Email doesn’t have a built-in “friend” system like Facebook does. But you can have something like it. We talk all about it in podcast episode 42.
Using Fastmail, you can add a rule to put any email that doesn’t come in from one of your contacts into a “friend requests” folder for review. For each email, either add the sending address as a contact, or block them.
If you’d rather have your email service provide this feature itself, you can try out the Hey email service. I haven’t used it myself, but I’ve used other services from the same folks, and they are reputable, so don’t be afraid to give it a try.
Another option is to sign up for a service that adds a layer onto your email, like Clean Email. I haven’t used it a ton but enough to feel comfortable saying it’s safe to try.
A similar service is Mailman. I haven’t used it at all, but based on my research, it looks safe to me.
Finally, you can use a different email app called Spark that has the feature built-in as well.
If you have any questions, please reply here and I’m happy to answer them.
P.S. I’d also love to know if you decide to give any of these methods a try.
.