Long story short, it's been a while that I started feeling uncomfortable at the idea of using Gmail as the main address/collector for everything (bank, taxes, healthcare, etc). I also used it as unified inbox for a total of 20+ email accounts and multiple mailboxes.
Being locked out or "incapacitated" for some reason (lost phone, for example) would be an absolute mess. Yes, you can restore and reset stuff, I did it once or twice during my Gmail career, but it's not e pleasant trip, and dealing with Google isn't always a guarantee success.
21 years on Gmail is a long time. Moving to another client wasn't easy. Old habits, shortcuts, you name it. But… I had to do it. Surprisingly, Thunderbird (both desktop and mobile) work noticeably better. All my accounts are IMAP, obviously. My main account is something like [myname@mysurname.com](mailto:myname@mysurname.com) and it's hosted on my own VPS. I own it, I control it, I backup it. If it dies or explodes, I can switch the DNS to somewhere else and I'm online in a minute. Having Thunderbird always synced is great. And boy is it FAST, I love it.
Any tips for a newcomer?
I use it on my desktop/laptop, as well as on 2 Android phones (unified Inbox in both cases). Feel free to suggest anything you think it may help making the experience even better. Thanks!
Source: r/Thunderbird · by /u/RemoDev