I recently switched to Runbox after a long period of trying out various different services. A few minor issues aside (most of which have been raised by other users and acknowledged by devs on here), so far I am happy with the product and greatly looking forward to seeing Runbox 7 develop further.
As I do intend to stay with Runbox as a long-term email solution, I am just curious as to the company’s current financial stability and plans to remain operational 5, 10, possibly more, years from now.
I have read all the company’s most recent Messages from the Board and am encouraged by the mention of a “record year” in 2020 and a continually expanding customer base (I do notice they say ‘customer’, rather than ‘user’ base - not sure if this refers to a potential audience or actual paying subscribers, or maybe is irrelevant phrasing).
I have so far been unsuccessful at finding any figures regarding current user counts or anything like that. I know many, if not most, companies keep this information private, but sometimes you are able to find a ballpark figure somewhere.
I’m also aware that Runbox 7 is at least partially funded by grants from the Norwegian government. If these grants were suddenly withdrawn or severely curtailed, does Runbox have the resources on its own to fund the full development and long-term support for Runbox 7?
Sorry for the long first post, just some questions that I’ve been interested in asking!
The number of paying customers that Runbox has isn’t really that relevant to whether it has long-term stability. We’ve recently celebrated our 20th anniversary and have grown throughout that period.
The business is mostly employee owned and we’ve always financed things carefully and within our means. While government help is always welcome it isn’t a pre-requisite for Runbox to continue as a successful and growing business.
We have short, medium and long-term plans for Runbox to do things outside the current scope of our business and we intend to grow in an sustainable way to make those plans a reality. We plan to be here for a long time yet
I’ll tag @Geir at this point in case he wants to add more as it is his prerogative to do so
Thanks @Dave for that response. Dev participation on the forums was one of the things that led me to choose Runbox, as it seems you guys are very engaged and responsive to user input.
Runbox’s record as an established provider was also definitely a big plus for me. I was just curious how things looked nowadays as so many privacy-focused email services have emerged in the last 8 years. It’s good to hear Runbox is not reliant on outside investors and has a clear plan for future development.
While I have your attention - the runbox 7 app on mobile and iPad is great! Once it is more built-out with planned features (Files especially) I really think you guys will have one of the better apps out there. I’ve seen a few reviews, even recent ones, mention the lack of a mobile app as a downside to Runbox. It seems some people don’t consider it a true ‘app’ since it is technically run/installed through the browser, rather than downloaded from an App Store. That’s an unfortunate and, in my opinion, outdated mindset that I think is easily changed after using the app for a little while.
Which version of iOS do you run because I find RB7 a little erratic on my iPad (iOS); I can’t reorder things by column headings for instance, though it did work the other day, and resizing the reading plane can be hit and miss for me.
I’ve only used Runbox for a short time, but they’ve been responsive to my queries and seem to care about what they do in a way that’s is rare nowadays and probably only possible if the company is not too big.
It’s really nice to read such a positive set of posts, I find techy forums can be a bit depressing!
I always use the latest stable release version of any OS so right now I am running 15.1 on iOS and iPadOS.
I do agree there are still a number of kinks to be worked out, including the HTML issues people have mentioned. I’ve also run into issues with items not displaying when switching between mailboxes or threaded views, however these usually just require me to go back and reload.
The system right now is definitely rough around the edges, but overall I like it. I’m willing to put up with minor inconveniences as the product is clearly still in the beta phase.
I spent a long time trying out all of the usual candidates trying to find a privacy-focused service away from google (Protonmail, Tutanota, Posteo, Mailbox, and several others). Overall, Runbox checked all of the boxes I was looking for:
Not Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, etc.
Not USA-based
PGP compatible
IMAP/POP
Custom domain support
Ad-free
Reasonable price
CalDAV support
Separate Files/Attachments storage
Mobile app
Some level of Offline Access (via Runbox’s indexing feature)
Established professional track record (i.e. not a startup)
Active development, responsiveness from Developers
I really like services such as Proton and Tuta, but overall found the sacrifices in convenience/compatibility for hyper-level security not worth it for my personal needs.
My ipad is too long in the tooth (old) to run beyond iOS12. However it worked fine today. I think what I’ve discovered (perhaps) is to touch to the side of the column heading, whereas with a mouse I click on the heading to order by column. To resize the column you touch the column heading, at least that’s what worked today. I generally read my emails via apple’s mail app anyway or on a computer using rb6.
