Thunderbird for Android is coming soon! Find out how to get involved, from beta testing to localization to support and more, in our shiny new contributor guide!

(Seriously, by soon, we mean soon!)

#Thunderbird #Android #OpenSource

https://blog.thunderbird.net/2024/09/contribute-to-thunderbird-for-android/

Contribute to Thunderbird for Android - The Thunderbird Blog

Thunderbird for Android is coming soon! Discover all the ways to contribute and to make a difference from day one!

The Thunderbird Blog

@thunderbird Looking forward to it.

Would be nice if the documentation explained what "SUMO" is. I could not find that anywhere.

@zeromind @thunderbird SUMO is support.mozilla.org :)
@VincentTunru @thunderbird Alright, thanks. That makes sense.
For some reason the linked article, and the "getting started with SUMO" one do not mention/clarify that.
@zeromind @VincentTunru Thanks for catching this! It has been a busy week, between Thunderbird for Android and an impending hurricane! I'll go ahead and edit that. :)
@thunderbird I'm trying to find the beta on F-Droid, and I have enabled "Unstable updates" but I can't find it. Is it called "Thunderbird for Android", or still K9?
@VincentTunru The Thunderbird for Android beta isn't out yet! But keep an eye on this space early next week and we'll let you know when to check. 😉
@thunderbird wow, wasn't expecting it any time soon, and I haven't really knew about K-9 Mail, but I'm looking forward to the great Thunderbird expansion 
@enlogg If you want to do some reading before the beta, we have blog posts all about how we've been developing and improving K-9 Mail to get it ready for its upcoming transformation! https://blog.thunderbird.net/category/mobile-news/
Mobile - The Thunderbird Blog

Latest news and updates about Thunderbird for mobile. Stay informed about upcoming app updates, new features, and improvements for Android, F-Droid and iOS.

The Thunderbird Blog
@thunderbird Hi, that's amazing news, I'm a big fan of Thunderbird for desktop. But have you considered the siphon this will cause to other small open source mailing apps, that will lose users, feedback, donations ? Has this been anticipated ?
@Kalytis @thunderbird This is just Thunderbird throwing their weight behind just such an app since Thunderbird for Android is what's formerly known as k9 :)
@ljrk @thunderbird Yes, but the weight behind a Mozilla product, and one as notorious as Thunderbird, will necessarily drive people towards it. I'm really not sure it can be considered "just such an app".

@Kalytis @thunderbird That's not what I meant: K9 is/was just such an app and it's often considered (next to FairEmail) to be /the/ best (although sometimes a bit unwieldy) mail client for Android. They're simply adding their workforce and brand – this will of course result in an influx of users, but given that K9 is already much of a community favorite, there's not much change here.

Except that the much needed UI overhaul will make everyone be able to enjoy the quality client it is.

When Will Thunderbird For Android Be Released?

K-9 Mail is an open source email client focused on making it easy to chew through large volumes of email

K-9 Mail
@Kalytis That's an understandable concern - and if you read our very first blog about this, you can see we partnered with K-9 Mail to avoid some of this: https://blog.thunderbird.net/2022/06/revealed-thunderbird-on-android-plans-k9/
Revealed: Our Plans For Thunderbird On Android

We're thrilled to announce our first steps on the road to delivering an outstanding Thunderbird on Android experience.

The Thunderbird Blog
@thunderbird Well, that is great for K-mail, and it makes sense that you partner with them, but I was talking about the impact on the other mail apps, like Fairemail (which I'm using) and others. I don't see this addressed here.
@thunderbird Your going up against tough competition with fairemail. Don't know if anything can replace it for me. https://email.faircode.eu/
FairEmail

Open source, privacy friendly email app for Android

@thunderbird Awesome! Is "K-9Mail" just gonna become "Thunderbird" at some point?

@thrilway

I was wondering the same. I have the K9 beta installed. Will that morph into Thunderbird beta?

@thunderbird

@ratcatcher @thrilway While we'd love if K-9 Mail could regenerate automagically into Thunderbird, the Google Play Store doesn't like that. You'll need to download Thunderbird for Android separately, and we'll have instructions on how to transfer your information between the two apps. (For the immediate future, a separate K-9 Mail branded app will still exist.)
@thunderbird
Oh, so for now, if I'm using k-9 mail v6.904, is that the same code as the thunderbird for android beta?
@ratcatcher

@thunderbird As a regular Firefox Android user, I am so there!

Would be awesome to have something besides the default Gmail app

@sollace @thunderbird

You do not need to wait. K9 mail (which was taken over by Mozilla to become thunderbird for Android, hopefully I described it correctly) got many improvements and is a great mail client.

@jonasgraphie @sollace Yup! K-9 Mail has been the existing Thunderbird for Android beta (just with a robot dog instead of a bird) for the past few years! (And yes, we/MZLA did acquire it to make it into Thunderbird for Android, so good summary!)

@thunderbird I was already wondering why there was no new release on GitHub since the end of June. 😅

Looking very much forward to the first stable release.

@thunderbird

Where is Thunderbird for iOS?

@Barral In planning stages. Let's get Thunderbird for Android off the ground, and once those plans start turning into action, including hiring, we'll keep people updated.
@thunderbird will it replace K9 or will they exist side by side?
@cboehmit Initially, they'll exist side by side. Because of how the Play store works, you'll need to download TB for Android separately. We'll have instructions to transfer your information from K-9 Mail.
@thunderbird okay so the final plan is to deprecate K9, right?
@thunderbird so how will this app work when Firefox is under enshitification by adding AI & tracking /adware crap?