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Open Zip Mail and enter your email address. Zip Mail looks up your provider’s server settings automatically, so usually all you need is a password. If your provider needs an app password (see below), Zip Mail shows a button that takes you to the right page. When you come back, it offers to paste the password you just copied.

If automatic setup can’t find your settings, an Advanced panel lets you enter the incoming (IMAP) and outgoing (SMTP) server details yourself.

Many providers don’t let other mail apps use your main account password. Instead, you create an app password: a separate password just for Zip Mail. It can only be used for mail, it’s stored in your device’s keychain, and you can revoke it at any time without changing your main password.

iCloud requires an app-specific password, and two-factor authentication must be on for your Apple Account.

1. Sign in at account.apple.com.
2. Go to Sign-In and Security, then App-Specific Passwords, and create one named “Zip Mail”.
3. Enter your iCloud email address in Zip Mail and paste the app-specific password.

Apple’s guide: Sign in to apps with your Apple Account using app-specific passwords.

Sign in with Google isn’t available in Zip Mail yet. For now, Gmail connects over IMAP with an app password, which requires 2-Step Verification on your Google Account.

1. Turn on 2-Step Verification if it isn’t already on.
2. Open App passwords in your Google Account and create one named “Zip Mail”.
3. Enter your Gmail address in Zip Mail and paste the 16-character password.

Google’s guide: Sign in with app passwords. Some Google Workspace organizations turn off app passwords or IMAP; if so, your administrator will need to allow them.

Yahoo and AOL require an app password for other mail apps.

1. Sign in to your Yahoo account and open Account Security.
2. Choose Generate app password (or Manage app passwords), and create one named “Zip Mail”.
3. Enter your Yahoo address in Zip Mail and paste the password.

Yahoo’s guide: Generate and manage third-party app passwords.

Fastmail uses app passwords for other mail apps.

1. In Fastmail, go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, then App passwords.
2. Create a new app password with IMAP and SMTP access, named “Zip Mail”.
3. Enter your Fastmail address in Zip Mail and paste the password.

Fastmail’s guide: App passwords.

Microsoft no longer lets other mail apps sign in to personal Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live accounts with a password or app password. These accounts need Microsoft’s own sign-in (OAuth), which Zip Mail doesn’t support yet. The same applies to most Microsoft 365 work and school accounts.

Microsoft sign-in is planned. Until then, Zip Mail shows “Microsoft sign-in is coming soon” when it recognizes a Microsoft address during setup.

Any provider that offers IMAP and SMTP should work, including many hosting companies and self-hosted servers. Zip Mail also has presets for providers such as Zoho, GMX and Proton Mail (through Proton Mail Bridge on a Mac).

Instant delivery, which uses our push relay to notify you within seconds, isn’t live in the beta yet. Until it is, Zip Mail checks for new mail:

• Immediately whenever the app is open, and continuously on a Mac while Zip Mail is running.
• In the background on iPhone and iPad when iOS allows it. iOS decides how often, based on how you use the app, battery level and Low Power Mode. It’s often every 15 minutes or more, and sometimes longer.

To help background checks run, make sure Background App Refresh is on for Zip Mail in Settings › General › Background App Refresh, and that Low Power Mode is off.

• Check that notifications are allowed in iOS Settings › Notifications › Zip Mail.
• Check your Focus settings, which may be silencing Zip Mail.
• In Zip Mail, check Settings › Notifications. By default, Zip Mail notifies you only about important mail, such as messages from people and service mail that needs your attention. You can switch to All mail there.

Turn on Zip Mail in iOS Settings › General › AutoFill & Passwords › Verification Codes. When a sign-in code arrives by email, it appears above the keyboard as “From Zip Mail”. Codes stay on your device and are removed after use or after 10 minutes. Codes appear as soon as Zip Mail has fetched the email, so they work best with instant delivery.

Choose a mode in Zip Mail under Settings › Privacy › Remote content:

• Automatic (default): images load without asking, but tracking pixels, known tracker hosts and link-tracking redirects are removed first. Trusted senders, such as your contacts and people you’ve replied to, load directly. With Pro, other senders’ images load through our privacy image proxy, so senders can’t see your IP address.
• Trusted Senders Only: images load only from trusted senders. For everyone else, tap Show Images on the message.
• Block All Remote Content: nothing loads from the internet unless you ask.

In every mode, messages that look suspicious, for example a failed sender check, a lookalike domain or a spoofed display name, have their images blocked. You’ll see a banner with a Show Anyway button.

It counts the tracking pixels and tracker requests Zip Mail removed from that message, and the links it cleaned of tracking redirects, so senders can’t tell when or where you opened it.

• On your device: remove a mail account in Zip Mail’s Settings › Accounts, or delete the app, to remove the mail stored on that device. Your mail stays with your provider.
• Your Zip Mail account: in Settings › Privacy › Your data, choose Delete Zip Mail Account. This revokes server access for all your mail accounts and deletes what our servers hold, within 30 days.
• At your provider: revoke the app password you created for Zip Mail in your provider’s account settings.

You can also email privacy@zipmail.app. See the privacy policy for details.

Your mail is downloaded to and processed on your own devices. In the beta, nothing about your mail goes to our servers. When instant delivery launches, the relay will read a short preview of new messages to build your notification and then discard it; the only message content it stores is a message you schedule with Send Later, kept encrypted until it’s sent. The security overview explains the details.