filtering with Android Thunderbird

[Cherilm93]

I love my PC Thunderbird. Filtering saves me so much time and when a new vendor reaches me, I just create a new rule. It is so simple and effective. But I have not seen the Thunderbird for Android. I have tried K-9 mail and a couple others, but no filtering option exists and spam does not allow you to unenroll, they just give your address to 10 more people and your life gets worse. So filtering allows you to redirect it out of your face. So email on my Android is still not useable because all the spam fills up my phone and chokes it.

When will we be getting the Android version? Or is one out and I just don't know what it is called?

[frank_steiner]

Definitely a must-have, otherwise when switching between Android and PC, sometimes messages gets sorted into subfolders automatically (PC) or just flood the inbox (Android) and the next time on desktop the filters must be called manually to clean up the inbox.

Please add that! 

[ScotBoy]

Flagging as spam/junk and flagging not spam/junk are critical. I tried to do it today (not spam/junk) and couldn't on thunderbird. I had to go back to outlook. 

[Silvestet]

Yes the filters are the only thing holding me back from fully switching over to thunderbird.

[wsm]

Thank you for your comments.  Some of you have asked about spam filtering. You'll want to vote for this is a separate idea at https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/for-thunderbird-android-app-add-quot-spam-quot-button/idi-p/937....

Pure filtering - the roadmap for 2026 was just issued https://blog.thunderbird.net/2025/12/state-of-the-thunder-14-the-2026-mobile-roadmap/ and filtering is not planned for next year. So for now you will need to rely on desktop filtering, and we'll need to look forward to the 2027 roadmap.

[rumbero]

Hi friends,

I'm a K-9-user and would like to suggest you developers of Thunderbird's Android-version to integrate the same mailfilter-options that we already know from Tb for Windows. Imho it should definitely be possible to export the filter settings from Windows-Tb to Android-Tb in an easy manner via QR-Code or by copy-and-pasting some config file.

A simple "spam-button" isn't the solution.

I really can't imagine, why you don't just let users transfer their spamfilter-settings from Windows to Android in first place. Such filter option would be THE FIRST REASON for using Android-Tb.

Best regards

[Kurash-Rex]

I use Thunderbird on my laptop and make use of filters for sorting messages into folders making my life easier, not being able to do the same on Android makes things unnecessarily problematic. TB’s filters do a lot of the heavy lifting in my Inbox Zero plan and keeping my laptop running 24/7 isn’t an option.

Filters need to work exactly the same on PC and Android with a way to port them to Android.

[ShamusLit]

While the concept of Thunderbird on Android is terrific the current solution is, for most people, half baked. Without a spam filter it is unusable for the vast majority of users. I have installed it and attempted to use it but to no avail with no option to filter spam, or even flag it, its largely unusable. I've even boosted the filtering my ISP does but as everyone knows that is a fine balance between flagging too little or too much. My desktop version of Thunderbird takes care of what leaks through and so should Thunderbird for Android. Before any more features are added to Thunderbird for Android this MUST be fixed -- its a non-starter.

[ShamusLit]

@Kurash-Rex

That's a great idea. Thunderbird for Android already retrieves the mail account data using QR codes. It would be brilliant for it to also retrieve spam filter using the same method.

[RushMan856]

Tbird for Android always places some of my most important emails in Junk, specifically from my doctor's group , clinics and hospitals.  A filter control to allow these is an absolute necessity.