Maintain your email privacy with ShazzleMail

Email may be a quick and convenient way to exchange messages, but it’s not exactly private. Or secure. Key details about the email are sent in plain text, your message is held on a server somewhere, and it might even be mined by your provider for useful data.

ShazzleMail is a free service which works a little differently. It transfers messages by establishing a direct, encrypted connection between the sender and the receiver. Your emails are never stored in any central server, and so the company can’t access or analyze their contents.

To get started you must download the iOS or Android app and set up a new ShazzleMail account (yourname@shazzlemail.com). This is quick and easy, and works much like creating any other web account: provide your name, another email address and you’re done.

Communications between ShazzleMail users are also very straightforward. You create a message on your mobile device, Mac or PC, perhaps attach a file, and send it to a ShazzleMail.com address. As long as your friend is online, the two clients establish a direct connection, and your message is transferred.

Most of the people you know won’t have ShazzleMail.com addresses, of course, but that’s not a problem. Send a message from ShazzleMail to a regular email account, and the receiver will get a message with a "click to view" link. Clicking this establishes a connection between them and your iOS or Android device, so effectively they’re downloading it directly from you.

Similarly, someone without a ShazzleMail.com account can send messages directly to you.

The big issue here is that, with no mail server to store messages, you can only communicate with someone when their device is on and connected to the internet.

The process of sending a message can take a while, too. Your client must first query a central Registry for the details of the recipient, before contacting them directly, and transferring your data. This normally only takes a few seconds, but it can be much longer.

For the most part, though, ShazzleMail works very well, and it’s a simple way to send private emails between many different platforms and devices.