And, reinvigorated by the demise of Mailbox, dozens of other developers have tried (or have kept trying) their hand at improving email on iOS. The power-user oriented Dispatch has also continued to grow, with an eye for iPad users adopting iOS 9. Spark, launched by Readdle last year, has received a series of improvements with the promise of future Mac and iPad versions. Outlook – a runner-up to my App of the Year in 2015 – is the email app I recommend to anyone who wants to try something different than Mail.

Perhaps most notably, Microsoft surprised iOS users with a solid client, evolved from an acquisition and quickly improved to accommodate fast search and notifications, calendar integration, and full iOS 9 support. In case you’re wondering, I’m that guy in the last group, assembling yet another email client review, making a list of ideal email features for an iOS app.Īnd I actually love it, because the past 12 months have brought a ton of interesting changes in the email market for iPhone and iPad. Every time a new email client is released, you will find users who are perfectly content with it, others who prefer the built-in app on their devices, and some who are intrigued, but still unhappily waiting for the email client of their dreams to be made. The fact that, eight years into the App Store, I’m still cherry-picking my ideal set of features for an email client says a lot about the landscape. I like my email client to bear the speed and polish of Microsoft’s Outlook, the clever touches and integrations of Dispatch, and, if possible, the smart options of Inbox and Spark. I have written my fair share of email client reviews since 2009, and I’ve made my stance on what I’m looking for abundantly clear. You have to believe that, if this planet were to end tomorrow, cockroaches and IMAP would survive it. Messaging services may rise and grow and fall and shut down, but email will always be there, humbly humming along, hoarding thousands of unread messages in your inbox. And yet, for better or worse, we keep using it.ĭespite its archaic nature and stale protocols, email works – it’s the closest thing to a common standard for digital communication we have. Email has been deemed unfixable, unmanageable, and unhealthy. Over the course of (almost) seven years of writing for MacStories, I’ve seen email pronounced dead (multiple times), reinvented, redesigned, and, most recently, made smarter with machine learning and cloud services.

If you want to drive an average tech nerd crazy, try to talk about email clients.

Airmail review for mac