Email Apps and Clients for 2021

Email, although not used as much as instant messaging, which we will discuss in a future post, email is still critical for many people, especially professionals in the workplace. There are many things to consider when choosing your email client of choice, platform, ecosystem, feature set, just to name a few. So let’s run through these.

Platform

What platform? Windows, Android, Mac, iOS, and iPadOS, are essentially the main platforms for the majority of us, and each has its own set of email clients to choose from to allow you to browse your email with ease… Each provides basic to advanced features, and some are free to use, some require a paid subscription, and others are paid for up-front when you download them. Many people use both Mac and Windows equally and require a cross-platform solution, as many apps only work on a single platform or ecosystem.

Ecosystem

Many of us are tied into a specific one, whether that is Microsoft, Apple, or Google, this usually dictates the decisions we make when it comes to an email client. However, these days, we are not so tied to these ecosystems, as many work with multiple systems, so we are now left with a challenge as to which one do we choose. Many people undoubtedly use their email inside the browser, especially when working on a desktop-based computer, which negates the use of a dedicated app. This can be beneficial too, as web page-based email tends to have better search capabilities than a specific email client.

Features

There are a lot of great features when it comes to the functionality of email clients. These go beyond showing which emails have been read, and which are still unread.

The best email client solutions do the following:

• Send later — lets you write an email and schedule it to be sent at another time
• Smart inboxes — in email clients can identify important emails
• Read receipts — show you when someone has opened your email
• Email templates — let you save and reuse emails
• Attachment management — lets you store and retrieve attachments
• Snooze buttons — help you avoid email distractions for a period of time
• Encryption — is often more robust with special email clients, using tech like PGP
• Phishing — or other suspicious emails get flagged by email clients
• Calendar — tools let you create events directly from an email invitation
• Contact tools — let you create or edit a contact directly from an email
• Collaboration tools — let you share emails with colleagues and work as a team

These are just some of the great features you can expect with the best email apps.

Options

(In no particular order)

• Outlook Mobile (Android, iOS)
• Airmail (iOS, macOS)
• eM Client (Windows)
• Gmail for Mobile (Android, iOS)
• Mail and Calendar by Microsoft (Windows)
• Mailbird (Windows)
• Mail by Apple (iOS, macOS)
• Polymail (iOS, macOS, web)
• Spike (Android, iOS)
• Spark (iOS, macOS)
• Postbox (macOS, Windows)
• Edison Mail (Android, iOS)

Outlook Mobile (Android, iOS, iPadOS)

Best email app for viewing a focused inbox

The Outlook desktop app is renowned for its full and rich feature set, and with it comes incredible power and flexibility. However, although cut from the same cloth, the Outlook Mobile app offers quite a different experience. When used in conjunction with a Microsoft account, you can benefit from the ‘Focused Inbox’ view, which automatically displays emails that are based on messages it deems important to you. In doing so, it filters out other distracting mail, storing them in the ‘Other’ tab. Like other email apps, it features configurable swipe gestures for deleting, archiving, marking as read, flagging, moving, and snoozing messages. Sadly, built-in search features are fairly basic, so if you require advanced search capabilities, this may not be the best fit.

Price: free

Airmail (iOS, macOS)

Best email app for customizing your inbox

What started as a simple and basic email app, now has grown into one of the most powerful and complete email client apps available. Airmail works exclusively on the Apple ecosystem. It runs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers and the design is native to each device. Praised by Apple for Airmail’s cool look and integration with the Siri voice assistant. Notifications are customizable to receive alerts when your most important contacts send you an email, instead of an alert for all incoming mail. The app also offers customizable swipe gestures. Airmail assists you by offering built-in templates for your most-used responses. And, it works with your favorite productivity apps, including Fantastical, Evernote, OmniFocus, Dropbox, and others.

Price: You can download Airmail and use many features for free. Airmail Pro is $2.99 per month or $9.99 per year. Airmail Business is a single purchase of $49.99

eM Client (Windows)

Best email app for merging email, calendar, contacts, tasks

If you seek a powerful professional email client for Windows then eM Client is a great option. It combines email, calendar, contacts, and tasks into one simple to use application, with the added benefit of touch support for tablets. Whilst the price may seem excessive for a Pro account, eM Client offers unique functionality that is not normally found in email apps, such as language translation. That in itself is a good reason enough to choose eM Client, especially if you daily send and receive email in multiple languages and aren’t fluent in some of them.

Price: You can use eM Client in a very basic capacity for free, but the power lies in the $49.95 pro version.

Gmail Mobile (Android, iOS, iPadOS)

Best email app for searching and organizing your inbox

Google’s Gmail sets the bar for others with its webmail services, however, its mobile app could be considered disappointing with its very light feature set. That though is not the deciding factor when choosing the Gmail app for your phone. The real selling point of this app is its ability to cut through your bloated inboxes with ease when searching for specific emails. When used in conjunction with a Gmail account or multiple accounts which is also supported, you still get automatic sorting of mail into tabs which the service creates for you: Primary, Social, and Updates. The app supports limitless ways to sort your mail using filters and labels and sports exemplary spam filtering, Gmail simplifies finding email that matters most with ease.

