If you use a mailbox with your own personal domain name instead of a 3rd-party one, you will be able to make use of an email app such as Outlook, Thunderbird or Apple Mail to access and manage your email messages. The benefit of using such apps is that you can also take advantage of other features, such as calendars and address books. There are two different email retrieval protocols that you can select from when you configure the application of your choice to access your email account – POP3 and IMAP. With the first protocol, all messages that are received will be downloaded to your device – desktop or mobile, unless you opt to store a copy on the email server. With the second one, the messages will be displayed at your end, but they will stay on the server all the time, so you can set up the email account on numerous devices and see the email messages from any location. You’ll also be able to view old email messages in case there’s a predicament with your Internet connection, which is an advantage over web-based services.