MacFreePOPs: Getting emails from hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo!, SquirrelMail, AOL, etc
MacFreePOPs is a stand-alone app which allows you to download your emails from web-based mail services like Yahoo, hotmail and Gmail. It is a version of the FreePops app for Mac OS X 10.2 and above.
Running the app launches a freepopsd server which translates local POP3 requests into HTTP actions that web-based services can understand. A screenshot of the app’s preferences shows off a number of its features:
MacFreePOPs currently offers support for Yahoo!, SquirrelMail, hotmail, Gmail, AOL, lycos.co.uk and others. Key features include the ability to check for mail automatically, and integration into the Dock and Menubar. It is freeware (donations welcome!) and is available from the developer’s website.
UPDATE: Check out MailForward as well, which works with fewer services and costs money but is easier to set up.
Tags: AOL, Apple Mail, Dock, download emails, email, freepopsd, Gmail. Hotmail, lycos, mail.app, menubar, MSN, POP proxy, YahooRelated posts
September 18th, 2005 at 2:13 pm
[...] MacFreePOPs: Getting emails from hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo!, SquirrelMail, AOL, etc — a clever piece of software for getting emails out of web-based email services and into Apple Mail. [...]
October 2nd, 2005 at 8:27 pm
[...] I still think that using MacFreePOPs to get your emails out of web-based services and into Apple Mail is the best way to read your emails. (There are reports that that MacFreePOPs doesn’t work with newer Yahoo! accounts, but it works fine with mine, created only eleven months ago). [...]
October 4th, 2005 at 4:54 pm
[...] It doesn’t work with as many providers as MacFreePOPs, but to me it seemed easier to configure and use. My extensive five minute trial demonstrated that it works flawlessly with Gmail, Yahoo! and Hotmail. [...]
October 20th, 2005 at 11:31 pm
[...] Stowe Boyd, “a well-known media subversive” is not so happy. He wants to be able to read his Gmail off-line, write replies and then upload then again when he reconnects. MacFreePOPs, MailForward or POP access to Gmail don’t seem to be for him. He wants a dedicated app to do the job: Yes, I realize that I could (possibly) configure Apple Mail, or Mozilla, or something to sort of do this. But it seems more attractive to have a small, lightweight, dedicated app to do this, rather than fool around with a big fat app. [...]
November 15th, 2005 at 10:34 pm
[...] While you are waiting, you could try some other options like MacFreePOPs or MailForward. [...]
December 9th, 2005 at 7:19 am
[...] Two other Mail.app add-ons, macfreePOPs and MailForward also allow you to use Apple Mail for your Hotmail (and for many other web-based email services as well). Technorati Tags: Apple, Hotmail, Mail.app [...]
December 31st, 2005 at 2:55 am
[...] MacFreePOPs: Getting emails from hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo!, SquirrelMail, AOL, etc. MacFreePOPs just seems to run and run. I don’t know where the hits come from, but it is by far the most popular thing I ever blogged. [...]
January 6th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
[...] Mac users with Yahoo! Mail accounts are well catered for. YMail offers Yahoo-specific menubar notification and you can download your Yahoo emails into Mail.app with either MacFreePOPs or MailForward. Technorati Tags: Yahoo!, email, Yahoo, notification, Mail.app [...]
June 21st, 2007 at 8:40 pm
The reason I have Hotmail is because I do not have a POP 3 account. My apartment has DSL but it is just provided by my landlord for Internet surfing, no email POP 3 account. I don’t think this gizmo will do me any good because it appears to require an in-place POP account as well as a Hotmail account, right?
July 19th, 2007 at 12:05 am
No, it does not require a POP account.
It actually turns your OWN computer into a POP3 server. Then you tell your mail client to connect to your own computer. The local POP3 requests will be translated into HTTP requests for these popular mail services.
So you don’t need a POP3 account. In fact, this one provides a new one for you.