Meet Melia: A Privacy-First, Modern Desktop Email Client Made Just for Linux
Meet Melia: A Privacy-First, Modern Desktop Email Client Made Just for Linux
Publish Date: 2026-06-08 03:04:00
Source Domain: itsfoss.com
Every once in a while, a project comes that is very adamantly heavy on its principles and it is always a breath of fresh air in a world where corporate greed forms the basis of all the services we use.
This time it is for a service that is extremely basic and essential, e-mail.
There are a few email clients for desktop Linux already. Thunderbird, Evolution, Geary, to name a few.
I am not saying that they are not good but there is always scope for improvement and new features. And Melia does just that. It brings some additional features, a privacy enthusiast will appreciate.
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Non-FOSS Warning! Melia might be awesome but unfortunately it is not an open source software. We covered it here because it is available for Linux.
What Makes Melia Different?
Let’s see what makes Melia so special.
Local and offline
All e-mails on the application are stored locally in a SQLite database, which means you don’t have to run around with your internet connection, waiting for your data to sync. Even the credentials are stored in the OS keyring (where your OS account passwords are stored), which makes it as safe as it gets from online cyber attacks.
Supports 32+ services
There are 32 pre-programmed presets for most of the common e-mail providers such as Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, Protonmail, iCould and so on. You need to ensure the allowance of an SMTP connection from the plan that you have on your particular service, however.
Contact management
If you are particular about managing the contacts, Melia builds the address book automatically from sent and received emails. You can edit it and organize it as you want. It also helps with instant autocomplete when composing a mail. You also get stats on each contact.
Rules for a more organized inbox
Get statements from your bank, boring but good to keep for the future? Create a rule and send it automatically to a folder. Your inbox remains clean, and the emails are preserved.
There are many more ways to use the rules…
