmail or Outlook.

Any Fastmail fans around?

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