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Having an email client installed on your Mac can make a huge difference for your productivity. After all, your web browser is a portal to distraction, and any time you boot up Chrome or Safari to check on your inbox you’re in danger of losing at least 10–15 minutes to reading the news, browsing Facebook, or going down a “wiki-spiral.”
That said, not every email client is built the same. While macOS comes with the Apple Mail app by default, it might not necessarily be the best fit for your needs.
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Apr 19, 2021 Mozilla Thunderbird is a full-featured, secure, and functional email client. It lets you handle mail efficiently with smart folders and various add-ons and filters away junk mail. Thunderbird is no longer in active development except for security updates, but it supplies a streamlined interface and a powerful email experience.
Best Email Apps For Mac 2021
Sophisticated and slick UI. Have high user-experience with a minimally designed interface. Find everything fast! Have this best free email client for personal and professional use that has an easy-to-navigate immersive user interface. The quick to use email client for windows and mac allows the users to send smart emails. Mozilla Thunderbird: Best free email client for Mac power users. Perhaps most widely known for their web browser, Firefox, Mozilla’s other major product is their email client, Thunderbird. Hailed as the best free email app on the market at various points throughout its long history, where does Thunderbird stand in 2020? Best Price s Today: Airmail 3 is a popular Mac Mail client, and provides the same experience whether being used with a single email account, or many – ideal for those of. It’s definitely near the top, but it’s not the best email app for the Mac. AirMail is a free download on the Mac App Store, and there is an option for a Pro upgrade subscription.
So what’s the best email app for Mac then? Depends on what you do. You might be a power user, comfortable with running macros to make the most out of your email experience, or you might just want something that works out of the box without having to fuss with settings. Security could be your top priority if you work with sensitive materials, or you might just need to easily manage multiple accounts.
Whatever the case, there are a few things to keep in mind when evaluating all email clients: How fast is the setup process? How easy is it to use? Is it secure? What are the sorting options for your inbox? Is it nice to look at?
Let’s sift through some top email apps using this questioning framework.
Apple Mail: Best email client for Mac by default
What makes Apple products great is also what limits them: because Apple needs to make apps that are so easy to use that anyone can use them, much of what they produce is quite basic in functionality. Which is fine — just make sure you know what you’re getting with the Apple Mail app.
You definitely get a clean, user-friendly design that’s in line with all the other Apple software. In addition, you get outstanding integration with macOS and iOS, including the use of the Notification Center and the ability to send emails via the Share function in other apps.
Although adding multiple email providers, including iCloud and Gmail, is easy — there have been some bug reports around using Microsoft accounts, such as Hotmail or Live. Maybe the old Apple and Microsoft feud is not over yet?
In step with the times, Apple Mail app makes it effortless to add emoji to your emails from the shortcut bar right in the composing email window.
Honestly, for most people, the Apple Mail app will absolutely be enough. However, if you’re the kind of person who has a lot going on in their inbox, there are not too many ways to filter through all the messages quickly and pin down important conversations, or simply delete unwanted mail.
What’s great:
Clean design
Easy-to-use Mac mail
Fantastic Mac and iOS integration
Not so great:
A history of bugs with Microsoft accounts
Lacking high-powered organizational tools
Mozilla Thunderbird: Best free email client for Mac power users
Perhaps most widely known for their web browser, Firefox, Mozilla’s other major product is their email client, Thunderbird. Hailed as the best free email app on the market at various points throughout its long history, where does Thunderbird stand in 2021?
Unfortunately, Thunderbird’s design shows its age. Blocky and utilitarian, it’s quite a bit uglier than most modern email clients. But look below the surface and you’ll discover some very handy features.
For one, you have the option of tagging emails as they come in. Just add tags like Personal, Work, and ToDo and suddenly conversations become much easier to find later on. Even better, create your own tags to make the classification system as specific as you need it to be.
Thunderbird features an integrated calendar and chat client, both of which are indispensable for work, and boasts great privacy features — like not automatically displaying images (hence stopping pixel trackers) when you open emails (can be changed in Preferences).
Overall, Thunderbird has some powerful value propositions but is also a bit ugly and unintuitive. So, if the looks don’t bother you, give it a try. Otherwise, you’re better off using another option.
What’s great:
Tagging is powerful and helps you organize your emails quickly
Precise search
Not so great:
Not the prettiest interface
Unintuitive user experience. It takes time to figure out Thunderbird’s best features.
