New at Posteo: Many Colors and Dark Mode

Created on 20. April 2023, 16:45 | Category: Info

The new colors of Posteo

Dear Posteo customers,

Starting today, we will be gradually releasing new features for you: Just in time for the beginning of spring we are bringing some color to your mailbox – we are now offering our user interface in 10 new variants. Additional updates include dark mode as well as two levels of contrast.

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Regardless if you prefer yellow, pink, red or neutral colors like beige, brown or blue: From now on, the color of the user interface can be adjusted in the settings. The selected color will be applied to all areas, such as the calendar, notes, the attachment browser or in the Posteo web app.

Each Color in Two Contrast Levels

It is also new that all color variations are now available in two contrast levels. If you regularly work several hours in front of a screen, a color and contrast selection tailored to their own needs can be much more pleasant. Please try it out!
The contrast toggle switch can be found in the settings directly above the color selection.

Dark Mode

Another update: Starting now, you can activate dark mode. The background will then be displayed darkened and the text brightened – in the color you have selected. dark mode is especially useful for reading emails in darker settings. Many people also consider this more pleasant on the eyes in general.

Additionally, you have the option to automatically control Light and dark mode based on your operating system settings: The Posteo interface will then adapt accordingly – also on smartphones using the web app.

There is a toggle switch for dark mode and auto dark mode directly above the color selection.

We will gradually release all new features over the next few weeks. As soon as they have been released for your account, you will find the new options in Preferences via “User Interface”. These features are available free of charge without any further action on your part.

Video and Help Guides

In our video, you will learn how to select your personally favorite color and contrast level – and how dark mode works. There are also versions of the video available in French and German.

You can find step-by-step guides in our help section here:
How do I change the color of the Posteo webmail interface?
How do I activate dark mode for my account?
How do I install the Posteo web app?

Best regards,
Your Posteo Team

New security feature: The deletion notification

Created on 17. March 2023, 12:30 | Category: Info

Dear Posteo customers,

Perhaps you have already noticed that we have released a new feature: the deletion notification. The new security feature protects you from unnoticed data loss; for example, if you have accidentally deleted emails from your account. The new feature has proven to be successful in everyday use. That’s why we would now like to officially present the deletion notification in our blog.

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It is not so uncommon for customers to accidentally delete emails or an entire folder. We would like to provide you with the best possible protection for such cases: Posteo has always offered a special service of creating daily security backups of all email accounts and storing them 7 days for you. If needed, we can then restore these backups for you free of charge.

We have developed the new deletion notification because on a daily basis it was sometimes not satisfactory for us when customers would notice too late – after more than 7 days – that they – or the programs and devices they use – accidentally deleted many emails. We were then no longer able to help them.

With the new deletion notification, this no longer happens. Our system automatically sends a notification via email as soon as the amount of emails in your account is reduced by at least 50 emails within the past 24 hours.
And we can already say that the new feature is a complete success. Meanwhile, almost all customers that accidentally deleted emails contact us in time so that we can restore their data from our security backups. We have been happy to see the positive and relieved responses – thank you for this.

Notice:

Posteo will never request in an email that you click on a link and enter data on a website. Even our deletion notifications are purely informative without such prompts. Have you received an email that appears untrustworthy? Contact our support team for an evaluation at: support@posteo.de

Unlocked cell phones, errors in local clients

The main reasons for accidentally deleting emails can be quickly listed:
Often customers report of “cleaning” gone wrong in their own account – or from smartphones that were not locked in a pocket or bag.

Deletions are more likely to go unnoticed when customers are unaware of deletion settings in their local email clients – such as in Apple Mail, Outlook or Thunderbird. Therefore, it’s generally worth it to check the deletion settings in external email programs. Also, when updating these email clients, errors can sometimes occur that cause emails to be deleted unexpectedly.

By the way, out of principle Posteo never deletes emails from your email account – not even if your storage quota has been filled. We often receive this question.

I received a deletion notification – what do I do now?

If you receive a deletion notification from us in the future, follow these steps:

If you intentionally deleted the emails, simply ignore the deletion notification.

