FidoMail Mobile
FidoNet & Usenet mail client
Free
FidoMail Mobile is a mobile client for Fidonet, the amateur mail network that has been running since 1984 and is still alive today. The app connects to your boss (the uplink node) over binkp and lets you read and reply in echoes and netmail, transfer files, and more. NNTP and IMAP servers are supported too, with minimal Usenet support.
To use Fidonet you need a point address from a node's sysop: the point address and a password. The setup wizard gets the connection configured quickly. NNTP and IMAP servers need only a host and, if required, a login.
FEATURES
• Fidonet over binkp/1.1: echomail and netmail, ARCmail bundles, separate session and packet passwords, AreaFix subscription management from inside the app
• NNTP with TLS or STARTTLS, reading and posting
• IMAP support for reading echoes (unique to this client)
• Threaded message list, unread navigation, full-text search
• Composer with quoting, reply templates, signatures and the classic Fidonet reply style; drafts and an outbox
• Filters and scoring: highlight or hide messages by author, subject or other fields; block senders
• Address book collected from the mail you read
• Scheduled background mail exchange with notifications for new mail
• Charsets: CP866, CP1251, KOI8-R, UTF-8 and more, for reading and posting
• Pseudographics and box-drawing characters rendered in a bundled monospace font
• Backup and restore of settings and messages
• English, Russian, Dutch, Spanish and Catalan interface
FidoMail Mobile is free, with no ads and no analytics.
Fidonet is an amateur computer network. Ask any sysop for a point address; the developer runs a public node at 2:5001/100 (see fidomail.5001.ru).
more • Message templates: the greeting, reply greeting, quote header, signature and origin text are a named set shared by all your servers (Settings → Message templates). A server picks its set, an echo can pick another, and a message can pick yet another from the composer's menu ("Template…"). Your existing texts were carried over, one set per server. The editor shows a live preview.
• Synchronet BBS over IMAP: real read marks kept on the server, posts through its mail server. Detected by itself; nothing to set up beyond the login.
• The composer's plain-text mode no longer keeps the signature preview on the screen: what will be appended when you send is one line under the text; tap it to see the lines.
1.19 1d ago
• Nodelist: the app carries the FidoNet nodelist and updates it from cdn.fidonet.cc. Tap an address in a message to see the node's card (system, sysop, location, flags, binkp host), write netmail to it, add it to the address book or open its history. A nodelist browser with search, and nodelist lookup when you address a message. Other networks can be added from a URL or a file.
• "Refresh from server" for IMAP and NNTP echoes: the newest messages are downloaded again and updated in place, with read marks and stars kept.
• Date format: Settings → Look → Date format — with the year, with the month name, the system locale or your own pattern.
• Search finds a Cyrillic word typed with Latin look-alike letters, and a message opened from search is scrolled to the first hit with every hit highlighted.
• A reply quotes paragraphs, not lines: no more one-word stubs between full lines.
• Spell check while you write, with the device's dictionaries, in all of your languages at once (Settings → Spelling).
• BBS pipe colour codes (|09, |15) are shown as colour, under the ANSI colour art switch.
• Whole names and subjects from FSP-1030 UCS lines; the tearline and origin are back in IMAP and NNTP messages from a fidomail node.
• NNTP: Cyrillic articles with a wrong charset label are decoded correctly.
• WaterGate's AreaFix robot is recognised.
1.17 2d ago
• New sort order "Thread (latest reply)": threads ordered by their newest message.
• ftp:// and telnet:// addresses in a message are links; when no app opens them, the address is copied.
• A reply to ANSI art quotes the picture as text, not as escape codes.
• Setup wizard: a node address typed without @domain takes the uplink's, and a long session password that would be cut to 8 characters as the packet password gets a warning.
• NNTP and IMAP errors say which step failed and how long the app waited.
• More AreaFix robots are recognised, among them BeeMail, FastFIX, SqaFix, TosScan, RA-Echo and WILDMAIL!.
1.15 5d ago
• Group list: the unread/total counters now sit at the right edge, and a long echo name gets the rest of the row instead of being cut off at half its width.
• IMAP uplinks: the app asks the server where its echo folders are (IMAP NAMESPACE) instead of assuming a fixed folder layout.
• Four more AreaFix robots are recognised: WMail, AreaFix 1.30, ChaosFix and PktFix.
1.13 Oct 2
• The app can now work as a node, not only as a point. The "Set up Fidonet" wizard asks "Point" or "Node"; for a node you enter its address, and the app works with the uplink the same way a point works with its boss. Echomail written from a node address carries SEEN-BY and PATH lines, as FTS-0004 requires.
• Geek Code support: if a message carries one (the GC kludge, a "BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK" in the text, or a @GC: line), the message header gets a "Geek:" line. Tap it to see what the code means.
• The message counter in the reader header shows unread/total while the echo has unread messages, as before. Once everything is read, it shows the number of the open message, "425 of 439".
• "Mark all read" now takes you to the newest message.
• A new "Add greeting and signature" checkbox in the message editor. Untick it and this one message goes out without the greeting and the signature — useful for AreaFix requests written by hand, since some robots read a signature line as one more command.
