Mail apps
Ever since Mailbox was shuttered by Dropbox I've been trying to find the "perfect" email client.
I spent some time alternating between Airmail and Polymail on my phone, via the likes of Spark and Newton, but settled on Email by Easilydo (now Edison Mail) as it was close to the standard iOS mail app but with proper support for the vagaries of Gmail.
Now that I have the MacBook I am looking at a more cross-platform solution so have reinstalled Polymail across my iOS devices and Mac.
I was using the native OSX mail app, and it is perfectly functional, but there's just something about it that doesn't quite sit right with me.
Then again, Polymail is an illustration of the inconsistency across Mac apps that I wrote about before. It has a distinct iOS look and feel to it which clashes with other apps, especially native ones.
Perhaps I'm just being too fussy.
This quest for the perfect mail client, however, has lead me to question a few things I currently do and expect:
- Do I really need push notifications for my mail?
- Should I finally move away from Gmail? (The email from my domains currently all forwards there.)
- Can I get by with just the native apps?
- Do I use any features (beyond push) that warrant a third party app?
So, I'm running an experiment: I have removed all mail forwarding and configured each of my addresses separately in both the native mail app and Polymail on both phone and Mac.
I never used to like checking multiple accounts, forwarding everything to Gmail was always a bit of a hangover from years ago but unified inboxes are a standard feature these days so it's no longer an issue - just a psychological hurdle.
I'm going to run the two configurations in parallel for a few days and see how they compare, and also which one I tend to reach for.
It will also help me better understand the flow of mail to each account and make decisions about what I want going to each one.
Comments
# After a day in the field I was leaning towards just using the native mail apps on both phone and Mac but the iOS mail app seems to suffer some performance issues displaying mails, especially in threads.
I have, therefore, reinstalled Email (Edison Mail) and set it up with all my accounts (including iCloud) and removed Polymail.
If I'm not using the same app on both devices then Polymail will likely also get the axe on the Mac when I get home.
Things are moving faster than I expected but it just goes to show how quick we can be to judge apps based on the tiniest of things.
@colinwalker MUTT fo' lyfe! ...note, this is not an actual endorsement. I really only use mutt for when I need to search through a bajillion emails all at once and then I use mac's native mail clients for all else. RIP mailbox. You were pretty much perfect
@colinwalker on a related note! I have a php script that brings snoozing to gmail. I'd be happy to share that with you if interested.
@eli Love the tag line: "All mail clients suck. This one just sucks less." ?
@eli I don't use snoozing very much and am trying to move away from Gmail as much as possible now.
@eli Thanks though ?
@colinwalker This all sounds familiar. I gave up on consistency between iOS and macOS since I use mail differently on each platform. I use mu4e in Emacs mainly, but otherwise stock Mail.app on both mac and phone these days. Loved Mailmate (Mac) for a while, though. And yep, Mutt is great, too :)
@jack Thanks Jack. I think I'm leaning towards the native apps on both but will see if any particular features jump out at me.
@colinwalker me, I just use the native mail app on iOS, together with AirMail (work email, to keep it separate from my regular mail). On macOS I use MailMate. I never bother with iOS/macOS being to same ... it's such a difference how I use email on iOS an macOS.
@colinwalker sounds like a good idea. I've more or less stopped using gmail several years ago. Why? Mostly because it's a bad email client.
@jemostrom I don't mind Gmail on the web and always use other mobile clients so that's not an issue for me but I want to get away from relying on it.