Kiwi for Gmail: Best Gmail app for Mac
If you don’t use Gmail, you can skip this one: Kiwi isn’t for you.
But for all other Gmail for Mac users, Kiwi for Gmail is an excellent Mac mail option. A desktop app with the look and feel of your browser email inbox, Kiwi features the ability to combine multiple accounts and filter your inbox with Focus to organize correspondence by date, importance, attachments, and more.
In many ways, Kiwi is Gmail’s missing ingredient, making the best free email provider online also the premier Gmail app for Mac. What’s even more exciting is that Kiwi lets you run G Suite apps like Google Docs and Sheets outside of your browser. Being able to leave Chrome or Safari behind and get some focused work done alone makes Kiwi worth the install.
What’s great:
- Kiwi makes Gmail better
- Combine multiple Gmail accounts
- Focused work outside the browser with Google Docs
Not so great:
Doesn’t support non-Gmail accounts
Spark: Best Mac email client for a clean inbox
A relatively new email client for Mac, Spark is based on an intriguing premise: What if your inbox was able to sort itself out based on your priorities but without your input?
Spark’s Smart Inbox algorithms are able to instantly identify whether an email is personal, work-related, or just a newsletter you signed up for years ago because it gave you a coupon but have since completely forgotten about. This kind of artificial intelligence works so well that Apple gave Spark an Editor’s Choice Award a few years ago.
In its quest for widespread adoption, Spark doubles down on usability, offering quick, one-click replies with generated text based on how you typically respond to emails and powerful automatic functions to clean up your inbox in seconds. Besides, the app is beautifully designed and very easy to use.
Of course, for Spark to have all of these powerful features, complete access to the content of your emails is required — which might raise some privacy-minded eyebrows. However, a lot of people would be happy to offer that in return for ease of use. So, if this notion doesn’t bother you, Spark might well be the best free email app for Mac.
What’s great:
- Clean design
- Smart Inbox organizes your unread emails
Could be the most professional email client for Mac
The only non-Apple email client with the Apple seal of approval
“Send later” feature lets you schedule emails
Frequent updates
Not so great:
Requires more of your data than other email clients
Canary Mail: Best security in an email client for Mac
New to the Mac email client game, Canary Mail’s outstanding list of features still makes it a worthy contender.
Canary Mail prioritizes security and privacy, providing every email you send with end-to-end encryption, so that if your data is ever intercepted it can’t be read. Even better, you don’t have to change any settings to do this — everything is set up right out of the box.
Add to that a fantastic design and some excellent filtering options, such as natural language search, smart tags, algorithmic bulk cleaner, and intelligent typography enhancements, and Canary Mail might well be the best email app for Mac, period.
What’s great:
- Great design
- Smart filters
- Intelligent typography
- Automatic end-to-end encryption
- Available to all email providers
- Algorithmic bulk cleaner
Unibox: Most innovative email client for Mac
The most exciting thing about Unibox is how it fundamentally changes the way you see your inbox. Instead of organizing everything by date received or subject, Unibox structures every conversation around contacts. That way your inbox resembles your text messages or messaging app, making everything intuitive and easy to navigate.
The developers of Unibox worked hard on making their email client for Mac the easiest to use on the market — and it shows. The design is stunning and you can easily respond to any email in the same window, get previews of attachments right there, and just scroll to remind yourself of all the conversations you’ve had with that person.
What’s great:
- Email like messages
- Intuitive and easy-to-use design
- Works with all major email providers
Best of all, Canary Mail and Unibox are both available for a free seven-day trial through Setapp, a subscription platform with over 200 top Mac apps chosen to make your day more productive and fun. Now can’t you wait to go back to emails already?
Gmail is one of the most popular email platforms for good reason: it’s secure, easy-to-use, and has a large number of features that can boost productivity.
But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. To fill in the gaps, developers have created hundreds of apps and extensions to make the popular platform even better.
Here, we’re going to cover 9 of the best Gmail apps for Mac that you need to know about.
Top 9 Gmail Apps for Mac
1. Mimestream
One of the major issues with Gmail is that it doesn’t have a native desktop app. That means that unless you use a third-party app, you need to view your email via the web app. This is one of the reasons some users may opt for Outlook, which is desktop-based.