• The attach menu has "Choose from gallery…".
• Quoting a line that starts with ">" now gives ">>", as other FidoNet editors do, not "??>>".
• binkp fixes for better compatibility with Synchronet and BeeMail.
• The jNode AreaFix robot is now recognised.
1.12 Sep 27
• Group counters now read "unread/total" (12/501). Unsent messages get their own mark, an up arrow with the number in a different colour, so they no longer run together with the other numbers. Settings → Look → "Count read messages" switches the counters to "read/total".
• Settings → Look → "Compact group list": one line per echo, just the name and the counters, so more echoes fit on the screen.
• A message counter in the reader: how many messages of the echo are read and how many remain. Settings → Reading → "Message counter" puts it at the bottom of the reader, under the group name, or turns it off.
• When you open an echo, the list scrolls so that the newer messages are visible: the current message goes to the top of the list under an ascending sort, and to the bottom under a descending one.
• Settings → Quoting has a fourth choice for "Re:" in reply subjects that removes it altogether: a reply to "Re: Re^2: Hello" gets the subject "Hello".
• A forwarded message no longer shows its Origin line twice.
• If there is no area list from the uplink yet, the "Subscriptions" screen shows your own echoes, so you can unsubscribe or add an echo by name without waiting for the list.
• GEcho is recognised as an AreaFix robot. It has no usable rescan command, and the app now says so instead of sending one that does nothing.
1.11 Sep 25
• A netmail can carry a file: "Attach file…" in the composer has a "Send as a file attach" item beside UUE and web upload. Files that arrive with a netmail are listed under the message in an "Attachments" section, and can be saved or shared with another app.
• The composer's "Attributes" sheet sets Crash, Hold, Direct, "Kill after sending", "Return receipt", "Read confirmation" and "File request" (the subject names the files you request from the node).
• Return-receipt requests are answered on arrival (uplink setting "Answer return-receipt requests"). A message that asks for a read confirmation prompts you the first time you open it; the uplink setting can set it to "Never", "Ask each time" or "Always send".
• The "Inbound files" screen became "Files": the received files and the message each one belongs to.
• One "Subscriptions" screen for every kind of uplink: the echo list from AreaFix, the NNTP group list and now the IMAP folder list.
• "Go to the newest message" follows the sort order: under the Arrival sort it goes to the message that arrived last, not to a post with a date in the future.
• The header labels in the reader (From, To, Subj, Date) can be regular, bold or italic: Settings → Look → "Header labels".
1.10 Sep 22
• Forwarded messages now open with a header block: the original author and address, the addressee, the date, the echo it came from, the subject and the origin line.
• Forwards carry the FSC-0092 kludge lines (FWDFROM, FWDORIG, FWDTO, FWDDEST, FWDSUBJ, FWDAREA, FWDMSGID), so readers that understand them can show who wrote the original. When such a forward reaches you, the message menu offers "Reply to original sender": a netmail to the author of the original message, threaded onto it.
• Every outgoing netmail and AreaFix request now carries a Via line (FTS-4009) with your point address and a UTC timestamp.
• Netmail addresses can be abbreviated the usual FidoNet way: if your address is 2:5001/100.7, then ".6" means 2:5001/100.6, "56" means 2:5001/56 and "5020/56" means 2:5020/56. The composer shows the full address it resolved to.
• "Unread groups only" and "Show invisible" are now remembered per uplink, instead of one switch for all of them.
• Volume-key mappings have a screen of their own: Settings → Reading → "Volume keys…".
• "Create score rule…" is hidden while scoring is switched off.
• AreaFix support for BBBS uplinks (the BRoboCop robot). That robot has no rescan command — it would read the request as an area name — so a rescan is not sent to it.
1.9 Sep 19
• Replies now go out in the charset of the message you are answering, when that charset can carry every character you typed: a reply to a LATIN-1 message in a CP866 echo goes out in LATIN-1, a reply to a KOI8-R message in KOI8-R, a reply to a UTF-8 message in UTF-8. When it cannot (Cyrillic in reply to a CP437 message, say), the echo's charset is used as before, and the composer says so under the message header. On by default: Settings → "Reply in the original message's charset".
• Netmail follows the same rule: mail that arrived in UTF-8 is answered in UTF-8, with "Send in UTF-8" already ticked — you can still untick it. Mail that arrived in an 8-bit charset is answered in that charset, or in plain ASCII when the whole reply is 7-bit.
• Only the charset the sender declared counts. With no CHRS kludge in the original, the reply uses your echo's charset, whatever charset the app had to guess to read it.
• PING replies now carry Via lines of their own (FTS-4009): the arrival line closes the quoted chain in the text, the departure line rides on the reply as a kludge, both with your point address and a UTC time. The reply is kept in Sent.
• Netmail routed through MBSE showed a blank line above the text for every kludge — mbfido ends its lines with LF CR. A CR and an LF next to each other, in either order, now count as one line break.