If the messages were accidentally deleted, verify if apps or email clients on your devices are automatically deleting emails. Perhaps your email client (e.g. Apple Mail) automatically emptied the trash. This is sometimes set by default in some email clients. You can, however, change this setting retroactively if you do not want emails to be automatically deleted. For example, also check individual folders, such as the “Sent” folder or your archive.

We do not have any information whatsoever regarding which emails were specifically deleted. The deletion notification has been implemented in a privacy-friendly manner and is entirely generated from values when calculating storage space. We do not look into email accounts and we also do not log which emails were deleted.

Should you be missing emails that you still need and do not have your own backup, please request for us to restore a backup within the next 7 days. This can be done in your settings via “Restore emails”. The backup contains all of the data in your account before the time of deletion. Alternatively, you can request to restore a backup from our customer service via email.
If needed, you can also adjust the deletion settings in your external email client to prevent unwanted deletions in the future.

Adjusting or deactivating deletion notices

Another tip: You can specify in your settings via “Password and security” to receive a notification only when more emails are deleted. This setting is particularly useful for people who regularly delete a lot of emails. If you no longer wish to receive deletion notifications, you can also deactivate the feature there.

We also recommend regularly creating your own backups of all saved data.

Best regards,
Your Posteo Team

New security certificate

Created on 30. January 2023, 17:43 | Category: Info

Dear Posteo customers,

Over the next few days we will update our main security certificate. Security certificates are only valid for a specified time period and need to be renewed from time to time. Because of this, we will be changing this certificate before February 14, 2023.

In most cases, you will not notice any change.
All clients like Thunderbird or Outlook will automatically find the new certificate. You do not need to do anything. However, should your client display a certificate error during this changeover process, please restart your client. This should fix the error.
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If you manage the trustworthiness of certificates manually, you can find the fingerprint for the new main certificate that we will shortly begin using below. You can also find complete fingerprints for all certificates in our legal notice.

New fingerprint for the TLS security certificate for posteo.de:

Geotrust:
SHA256: E8:E2:06:71:4D:15:6E:68:DF:24:CE:FD:7F:53:5D:EE:E1:FA:75:5A:87:14:6D:EC:36:76:15:70:E1:09:8F:92
SHA1: 27:CD:27:2F:23:5B:B8:1F:89:72:8A:71:9B:1A:A0:70:F6:8B:49:BE

Best regards,
The Posteo Team

A safe start into the new year: The "forgotten password" feature

Created on 27. January 2023, 11:33 | Category: Blog

Dear Posteo customers,

have you made any resolutions for the new year? We have a useful tip that only takes a few minutes. Activate or update the “forgotten password” feature for your Posteo account!

If you ever forget your Posteo password, you can use this feature to conveniently receive a new password via email or SMS.

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Activate the “forgotten password” feature

It’s very easy to activate. You can find this feature in the settings via “Password and security”. Once there, enter the mobile phone number or alternative email address you want us to send the new password to in case you lose it.

Activating the forgotten password feature — The “forgotten password” feature is easily activated.

You have already activated this feature? Then make sure that your specified contact is still up-to-date. Simply enter your current mobile phone number or alternative email address, and you’re guaranteed to be up-to-date again.

You can find step-by-step instructions for activating and using the “forgotten password” feature in our help section: https://posteo.de/en/help/forgotten-password-feature

Access security for your email account

Our email address is the core of our digital identity: We log in to most online services with it and receive new passwords to our email address whenever we need them.

If, however, we forget the password for our own email address, we don’t have this option. That’s why it’s so important to activate the “forgotten password” feature and provide an alternative email address or mobile phone number for resetting the password.
In case you lose your password, you can then go to “Forgotten password?” to reset your password.

Reset password — With the “forgotten password” feature enabled, if needed, you can go to “Forgotten password?” to reset your password.

The feature is designed to be privacy-friendly, secure, and will give you immediate access to your account again if you need it.

