Thunderbird on iOS/IPadOS
There does not seem to be a way to install Thunderbird on either iOS or iPadOS. I'm sending this using a school account as I don't want to use my office account. However, if Thunderbird was available on iOS/iPadOS, I can absolutely guarantee actual monetary support from the office. We would finally be able to trash Outlook, which we hate but which supports Windows, Mac, and iOS/iPadOS. We want to have the same app suite across platforms if at all possible. The lack of iOS/iPadOS support for what seems to us to be no good reason, given that Thunderbird does support Android, which we are junking because Android usage has fallen to under 6% of our users, is a giant red flag for us.
Why doesn't Thunderbird support iOS/iPadOS? Personally, I suspect a GPL issue. And that kind of thing would be another giant red flag.
All Replies (8)
IOS is in development, according to blog entries.
It seems that Tbird for iOS has been in development for quite some time. I'm not holding my breath waiting.
The Thunderbird email client is only available for Windows, macOS, Linux and as a mobile version for Android.
They are looking for developers to work on a mobile version for iOS/iPadOS as per https://blog.thunderbird.net/2025/01/video-the-thunderbird-mobile-team/
Not sure about email clients however due to Apple's restrictions on the browser engines used on iOS/iPadOS like the Firefox web browser is using webkit and not Gecko though that could change in future in the EU. https://developer.apple.com/support/alternative-browser-engines/
dyerc2 said
It seems that Tbird for iOS has been in development for quite some time.
This is not correct, because IOS developers have only been hired within the past month.
Hmm. I had thought there had been some work done starting last year in July or August. There were posts on Mozilla fora last year indicating that work on Tbird for iOS/iPadOS was proceeding or would be proceeding shortly. No time frame was given, of course. Do you mean that nothing has happened with iOS/iPadOS until the past month? Was there any reason for the delay?
And, frankly, if work just started in the past month, there ain't gonna be acceptable results for months. Maybe longer. This is very bad news. If work had been started in the summer of last year, I might expect something usable by the end of summer this year. If work just started, I don't expect anything usable before, at the earliest, spring next year. Perhaps I'm being too pessimistic; I doubt it, though.
Waiting for Godot ain't cutting it.
> posts on Mozilla fora last year indicating ...
Those posts would not have been on Mozilla. Mozilla doesn't produce Thunderbird.
> would be proceeding shortly .... Waiting for Godot ain't cutting it.
Those predictions were, to be honest, unrealistic, given that personnel had not yet been hired at the time that was written, plus priority needed to be placed on shipping a product we already had for Android.
Having now hired IOS personnel, plus a manager for Mobile which we didn't have prior to last year, and now having experience in shipping Thunderbird for Android, the plan plublicly stated is we anticipate a product available for testing by end of year.
'available for testing by end of year' probably means shipping by spring next year if everything goes well. Summer next year if there are problems.
Ah, well. We'll see.