Fastmail vs Criptext Secure Email
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Fastmail
Manage your email, contacts, and calendar with a privacy-focused service. Offers powerful search, inbox decluttering tools, and customizable gestures for efficient communication. Seamlessly syncs across devices and supports open standards.
- Offline access to email
- Powerful search with refinement
- Inbox decluttering tools
- Customizable swipe gestures
- Seamless calendar syncing
- Shared address books
- Privacy-first, no ads or tracking
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Email, contacts and calendars made better Fastmail gives you full control of your communication, with speed, privacy, and tools that work the way you do. The New York Times says: ”If you want something easy to use that isn’t tied to one of the big tech giants, Fastmail is a great option.” Do more with email • Stay connected anywhere – Read, draft, and search offline. • Powerful search – Find anything fast, even inside attachments. Plus, use the Search Refinement Toolbar to quickly add, remove, or adjust filters. • Declutter your inbox – Snooze emails, mute threads, block spam, and unsubscribe easily, and set up rules to automate your flow. • Stay organised your way – Use folders or labels to keep things tidy, and categorize messages without opening them. • Work smarter – Schedule or undo send, add private memos, set VIP-only notifications, and resize images in the compose window. • Custom swipes – Quickly archive, delete, or take other actions with up to four swipe gestures. Your preferences stay consistent across devices. • Easy navigation – One-tap access to mail, calendar, contacts, and settings. Customize the toolbar in Display Options, or hide it altogether. • Faster inbox actions – Select messages by tapping avatars, or using a two-finger swipe for faster multi-select. Smarter calendars • Plan together – Share calendars with family or teams. • Sync seamlessly – Works with Google, iCloud, and more. • Always in sync – Updates instantly across devices, with full time-zone support. Connected contacts • Shared or private address books – Keep context from recent conversations and meetings. Why Fastmail? • Privacy first – No ads, no tracking, no selling your data. It’s your data, not ours. • Secure and trusted – Robust encryption of your data both in transit and at rest. Passkeys and 2FA keep your email private and safe. • No lock-in – Over 20 years delivering better email. People stay because it’s better, not because it’s hard to leave. • Real support – 24/7 online help from real people, no chatbots. • Migrate in minutes – Move mail, contacts, and calendars from your old provider in minutes. Better for everyone – Fastmail supports open standards, keeping email private and usable for all.
Criptext Secure Email
This email service prioritizes your privacy with end-to-end encryption and no data collection. Your inbox is stored solely on your device, ensuring only you and your recipients can access your messages. The open-source nature allows for verification of its security claims.
- End-to-end encryption
- No data collection
- Local inbox storage
- Open source code
- Easy to use interface
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Finally, an email service that's built around your privacy. Get your @criptext.com email address and see what it's like to have peace of mind and privacy in every email you send. Features: +End-to-end Encryption: Criptext uses the open source Signal Protocol library to encrypt your emails. Your emails are locked with a unique key that‘s generated and stored on your device alone, which means only you and your intended recipient can read the emails you send. +No data collection: unlike every other email service out there, Criptext doesn't store your emails in its servers. Instead, your entire inbox is stored exclusively on your device. +Open Source: our source code is open for everyone to see that Criptext actually works the way it's advertised. You don't have to trust us, you can verify for yourself: https://github.com/Criptext +Easy to use: our app is designed to work as simple as any other email app — so much so, you'll forget how secure it is. Get Criptext and see how easy it is to email with more security and privacy!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Criptext Secure Email at 4.7 against Fastmail's 3.8. Criptext Secure Email also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and review sentiment (56% vs 48%). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Fastmail sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $6.49 per month. Criptext Secure Email asks for nothing beyond the download.
Criptext Secure Email holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 572 and 1.2K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 48% of Fastmail's written reviews are positive against 56% of Criptext Secure Email's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Fastmail | Criptext Secure Email |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (572 ratings) | 4.7 (1.2K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 48.0% of reviews | 56.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 572 | 1.2K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.4 | 11.2 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 18 MB | 64 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Fastmail Pty Ltd | Criptext Inc. |
Customer experience
Fastmail
Criptext Secure Email
User reviews
Fastmail
From 572 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fast and efficient
- 🔒 Secure and private
- 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
- 🔥 Excellent email service
- 💯 Great customer support
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy app with frequent crashes
- 🔍 Lacking offline support
- 🔀 Confusing navigation and UI
- 🔋 Poor battery life
- 💤 Slow app performance
Criptext Secure Email
From 1.2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fast and reliable
- 🔒 Secure and private
- 👍 Clean and intuitive UI
- 💡 Unique features like read receipts
- 🌐 Multi-platform support
Room to improve
- 🐛 Bugs and crashes
- ⚠️ Unreliable email delivery
- 📤 Issues with attachments and file transfers
- 🕰️ Slow customer support response times
- 🚫 Unable to sign up or create new accounts
Bugs and requests
Fastmail
Reported bugs
5 issues- Blank screen on app launch
- Notification badges not updating correctly
- Delayed email delivery
- Unreliable swiping gestures
- Disappearing toolbar buttons
Requested features
5 requests- Offline email access
- Customizable notification sounds
- Integration with native iOS apps
- Dark mode support
- Multiple account management
Criptext Secure Email
Reported bugs
5 issues- App freezes on startup
- Sync issues between devices
- Emails not received or delayed
- Attachment upload/download failures
- Password reset problems
Requested features
5 requests- Dark mode option
- Advanced search and filtering
- Calendar and task management integration
- Improved backup and export options
- Support for more email providers and aliases
In-app purchases
Fastmail
- Fastmail Monthly Plan$6.491 Month
Criptext Secure Email
No in-app purchases









