iCloud email reliability

[evfrson]

I know a few years ago iCloud email had quite a bad reputation for legitimate emails not being received (particularly newsletters etc) and just disappearing into a black hole never to be seen again.

If anyone here uses it, has this situation improved or is the service still as unreliable as it used to be ?

[jeffpan]

Originally Posted by evfrson

I know a few years ago iCloud email had quite a bad reputation for legitimate emails not being received (particularly newsletters etc) and just disappearing into a black hole never to be seen again.

If anyone here uses it, has this situation improved or is the service still as unreliable as it used to be ?

After my testing, the issue still exists. I wrote a blog for it.

[evfrson]

Originally Posted by jeffpan

After my testing, the issue still exists. I wrote a blog for it.
https://blog.hoxblue.com/icloud-emai...ering-in-2021/

Thanks jeffpan for posting a link to your blog post - very interesting.

I am guessing Apple don't make much (if any) revenue from mail and is therefore a non-priority to fix.

Apple are well aware of the problems that have been going on for years, you only have to look at the Apple Community pages to see the number of unhappy users of mail always complaining about disappearing messages.

Given the problems still appear to exist I won't bother using it, even for non-essential email.

[TenFour]

On the other hand, I know lots of ordinary people that use Apple Mail for everything and I have never heard them complain about lost emails. I have no doubt there is some spam alogorithm that is blocking some legitimate emails, but it is really hard to know how big the problem is or what the reasoning is behind the algorithm. Legitimate domains and IPs get blocked by major spam filters for unknown reasons all the time. I used to work with an email service provider and we had someone working fulltime dealing with blocked IPs, domains, email addresses, etc. In many many cases no obvious reason for the block was ever found. The blockers often refuse to provide any information on what is going on, but I suspect even they don't know in some cases.

[soromak]

Originally Posted by TenFour

On the other hand, I know lots of ordinary people that use Apple Mail for everything and I have never heard them complain about lost emails. I have no doubt there is some spam alogorithm that is blocking some legitimate emails, but it is really hard to know how big the problem is or what the reasoning is behind the algorithm. Legitimate domains and IPs get blocked by major spam filters for unknown reasons all the time. I used to work with an email service provider and we had someone working fulltime dealing with blocked IPs, domains, email addresses, etc. In many many cases no obvious reason for the block was ever found. The blockers often refuse to provide any information on what is going on, but I suspect even they don't know in some cases.

It will be interesting to follow it up, as Apple just announced custom domain support with iCloud plus coming this fall...

[TenFour]

Apple just announced custom domain support with iCloud plus coming this fall...

Of course the details of the service/price/limits will be critical, but this could be a nice cost savings for many people that pay for email services just to get that custom domain email. I've been advocating for Google to offer this with Gmail for years. For most people something like Workspace is overkill just to get domain email, and way too complicated also.

[TenFour]

There's more information on the forthcoming iOS 15 and iCloud+ changes here: https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-15-preview/features/

Custom email domain
Personalize your iCloud Mail address with a custom domain name, and invite family members to use the same domain with their iCloud Mail accounts.

Mail Privacy Protection
Mail Privacy Protection helps protect your privacy by preventing email senders from learning information about your Mail activity. If you choose to turn it on, it hides your IP address so senders can’t link it to your other online activity or determine your location. And it prevents senders from seeing if you’ve opened their email.

[4rkfm]

Originally Posted by TenFour

On the other hand, I know lots of ordinary people that use Apple Mail for everything and I have never heard them complain about lost emails. I have no doubt there is some spam alogorithm that is blocking some legitimate emails, but it is really hard to know how big the problem is or what the reasoning is behind the algorithm. Legitimate domains and IPs get blocked by major spam filters for unknown reasons all the time. I used to work with an email service provider and we had someone working fulltime dealing with blocked IPs, domains, email addresses, etc. In many many cases no obvious reason for the block was ever found. The blockers often refuse to provide any information on what is going on, but I suspect even they don't know in some cases.

From what I've read, anything that Proofpoint identifies as on a block list, will be blocked hard at the server level, and won't be delivered. Unfortunately you don't know what you won't receive until you don't get it and have to reach out to the individual. Not good. I'd rather it ALL be put in my Junk folder and let me sift through it. Or give us the option - a "block all" and "send all".

[ankupan]

https://beebom.com/apple-storing-8-m...google-servers

At the end, everything is going to Google only.

[4rkfm]

Originally Posted by ankupan

https://beebom.com/apple-storing-8-m...google-servers

At the end, everything is going to Google only.

I doubt that. Amazon FTW.

[rscaramelo]

Not reliable and everything about it is bare bones glitchy. I am Apple everything except for that sad excuse for email. I would switch in a second if it worked well.

[4rkfm]

Originally Posted by rscaramelo

Not reliable and everything about it is bare bones glitchy. I am Apple everything except for that sad excuse for email. I would switch in a second if it worked well.

You encapsulated my thoughts exactly. I've just lost trust years ago and until I even hear Apple address it I'm too nervous to trust it.