1.8 Sep 18
• The app now answers PING requests (FTS-4010): a netmail addressed to "PING" that arrives at your point address is sent back to its sender, quoting every Via line it collected on the way — so a sysop can check that mail really reaches you. Off by default: turn it on per server under Settings → the server → "Answer PING requests". The reply goes out with the next mail exchange.
• Large rescans work again. A real bundle of about 4000 messages (14.7 MB zipped) was refused with "decompressed size exceeds the 33554432-byte cap". Bundles are now tossed one packet at a time instead of all at once; the limits are 128 MB per packet and 1 GB per bundle.
• Tossed inbound files are now kept for two days instead of a week — less space taken on the device after a big rescan.
• Netmail, Sent, Starred, Personal, Dupes and BadMail are now shown in the interface language. Echo names are unchanged.
• Spanish: wording fixes from the reviewer's second pass.
1.7 Sep 16
• The interface is now available in Spanish and Catalan, next to English, Russian and Dutch: Settings → Language, or follow the system language. Many thanks to the volunteer reviewer of the Spanish draft.
• AreaFix: the dialects of six more tossers are supported, each verified against the real program: SBBSecho (Synchronet), CrashMail II, Alexi/Mail, Sqaem (the Squish echo manager), Parma Tosser and Raid.
• Two more rescan forms under the server's "Tosser dialect": the FSC-0057 update line "=TAG, R=N" (understood by CrashMail II and Mystic) and "%RESCAN TAG R=N" for SBBSecho.
• A message whose text is pure 7-bit is now labelled "ASCII 1", as FTS-5003 says, instead of the server's 8-bit charset. AreaFix requests always are. An echo or netmail explicitly set to UTF-8 keeps its UTF-8 label.
• Fixed: text fields no longer turn a typed apostrophe or hyphen into the typographic kind. An origin line like "Michiel's iPhone" came out as garbage on 8-bit readers because of it.
1.6 Sep 14
• The message text has its own size: Settings → Look → "Message text size", next to the list and header size. It follows the old setting until you change it; the link button puts it back in step.
• A font for the message text: Settings → Look → "Message font" — the bundled JetBrains Mono, the system monospace or proportional font, or any family typed in by name. The preview shows a pseudographics table and warns when the font shears it.
• Settings → Reading → "Keep the message header in view": the Date/From/To/Subj block stays put while the text scrolls under it. Off by default.
• The "Area:" line is gone from the header inside an echo, where it only repeated the title. It stays in Starred, Personal and filter groups, where it tells you which echo a message came from.
• NNTP: reading news from InterSquish nodes now works — the server switches echoes during LISTGROUP; FidoMail notices and reselects it. The newsgroup list shows article counts on such nodes.
• "Connect over: Automatic" tries IPv6 first whenever the host has an IPv6 address. The mail activity log names the resolved addresses before the first connect, and lists every address it tried, with the reason, when a connection fails.
• The mail activity log says which running copy of FidoMail holds the lock when an exchange is skipped, and says plainly when no session password is configured.
• Fixed: "Connecting…" under a node's name could stay there after the session had long finished. Fixed: ANSI art banners spaced out with cursor-forward sequences or tabs were measured too narrow, so every second line was glued onto the one above.
1.5 Sep 11
• Works with MBSE and Mystic BBS nodes: binkp, AreaFix, echomail and netmail in both directions, verified against real installations.
• New server setting "AreaFix robot name" — MBSE answers only to AreaMgr.
• Settings → Reading → "Open a group at": the first new message, or the last message you read, the GoldED way.
• Netmail, Sent and Starred stay in the group list when "Unread groups only" is on.
• Fixed: "Descending" did nothing while sorted by thread; it now puts the newest threads first. "Default sort" and "Show read messages" from Settings apply at once.
• Fixed: with "Reflow message text" on, a paragraph indented by six or more spaces scrolled sideways instead of wrapping.
1.3 Sep 11
• iPad support: the app now runs as a native iPad app, in every orientation.
• Connections try IPv6 first when your network and the node both have it.
• Fixed: on an IPv6-only mobile network, a server addressed by a bare IPv4 address could not connect.
• New per-server setting "Connect over" to force "Prefer IPv6" or "IPv4 only".
• Bug fixes.
1.2 Sep 10
• Mail exchange with binkd nodes now runs in ND ("no dupes") mode: a dropped link no longer delivers the same mail twice.
• More detailed display of the connection process.
• ANSI art support.
• Dutch interface.
• Option to open a specific echo or server at launch.
• Bug fixes.
1.1 Sep 9
• Message templates: the greeting, reply greeting, quote header, signature and origin text are a named set shared by all your servers (Settings → Message templates). A server picks its set, an echo can pick another, and a message can pick yet another from the composer's menu ("Template…"). Your existing texts were carried over, one set per server. The editor shows a live preview.
• Synchronet BBS over IMAP: real read marks kept on the server, posts through its mail server. Detected by itself; nothing to set up beyond the login.
• The composer's plain-text mode no longer keeps the signature preview on the screen: what will be appended when you send is one line under the text; tap it to see the lines.
more Version 1.19 1d ago
Data Not Collected The developer does not collect any data from this app.