Note: If you have activated your Posteo crypto mail storage, the reset does not work automatically because your emails are encrypted with the forgotten password. However, the feature authenticates you as an account user: our support will then be able to quickly help you regain access to your address in case of a lost password. Previously stored emails remain encrypted with the forgotten password. If crypto mail storage is activated, it is therefore especially important to remember your password.

Best regards
The Posteo Team

Your alternative email addresses and mobile phone numbers are not stored in our databases at any point in time.

For security reasons, we do not store your sensitive data in our database. Your mobile number or alternate email address is converted to a hash value. If you activate or update the feature, your sensitive data remains with you. Only the hash value is sent to Posteo via the Internet. You can find more detailed information about this process here.

Transparency notice: Our donations for 2021

Created on 17. May 2022, 11:35 | Category: Blog

Dear Posteo customers and interested parties,

We have a transparency notice for you: we have updated our donations page. On this page, we document the organisations that we financially supported during the previous year (2021).

Over the past year, we donated a total of 59,500 EUR. Of this, 56,139.93 EUR constituted voluntary donations by Posteo. The remaining 3,361.07 EUR came from users that donated remaining credit when terminating their account.

In March 2022, we additionally donated 10,000 EUR for emergency humanitarian aid in Ukraine (Médecins Sans Frontières/UN Refugee Agency). These donations will only be listed in our transparency notes next year when we disclose the figures for 2022.

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It is important to us that we encourage social engagement and take responsibility as a company.
We therefore donate to carefully selected organisations in the fields of environmental and climate protection, digital freedom and freedom of expression, as well as refugee and humanitarian emergency aid.

Posteo donated to the following organisations in 2021:

UNHCR (UNO-Flüchtlingshilfe):
UNO-Flüchtlingshilfe is the German offshoot of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It ensures the survival of refugees in acute crisis situations with life-saving emergency measures. UNO-Flüchtlingshilfe thus provides for sufficient supplies of water, food and medicines in refugee camps or regions that are hard to access, for example.

Doctors Without Borders:
Doctors Without Borders was founded in France in 1971. The German section was added in 1993. Today, MSF (Médicins Sans Frontières) is an international network that provides emergency medical aid in over 70 countries. As a humanitarian medical organisation, Doctors Without Borders is committed to providing high-quality and efficient health care in countries where people’s survival is at risk due to diseases, wars and disasters.

Reporters Without Borders:
Reporters Without Borders engages itself worldwide for freedom of the press and freedom of information. The organisation documents violations against freedom of the press and supports journalists that are in danger. Reporters Without Borders combats censorship and restrictive media laws.

UNICEF – Living Schools:
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has been advocating for the health, education and rights of children and mothers in 190 countries since 1946. UNICEF is politically involved against the use of child soldiers and for protecting refugees and for implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Posteo supports the project Living Schools in Malawi. Schools are being built there that are based on principles of ecological awareness, e-learning and participation in decision-making. The schools have their own water supply system for clean drinking water and sanitation, use solar energy and teach about environmental protection in their school gardens.

Netzpolitik.org:
netzpolitik.org is a journalistic platform for digital freedom rights and presents the important debates and developments about the internet. The platform documents how politics is changing the internet and society through regulation and the continued expansion of surveillance laws. With its work, netzpolitik.org wants to encourage people to become engaged for their digital freedom rights and an open society.

BUND:
Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) is one of the largest German environmental organisations. Throughout Germany there are more than 2,000 voluntary BUND groups engaged with regional environmental topics. BUND is also engaged with climate protection, ecological agriculture and protection of threatened species, forests and water. BUND is the German member of the international environmental network, “Friends of the Earth”.

ECCHR:
The European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) is engaged with legal measures for human rights. The ECCHR lawyers’ aim is to hold state and non-state actors legally accountable for grave human rights abuses. Among others, the ECCHR was founded in 2007 by human rights lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck, who represents whistleblower Edward Snowden in Germany.

Posteo does business sustainably and is independent. Our service is financed entirely by our customers’ account fees. There are no investors or advertising partners at Posteo. You are what makes our involvement in these projects possible. We thank you very much for helping to make a difference.

Best regards,
The Posteo team