How to set up mello on Android

The settings you’ll need

Every app below asks for the same few things. Your username is your full mello address, and your password is the one you use for the webmail.

If an app offers only STARTTLS for outgoing mail, use port 587 instead. The same settings are in the webmail, under Settings → Accesses. mello is invite only for now: request an invite if you don’t have an address yet.

Mail in the Gmail app

The Gmail app on your phone reads other accounts too, not only Gmail.

1. In the Gmail app, tap your profile picture, then Add another account → Other.
2. Enter your mello address and choose Manual setup, then Personal (IMAP).
3. Enter your password, then the incoming and outgoing servers from the table above. Keep sign-in on for outgoing mail, with the same username and password.
4. Choose how often to check for mail, and give the account a name.

The Gmail app checks other accounts on a schedule, every 15 minutes at most, so new mail can show up late. If you want it right away, use one of the apps below.

Or Thunderbird or FairEmail

• Thunderbird for Android is the app that used to be K-9 Mail. Add an account with your mello address: it finds mello’s settings on its own, and only asks for your password.
• FairEmail is a careful, privacy-minded app with a lot of options. Its setup wizard also finds the settings from your address; if it asks, enter them from the table.

Both keep a connection open to mello, so new mail arrives within seconds rather than on a schedule. Both are free on Google Play and on F-Droid.

In either app, you can add your aliases as extra identities, with the same servers, to write from them. mello lets you send only from addresses that are yours.

Calendars and contacts with DAVx⁵

Android’s calendar and contacts apps can’t add mello by themselves. DAVx⁵ connects them: it syncs your mello calendars and address book into the phone, where every calendar and contacts app sees them. It has a small one-time price on Google Play, and is free on F-Droid.

1. Install DAVx⁵ and open it. Tap the + button.
2. Choose Login with URL and user name.
3. Enter https://mail.mello.mx/ as the base URL, your mello address as the user name, and your password. Tap Login.
4. Keep your mello address as the account name and create the account.
5. Tick the address books and calendars to sync. Allow access to contacts and calendars when Android asks.

Your mello calendars now show in Google Calendar or your phone’s own calendar app, and your contacts in Contacts, under your mello account. Changes go both ways. If you install a tasks app that DAVx⁵ supports, such as Tasks.org or jtx Board, your mello tasks sync too.

If syncing stops after a while, your phone may be saving battery: in Android’s settings, let DAVx⁵ run without battery restrictions.

Or install the webmail as an app

mello’s webmail can sit on your home screen like any app, with mail, calendar and contacts in one place.

1. Open mail.mello.mx in Chrome and sign in.
2. Open Chrome’s menu (⋮), choose Add to Home screen, then Install.
3. In mello, open Settings → Notifications and turn on New mail on this device. Allow notifications when Android asks.

Notifications come for new mail in your Inbox, even while mello is closed, and show the sender and subject. Newsletters stay quiet unless you also turn on Also for newsletters and mailing lists. send a test checks that they arrive. On Android they work in Chrome even without installing, but the installed app opens straight into your inbox.

A few things that work the same everywhere

• Junk teaches the spam filter. Moving a message into or out of Junk, in any app, trains mello’s filter for your mailbox.
• Filters run on the server. The filters and auto-reply you set in the webmail work with every app closed, and on every device. See filters and vacation replies.
• Snooze and send later too. They’re run by the server, so a snoozed message comes back to your Inbox on your phone as well. Set them up in the webmail; see send later, snooze and undo.