How To Quit Gmail And Reclaim Your Privacy

My inspiration for this story came from a friend who emailed me last week.

- Jill Duffy

She’d read about online privacy and security and decided to move to “less data-miney” platforms. She was jumping ship from Gmail and had copied her new address. “I obviously still check my Gmail,” she wrote, “but now you have another way to contact me.”

Here’s how you can make your first steps towards a more private online life.

1. CHOOSE A NEW EMAIL PROVIDER

The first step is to decide what service you’ll use for your new email.

You could run your own email server, if you have the technical know-how to set it up and secure it. Frankly, that’s over my head.

Instead, I looked for a provider that met these criteria:

• It has a positive track record with privacy and security,
• encrypts mail end to end,
• offers two-factor authentication, and
• makes money by charging a reasonable fee ($50 per year is a good benchmark) rather than by showing you ads or otherwise monetizing users or their data.

If you’re willing to read up on the laws of different countries, also consider the company’s jurisdiction so you know your rights and which personal data the company can and cannot hand over to authorities.

While I’m in no position to recommend one service over another, there are many respectable, privacy-focused email services. A few examples are ProtonMail, Tutanota, Hushmail Premium, Fastmail, and Mailfence.

PCMag will eventually review each service, but for now, you’ll need to do some research to find the one that best suits your needs.

2. USE A RECOGNIZABLE NAME FOR THE NEW ACCOUNT

When you email people from a new account, they need to believe it’s you.