If you have a mailbox with your own personal domain instead of a 3rd-party one, you will be able to use an email application such as Apple Mail, Outlook or Thunderbird to access and administer your email accounts. The advantage of using such applications is that you can also take advantage of other features, such as address books and calendars. There are two email retrieval protocols that you can select from when you configure the app of your preference to access your mailbox – POP3 and IMAP. With the first one, all messages that are received will be downloaded onto your device – desktop or mobile, unless you decide to leave a copy on the server. With the second one, the email messages will be displayed locally at your end, but they will remain on the server all the time, so you can set up the account on multiple devices and see the messages from any place. You’ll also be able to see old emails in case there’s an issue with your Internet service, which is a big advantage over a web-based service.