Price: free

Mail and Calendar (Windows)

Best email app for keeping email simple

Mail and Calendar by Microsoft was introduced in Windows 10 as a replacement to Outlook Express and it simplifies email as a whole. The app comfortably handles the basics of email without the inclusion of feature bloat. Threaded email conversations, notifications, and flags to mark your important email, along with Outlook-style calendar integration, are all included as part of its feature set. Furthermore, this app is touch-enabled, so it works great on tablets too. If Windows is your platform of choice and you are a user who prefers a basic email experience, then this app is a great choice.

Price: free

Mailbird (Windows)

Best email app for increasing productivity with integrations

Sporting a contemporary design, Mailbird is a capable Windows email app. It allows the user to personalize their inbox with custom layouts of email modules, colors, font sizing, custom sounds, and account icons to suit any taste. Integrating with popular apps, such as Google Contacts, Google Drive, Todoist, Evernote, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Instagram, Facebook, and others, will no doubt boost your productivity. Featuring the ability to snooze messages for use later, auto-scrolling for fast readers, and other advanced capabilities which can be unlocked by paying for a subscription or paying for a lifetime unlock.

Price: free limited version, $12/year for Pro, $59 for lifetime Pro, $20/month per person for Business.

Mail by Apple (iOS, iPadOS, macOS)

Best email app for annotating images, signing documents

Mail comes preinstalled on iPhone, iPad, and most Macs, and although it looks basic on the surface, beneath that surface is a wealth of features you won’t want to miss. Utilizing its Markup tools, you can annotate images and sign documents right from your inbox. Apple’s Mail Drop feature allows you to send extremely large attachments without it consuming large chunks of your allotted email storage space.

Price: included with Mac and iOS devices

Polymail (iOS, iPadOS, macOS, web)

Best email app for team collaboration

If in-team collaboration is a pre-requisite for your email client, then look no further than Polymail. Designed with a business focus, it is crammed full of features. Among these are commenting, mentions, follow-up reminders, send later, snoozing messages, and analytics, it is a powerful and flexible choice. Polymail also has the ability to integrate with popular productivity apps helping teams remove friction, stay organized and focused, and make better decisions, faster. You can easily create email templates that you can share with your team, and track stats such as how much time a user daily spends in their inbox or the odds of a person being first to reply to a message. Furthermore, Polymail features the ability to report on opened emails and downloaded attachments you have sent.

Price: free; Basic $10/month, Premium $24/month, Enterprise $49/month

Spike (Android, iOS, iPadOS)

Best email app for making email more like messaging

If texting is your thing then you definitely should consider Spike. This app converts message threads into a chat-like configuration, so emails look like what you would see in iMessage or WhatsApp, including image sharing, animated GIF’s, voice messages, and other features you would normally see in any major chat app. Similarly, Spike allows you to create channels, allowing you to organize conversations around any topic. Spike works best when you use it in conjunction with other users who are also using it too.

Price: free

Spark (iOS, iPadOS, macOS)

Best email app for cutting downtime spent in email

If you need a simple and intuitive inbox then Spark is everything you will ever need. Featuring a rich set of tools, Spark does not hesitate to impress. Amoung those tools are, intelligent email prioritization, undo send, inbox noise reduction, send email later, follow-up reminders, built-in calendar, smart search, quick replies, and powerful integrations, just to name a few.

Also, Spark recently introduced shared inbox functionality, and advanced collaboration tools, that allow you to work side-by-side with your team, even typing emails together. Teams can create and share email templates, and discuss emails inside the app. Working on Android, iOS, and Mac, this app is truly versatile, and I hope they introduce the Windows version soon, as this is the last missing piece of a great cross-platform email solution. Spark has advanced a lot in a short space of time, and I for one, cannot wait to see what they do next.

Price: free; Premium $8/monthly

Postbox (macOS, Windows)

Best email app for organizing multiple inboxes

Postbox originated as Mozilla’s Thunderbird spin-off and since then, it has grown into a rich and powerful app, sporting numerous options for keeping your mail organized. Built with a tabbed-based interface it allows multiple messages to be opened at once. You can categorize and sort your mail easily using folders and tags, and a user can open a sidebar displaying sender contact information. Postbox offers a great feature set and is definitely worth a look.

Price: $40

Edison Mail (Android, iOS, iPadOS, macOS)

Best email app for categorizing messages automatically

If you need a mobile-first email client, then Edison Mail might be your solution. Designed to assist with your email organization and sorting. It can arrange incoming messages into groups, such as messages that contain shipping tracking numbers, those containing subscription-related information, and receipts. An undo-send button is a helpful addition, and an option exists to disable read receipts making Edison attractive to users who like to be in control of their email. Fast one-tap unsubscribe helps you remove your email from unwanted mailing lists.

Price: You can download Edison Mail and use many features for free. Edison Mail+ is $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year.

Summary

I have used all of the email clients listed as research for this blog post, and all have their strengths and weaknesses. However, one stood above the crowd for me. Spark is powerful, free, and almost cross-platform (Windows coming soon). It is fast, intuitive, and feature-rich… I would highly recommend this as your go-to email client of choice.

Paul Jacobs — October 17, 2021