Mimestream fills in this gap. It’s a native macOS app that lets you use all of Gmail’s functionality with all the convenience of a desktop app that you can load up quickly and easily.
Free Mail App For Mac
It’s secure, lightweight, easy-to-use, and it has an attractive user interface to boot.
2. Boxy Suite for Gmail
Like Mimestream, Boxy Suite offers a clean and intuitive desktop app that you can use to close out all those endless Gmail tabs you have and switch over to a native macOS experience instead.
Boxy Suite boasts unique features like minimal mode for a cleaner UI, and auto dark mode, which syncs with the dark theme settings on your Mac. Plus, it will let you know when the emails you receive are tracking you, so that you can stay more aware of who’s monitoring you.
3. Mailplane
The Mailplane Gmail client aims to make your Gmail experience quicker and easier than ever. Not only does it sync with Gmail, but it also connects to Google Calendar and Contacts, which lets you keep everything in one place.
Mailplane can also send native push notifications and will display the number of items in your inbox on your Mac’s menu bar, so you can always stay on top of your email.
Best Free Email Client For Mac Free
Plus, it integrates with other tools, like Evernote, Omnifocus, and Apple Photos, and it has a useful tool that allows you to quickly add annotations to attachments from right within Mailplane.
4. Kiwi for Gmail
Kiwi for Gmail is a bit of a misnomer. While the app does focus on Gmail first and foremost, it also offers a native macOS desktop experience for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides as well.
Kiwi can essentially provide you the Microsoft 365 experience with Google. With useful tools like inbox filtering, detached compose windows, and global shortcuts, Kiwi really ups the ante and delivers a fantastic email experience for Gmail users on Mac.
5. Wavebox for Mac
Unlike the other tools we’ve covered so far, Wavebox isn’t specifically for Gmail. Instead, it’s an app that’s designed to streamline all your business communications tools, like Slack, Gmail, LinkedIn, Trello, and more.
Its most useful feature is that it lets you access all these tools from one window without having to open up dozens of tabs in Chrome. But it does much more than that: it also lets you set up custom toolbars, workspaces, and it offers unlimited video and audio calls without having to deal with links.
6. Spark
Spark is an email client that’s designed to unite all your email accounts, whether they’re Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, iCloud, or something else entirely.
The client aims to help you intelligently prioritize your emails by automatically detecting which emails are from real people, and which are automated. You can also set it to only notify you of emails from people you know, so that you don’t keep notifications for every sale and promotional offer that makes its way to your inbox.
Spark will work on your Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, so you can keep everything in one place no matter where you are.
7. Shift
Shift is an app that’s very similar to Wavebox. It aims to provide a way to declutter your desktop and browser by keeping you logged into all your accounts and allowing you to close out of the many tabs that plague modern workspaces.
Like Wavebox, Shift isn’t designed specifically for Gmail, but it does support the popular email platform. If you specifically want a tool for Gmail, there are more tailored options out there, but Shift is a great choice if you want to keep a bunch of apps more organized.
Best Free Email Client For Mac
8. Mailtab
Mailtab is a Gmail tool that allows you to access your email straight from the menu bar on your Mac. This makes checking your email especially convenient – you don’t even have to boot up an app to do so.
However, Mailtab doesn’t have many features beyond that. It’s a useful tool, but it won’t offer you any extras, like email prioritization, dark mode, etc.
That said, it is free, so if all you’re looking for is an easier way to check your Gmail from your Mac, this is a good choice.
9. Unite 4
Email On Mac Not Working
Unite is a unique tool that lets you create native macOS experiences for any website you want. Essentially, all you do is enter a URL, pick an icon, and Unite will turn it into a desktop app that you can fire up and use right away.
Since Gmail is a website, after all, Unite can turn it into a usable native macOS app for you. However, it’s not going to be as fine-tuned as other apps that specialize in Gmail, so be aware of that when you make your decisions.
Key Takeaways
There is no shortage of great and useful tools that you can use to make your Gmail experience better than ever. This list of nine native macOS apps is a good starting point you can use to find the app that’s perfect for you.
As well as adding gmail apps to your mac you should also look at adding Gmail extensions to your Gmail. If you want to skyrocket your productivity in 2021, then using Gmail in conjunction with extensions is a great way to go. Right Inbox is a must have extension that includes features such as email templates, email tracking, recurring emails, email sequences, and much more. Try for free today!