Till now I have been using the default mail apps that came with my android phones. They worked just fine. Few weeks back I bought a new phone, a Lenovo VIBE P1. So far there is nothing to complain about, it is a great value for money phone. The huge battery is what I always wanted, even if it means the phone is overall a little bulky.
One thing that I did not like though is the missing mail app. Googling revealed that this is the way to go for newer androids. Not to worry, can always download a free mail app from a galaxy full of free apps on the play store right? But there’s always a catch with all things free! While googling the top free mail app I stumbled upon a post which pointed out privacy concerns. Little digging revealed that almost all “free” mail apps had privacy issues (same for most paid ones).
Now although like most of us my mails are not the “burn after reading kind” not even close. Still I do not want a “no background LLC” to read my mails and profile me for “more targeted” ads. Worse I don’t know how safe there data protection is. If one day someone breaks there servers all the app users passwords would end up in the hands of the cheapest bidder(s)! So I searched for an open source solution… atleast we can peep into the code to see nothing fishy going on there.
I zeroed in on K9-Mail, it has everything I need. More importantly there is nothing that I don’t want. Its free and ad free, couldn’t be better. There is one thing that I do not like (to say the least). I say this with no disrespect to the developers / designers, the icon looks horrible!
So, I recompiled my own version in which I changed the icon to a standard android mail icon. Then I went a little further and compiled with a few more (using free icons I could find on the web). You can download the one you like by clicking below links. All are based on K-9 Mail 5.008 with nothing but the icons replaced.
I particularly like the one by Creative Freedom. I would recommend Adams blogs for anyone who wants to get a head start in icon designing.
Note: Just like my other projects I may not be able to provide support. Furthermore, I may not be able to upload new versions.
Voluntary disclosure: I’m in no way related to Creative Freedom / Adam Parrish. I do like them a lot!