How to Create a Tuta Account

Creating a Tuta account takes only a few minutes. Unlike many mainstream email providers, Tuta lets you register without providing a phone number or an existing email address. The important parts come after choosing your address: saving the recovery code and, for some new accounts, waiting for an approval hold to end.

The recovery code deserves particular attention. Tuta cannot reset your password through a backup email address or an identity check, so losing the credentials needed for recovery can permanently lock you out.

Before you sign up

Three rules from Tuta’s terms are worth knowing before creating an account:

• One free account per person. Tuta prohibits one person from registering multiple free accounts. Paid plans provide additional email addresses and, depending on the plan, support for additional users.

• Free accounts are for private use. Tuta’s terms restrict business use to paid plans unless a plan specifically states otherwise.

• Unused free accounts may be deleted. Tuta may delete a free account after at least six months without a login.

If the address will be used for work, a custom domain or multiple email addresses, compare Tuta’s current paid plans before registering.

How to create a Tuta account

1. Open Tuta’s signup page. Go to app.tuta.com/signup, or begin from the official pricing page at tuta.com/pricing.

2. Choose a plan. The Free plan is not a time-limited trial. Paid plans add features such as extra email addresses, custom domains, expanded storage, full offline support and email support.

3. Choose your email address. Enter a username and select one of the available Tuta domains. Check the spelling carefully before continuing.

4. Create a strong password. Use a unique password and save it in a trusted password manager. Tuta cannot send a conventional password-reset link to another email address.

5. Complete the CAPTCHA. Tuta may display its own clock-based CAPTCHA. Enter the time shown on the clock in the requested format.

6. Save the recovery code. Copy, print or write down the recovery code and store it somewhere outside the Tuta mailbox.

7. Finish registration. After the mailbox opens, check for a notice explaining whether the account is ready or temporarily waiting for approval.

Tuta may also ask you to confirm that you meet its minimum-age requirement and accept its terms and privacy policy.

Save the recovery code immediately

Tuta generates a recovery code because the company cannot perform a conventional password reset for an encrypted mailbox. The code helps you recover access without giving Tuta the ability to decrypt your data.

Tuta displays the recovery code during registration, but it is not necessarily available only on that one screen. While you still know the password, you can view the current recovery code from the login settings inside the mailbox after entering your password.

You should still save it during signup. If you forget the password before making an external copy, knowing that the code can be viewed from inside the account will not help.

Store the code somewhere separate from the mailbox, such as:

• A reputable password manager

• A printed copy kept in a secure location

• An encrypted offline record

Do not store the only copy in an email sent to the Tuta account it protects.

How recovery works

The credentials required depend on whether two-factor authentication is enabled.

Without two-factor authentication

If you forget the password, you need the recovery code to set a new one.

If you still know the password, you can view or update the recovery code from the account’s login settings.

With two-factor authentication

Tuta uses a two-out-of-three recovery model involving:

• Your password

• Your second factor

• Your recovery code

To reset a forgotten password, you need the recovery code and the second factor. To remove a lost second factor, you need the password and recovery code.

If both the password and second factor are lost, the account cannot be reset because only the recovery code remains.

When enabling two-factor authentication, Tuta displays the recovery code and asks you to save it. Confirm that your stored copy matches the code currently shown under the account’s login settings. Do not assume that an older saved copy is current without checking it.

For the complete recovery process, see How to Reset Your Tuta Password.

Why a new account may not send or receive mail

Some newly registered Tuta accounts are temporarily held for approval as an anti-abuse measure. Tuta says this can happen more frequently when registration comes from a VPN or Tor exit node.

During the hold, you may be able to open the mailbox even though sending and receiving are unavailable. The approval process can take up to 48 hours.

While the account is waiting:

• Do not use the address to register for an important service.

• Do not assume that a missing confirmation email proves the sender is broken.

• Read the notice displayed inside the Tuta mailbox.

• Avoid repeatedly creating replacement accounts, especially because Tuta permits only one free account per person.

• Wait for the stated approval period before contacting Tuta about a delay.

Do not promise other people that the address is ready until you have confirmed that it can send and receive messages.

A paid subscription should not be presented as a guaranteed way to bypass every anti-abuse review. Follow the status and instructions shown inside the newly created account.

What the Free plan includes

Tuta’s current Free plan includes the core encrypted mailbox without advertising or tracking.

Features and plan limits can change, so verify them on Tuta’s official pricing page before paying.

Offline access on the Free plan

Tuta’s pricing table lists full offline support as a paid feature, but this does not mean that free users’ apps can never show anything without a connection.

When credentials are saved in a supported Tuta client, the client can keep a local encrypted copy of recent or previously indexed data. Tuta’s documentation describes a default local period of roughly the most recent month for free accounts.

Paid plans provide the fuller version of offline support, including offline login and control over how much mailbox history is retained locally.

A more accurate distinction is:

• Free: limited caching of recent or already indexed data after credentials have been stored.

• Paid: full offline support with additional retention controls and offline-login capability.

Because Tuta does not provide standard IMAP or POP3 access, its own local encrypted cache is the replacement for downloading the mailbox into a conventional email client.

Can Tuta be added to Outlook or Thunderbird?

Tuta does not provide IMAP, POP3 or SMTP credentials for third-party mail clients. Entering a Tuta address into Outlook, Apple Mail or Thunderbird’s normal account-setup wizard will not create a working connection.

Tuta now provides official Thunderbird add-ons for Tuta Mail and Tuta Calendar. These add-ons open Tuta’s web application in a Thunderbird tab; they do not provide IMAP or SMTP access.

For stronger desktop integration, notifications, offline capabilities and email import or export features, Tuta recommends its own desktop application.

See Tuta Server Settings: IMAP, SMTP and POP3 for the technical explanation.

Keeping a free account active

Tuta may delete a free account after at least six months without a login. This is especially important for backup addresses that are opened only occasionally.

Set a reminder to sign in several times a year. Receiving forwarded mail or having another service send messages to the address should not be treated as a substitute for logging in.

Tuta does not make a deleted address available for ordinary new registration. However, its support documentation describes a limited recovery route: if you still have the correct credentials for the deleted account, you may be able to add the old address to a different paid Tuta account.

The deleted mailbox data is not restored. This process only concerns reuse of the address, and it still depends on retaining the required credentials.

If both the account and its credentials are gone, assume that the address cannot be recovered.

Sending limits and prohibited use

Tuta’s terms prohibit:

• Sending more than 100 emails per hour from one account

• Sending unsolicited promotional email

• Sending bulk mail such as newsletters

• Using email to advertise certain paid-email or referral schemes

These limits will not affect normal personal correspondence. Tuta is not intended to operate as a newsletter or bulk-email delivery platform.

What to do after registration

Once the account is active:

1. Confirm that the recovery code has been stored outside the mailbox.

2. Install Tuta’s official application on the devices you use.

3. Send a test message to another address and reply to it.

4. Enable two-factor authentication.

5. Check that your recovery-code copy still matches the code shown in the login settings.

6. Review active sessions and remove any device you do not recognize.

7. If using a free account, create a reminder to log in before six months pass.

If you later have trouble signing in, see How to Log In to Tuta. For sending, loading or synchronization problems, use Tuta Not Working? Common Fixes.