So here we are. It’s April 2019, and lots of us who haven’t used Google’s actual Gmail app in ages are finding ourselves back within its virtual walls and staring at it blankly — maybe even with mild signs of resentment or disdain.
Now, don’t get me wrong: Gmail is, for most intents and purposes, a very good email app. Most of us adored it, once upon a time. But after years of using its more forward-thinking Inbox sibling, well, going back to Gmail can be a bit of a harsh adjustment.
Heck, even if you didn’t use Inbox, you might find yourself feeling somewhat “meh” on Gmail nowadays. It’s good enough for most purposes, sure — but maybe there’s something better out there. Or at least better for you.
For the record, I really do like Gmail. Once I made some adjustments to bring Inbox-like features into its environment — especially the inbox-based reminders, article-saving system, and smart extra shortcuts I’d come to rely on after years of Inbox living — I quickly grew comfortable with the Gmail desktop site and started feeling at home again. Even the Gmail Android app works reasonably well for my needs at this point, with the aid of a few handy hidden features. All in all, I firmly still believe Gmail is the best email app for most people on Android.
But “most people” doesn’t mean “everyone.” And whether you’re struggling to get back in the Gmail swing after your own Inbox adventure or you’re just wondering if there’s an alternative that’d be more effective for your personal emailing habits, it’s well worth exploring your options.
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I’m constantly checking out the available email apps on Android and keeping tabs on what’s out there. Right now, aside from Gmail itself (and Outlook, which is fine enough if you use Outlook on the desktop but nothing that’s gonna grab you and win you over otherwise — along with ProtonMail, which is great but super-specific in its appeal), I see four Android email apps that deserve at least a moment of your attention. One of them is a new arrival to the platform, while another was recently resurrected after a brief bout of virtual death and the remaining two have both undergone some identity changes of their own as of late.
All of them use Gmail as the foundation for their services, though (along with the options to add in different types of email accounts as well, if you’re so inclined) — which means you can keep your existing address and avoid having to do much of anything other than sign in and see whatcha think.
So without further ado — and in no particular order — some thoughts on the Android Gmail alternatives that might (might) be right for you.
The lowdown: A long-time iOS and Mac user favorite, Spark launched on Android just last week. I’ve had the opportunity to test it out for a while already, and you know what? It’s a pretty solid email app — nicely designed, pleasant to use, and fairly rich in features.
The standout elements: Spark’s primary calling card is its Smart Inbox feature, which attempts to sort your messages in a vaguely Inbox-esque way (though truthfully, it’s much closer to Gmail’s categories than Inbox’s Bundles, with just basic sorting and no ability to set specific times for particular sections to be presented). The app’s main view shows all of your unread messages separated out into cards for “Personal,” “Notifications,” “Newsletters” (which is really just more of promotions in general), and “Pins” (messages you’ve starred). One last card, “Seen,” shows all of the read messages in your inbox.
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Spark also has a really interesting option for collaboration in which you and anyone else you add onto your team can chat about an email privately — in a dedicated “side chat” section that gets attached to the thread — and then assign specific team members to handle an email (with optional due dates and progress tracking) and even allow multiple people to edit a message simultaneously, with a real-time, Docs-style view.
The pros:
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The cons:
The price: Free for individual users, with some limitations, and $8 per user per month for teams with full collaboration options
The verdict: Spark is one of the nicer email apps to use on Android, and its team collaboration feature has the potential to be transformative in the right scenario. The present lack of a web and Windows version, though — something the company says it’s working on, vaguely — should be a serious concern for anyone who uses a desktop computer without a giant Apple logo on its exterior.
The lowdown: The long-popular cross-platform app shut down after failing to find enough paying subscribers last fall but then reopened in February with new owner Essential (yes, that Essential) footing the bill. A fair amount of folks love Newton and swear by its simplicity and its availability of native Windows and Mac clients.
The standout elements: The Newton Android app lets you create direct integrations with productivity apps like Todoist, Evernote, OneNote, Pocket, Trello, and Asana — which then empower you to save emails directly to those services with a couple quick taps from your inbox. Newton also has a read receipt option for outgoing emails and a one-click unsubscribe feature for things like newsletters and mailing lists.
The pros:
The cons:
The price: $50 a year after a free 14-day trial
The verdict: Newton is a decent Gmail alternative for a specific sort of user — but on Android, specifically, the value it adds over Gmail is fairly limited and may not be enough to make it a worthwhile move for most people, especially considering its cost and its question-filled future. If you really dig what it’s doing, though, maybe it’s worth the investment and present uncertainty for you.
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The lowdown: Email by Edison — originally known as Email by EasilyDo — revolves around the notions of speed and organization with its widely used Android app.
The standout elements: The app has an Inbox-esque mail-sorting system that can identify and categorize certain types of messages — subscriptions, travel, packages, bills and receipts, and entertainment. The app’s creators also work hard to present speed as a key differentiating point, dubbing Edison the “fastest email app available for Android.”
The pros:
The cons:
The price: Free
The verdict: The effective email sorting is nice, if somewhat limited in utility as a result of its implementation, and it might be just different enough from the other options out there to float the boat of a certain subset of Android phone-owners — provided, of course, that the various aforementioned asterisks don’t serve as deal-breakers.
The lowdown: The easiest way to think about Spike is as a mashup of email and Slack-like messaging. The app makes your inbox look and act like an actual series of conversations, with most of the formal email elements stripped away and a chat-like interface in their place.
The standout elements: Spike’s messaging-like approach to email is without a doubt its defining feature. The app also sorts messages broadly to separate personal threads from more automated and bulk-oriented emails.
The pros:
The cons:
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The price: Free for individuals, with the aforementioned limits, and $72 per user per year for limit-free business accounts
The verdict: Spike is one of the few truly fresh and original takes on email available on Android. If you want to put a modern twist onto email and try something completely different from the style of inbox you’re accustomed to, it’s well worth giving a whirl.
Other Android email apps to anticipate
The email service that’s actually the most Inbox-reminiscent is something I looked at last year called June. It has a lot of promise, especially for the Inbox faithful — but as of this moment, it’s available only on iOS along with Windows, Mac, and the web. An Android app is now supposedly in the works for sometime in 2020, the company’s co-founder tells me, so it’s something to keep an eye on.
For heavy-duty emailers, a service called Superhuman (another one I covered last year) is also really intriguing. It introduces a ridiculously fast interface into email (in a genuinely noticeable way) and also gives you a robust shortcut system along with its own clever system for automating complex email-oriented tasks. But — a big but — (a) it’s not available on Android yet, either, and the company has yet to release any specific info about when that might change; (b) it has a long waiting list to sign up and can take months to even get any sort of access; and (c) it costs 30 bucks per month to use, so it’s clearly not meant for mainstream, average-person sort of use.
For now, though, if you want a break from Gmail, you’ve got some interesting alternative apps at the very least worth exploring. They may be imperfect — but then again, so is Gmail, right? And heck, so is pretty much everything else in the world, tech-related or otherwise.
All you can do is find the setup that works for you and then make the most of what it has to offer. Go forth, my brave Android email explorer. Go forth and flourish.
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[Android Intelligence videos at Computerworld]
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