Skip to content

Privacy & security · email service

Rootshell email service

Recommended as an independent, non-corporate end-to-end encrypted email service that passed an email privacy tester. Critics say emails are decrypted on the server, undermining the E2EE claim.

Summarized from 16 comments.

Recommended as an independent, non-corporate end-to-end encrypted email service that passed an email privacy tester. Critics say emails are decrypted on the server, undermining the E2EE claim.

recommend
7
criticize
8
months recommended
3 of 13

Why people love it

  • Passed an email privacy test · 1

    You defeated https://www.emailprivacytester.com straight off. Which is more than most new email services.

    Jun 2026 · comment
  • Independent, non-corporate email provider · 1

    the more stand alone non corporate email providers the better

    Jun 2026 · comment

What people warn about

  • Sign-up and web errors · 4

    Why is the error message so short to the point where I (the user) don’t know what to do next?

    Jun 2026 · comment

    It doesn’t work, upon registering, you get “key bundle missing - please try again”

    Jun 2026 · comment

    Your DANE is broken. Try any of a number of freely available online validators.

    Jun 2026 · comment
  • Server-side decryption undermines E2EE claim · 3

    emails are returned from the server in plain text. This means that the emails are decrypted on the server, which defeats the entire purpose of E2EE

    Jun 2026 · comment

    The E2EE claim is BS, unless qualified by saying that the platform supports GPG-encrypted emails only.

    Jun 2026 · comment

    Is it the kind where they say the Server is an “end” and therefore that makes it E2E?

    Jun 2026 · comment
  • Security claims hard to verify · 2

    it wouldn't pass a code review, let alone security audit

    Jun 2026 · comment

    this process is impossible to know for sure

    Jun 2026 · comment

What hackers pick instead

Every quote

The 13 most detailed of 16 comments. Each links to the original.

  1. You defeated https://www.emailprivacytester.com straight off. Which is more than most new email services.

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Rootshell: A new E2EE email service hosted in Iceland”

  2. the more stand alone non corporate email providers the better

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Rootshell: A new E2EE email service hosted in Iceland”

  3. emails are returned from the server in plain text. This means that the emails are decrypted on the server, which defeats the entire purpose of E2EE

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “Rootshell: A new E2EE email service hosted in Iceland”

  4. The E2EE claim is BS, unless qualified by saying that the platform supports GPG-encrypted emails only.

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “Rootshell: A new E2EE email service hosted in Iceland”

  5. Why is the error message so short to the point where I (the user) don’t know what to do next?

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “Rootshell: A new E2EE email service hosted in Iceland”

  6. Is it the kind where they say the Server is an “end” and therefore that makes it E2E?

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “Rootshell: A new E2EE email service hosted in Iceland”

  7. It doesn’t work, upon registering, you get “key bundle missing - please try again”

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “Rootshell: A new E2EE email service hosted in Iceland”

  8. Your DANE is broken. Try any of a number of freely available online validators.

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “Rootshell: A new E2EE email service hosted in Iceland”

  9. all I get is a load more CSP errors and the image fetches don't happen

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “Rootshell: A new E2EE email service hosted in Iceland”

  10. it wouldn't pass a code review, let alone security audit

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “Rootshell: A new E2EE email service hosted in Iceland”

  11. this process is impossible to know for sure

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “Rootshell: A new E2EE email service hosted in Iceland”

  12. My favorite libghostty project is rootshell which is the best terminal for iOS.

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Ghostty 1.4”

  13. rootshell is libghostty and free, doesnt strike me as vc backed

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Ghostty 1.4”

Counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, Nov 2025 to Nov 2026. How we count · Report a mistake