My work enforces the use of outlook for iOS. I would be hard pressed to find an app that fails harder at what it attempts to do.
iOS mail is easy to use, and gives a good overview. Same goes for iOS calendar, where you can actually see important information like meeting agenda, meeting room, etc.
In outlook you have to hunt and peck to find the correct calendar entry, because making a simple 5/7 day view is apparently hard. Once you find it, all it shows in the description is the first line of the calendar appointment, which usually goes something “Hi …”, and you have to click it to view the details, and even then important information is not up front and visible, but instead hidden beneath everything else.
Yep. To me Mail app is perfect.
iTunes in the other hand…. Some of the worst app from Apple. I pay for iTunes subscription for my iPhone and everytime I use the mac version of it, I'm always thinking of terminating my subscription.
Just wish it was integrated with calendar, reminders and notes. 3 separate apps running? WTF. Then I'd be good to go. The browser apps are ridiculously useless
I prefer the separate solution, because I can easily switch between them with the basic cmd+tab. Anyways, calendar+mail+some non-Teams communication app still takes less memory than outlook or teams only by themselves (if we compare it to running on Windows)
Expert tip for those of us stuck on Outlook for work - go to File->New and Select "Main Window" - creates a duplicate of the current window but you can then set it, say, Calendar view (where your original was an Email view). That way you can at least CMD-\~ to easily switch between the windows. I use AltTab so it shows up as a separate window.
For me, I use Mimestream for all personal email accounts (but doesn't support iCloud unfortunately). I don't love the Apple Mail app compared to Mimestream.
They are integrated! See those dates in your e-mails that are underlined? Hover over them to have MacOS suggest making an event! Got a message from somebody whose contact details you want to save? Hover over their signature block and add the info to contacts, either a new one, or append to an existing one.
The three MacOS apps work together better than the three functions of Outlook do, in my experience.
Why do you care if it's three separate apps in the first place?
It covers the basics. If you have more complex needs, get something else.
Problem solved.
While Apple should and does provide basic apps to cover basic services, if they get too complex, they are stepping into the territory of third-party apps, which is a bit tricky. They are one of the A's in FAANG, which makes them an easy target to claim they are competing unfairly. Better if they avoid the whole issue.
If they do decide to go there, they'd be competing with Outlook, which has pretty well settled the debate on low-end mail applications. While Apple might be able to cook up something that better fits with MacOS, they would be spending money on something that would take a very long to recoup, if it could be done at all.
I like it the most, everything else just breaks at some point and you cannot get mail for a whole day or is paid, while mail app is like McDonald’s for me. Maybe not the best, but you always know what to expect.
A few years ago I liked Outlook. Used it on the Desktop and Phone, thought the calendar integration was great.
And then they... just kept making it worse, and worse, and worse. Now I'm in the "no way never not on my life" camp. I'll never figure out what hole the design team for the "todos" section fell down, but it appears bottomless.
I second this. I used to work for a cable company and had to fix outlook all day every day when people would call in. I assume now that IMAP exists it isn't so bad when you just have to delete the account and readd it because outlook corrupted everything and can't fix itself.
Mail isn't perfect, sometimes you might need to rebuild the mailbox or something. But the UI is great, And if you don't like that you can switch to the other way of doing it. I hope they start using ML to do better junk mail filtering in the future. But realistically, the app is pretty dang good as it is.
I think OP just prefers Outlook which is fine, they're allowed to be wrong. Good thing Microsoft makes Outlook for Mac, so OP can spend some money and be happily wrong.
This. One of my least favourite things about Outlook is its proprietary pst format. Why, when ever.single.other.mail.client.on.the.planet uses the standard mbox format???
Well, in a way. On the other hand, try attaching an image to an email (not inline, but as an actual attachment).
In my opinion it’s small things like the one above that disqualify the app. It could use some small improvements.
When you attach the image or file inline it’s still an attachment. If you don’t want it to render inline, right click and choose “View as icon”. Don’t think that’s “disqualifying”.
Outlook - oh, you mean this bloated piece of **** !
Apple Mail is lean and efficient. I prefer it over alternatives. If I would go for something else, it would probably be Thunderbird.
I ditched Spark a while ago because I don’t like an in between on my mails, for privacy reasons.
I’m one of those that like the app as it is, simple and focused on mail. The only thing I’m missing is for the rules I’ve setup on the desktop app to be synched and useable for the iOS app. I know I could rewrite them using the web interface, but it’d be cumbersome to always having to open the web interface anytime I tweak them.
OP, what are examples of things you are missing in the app, I’m curious to know?
I have been using the mac for 14 years now. This is the only app that has an ancient view and ui design. The filtering on it is old compared to other apps now.
The functionality is there i know but i don’t remember it having a new ui ux. Safari got a lot, also other Apple apps got redesigns over the past 5 years. Even the icon itself. Messages and Contacts got a huge love last year. Specially as the App is integrated across all devices, even on the iPhone and iPad, it feels out of design of the new Apps which got huge boosts over the years.
Mail filters probably shouldn’t be used at all. Do your filtering on the server. I would certainly support overhauling Mail filters, but that would require work on iCloud as well.
macOS Mail has some really annoying „bugs“.
The Smart Folder move suggestion is complete shit as soon as you start working with multiple mail accounts.
Sometimes signatures just don’t work, the send later feature would be nice but didn’t work 3 times for me
Mail may need an update, but Outlook should not be the goal. That interface was designed by a mentally disabled toddler. It's annoying, intrusive, hard to look at and read not matter how you set it, and needlessly difficult to perform the simplest of tasks. Like all Microsoft software - you feel you have to fight it every step of the way. This is the exact opposite of what Apple should strive for.
I honestly can’t think of a single Microsoft product with a decent UI. The ribbon was the worst decision they’ve ever made and makes it even harder to find what you’re looking for. When you’ve got to Google how to set an out-of-office notification, you’ve done something wrong. It’s under the file tab???? WTAF?
Thankfully you can still use the menus on the macOS version. Windows users are not so lucky.
Email apps in general haven't gotten the love the need in a while in my opinion. Most developers seem to think it's a dead technology outside of corporate or very niche sectors. And you can sort of see the point, for most people email is probably something they only use on a smartphone if at all.
I think most people who work any kind of business that involves organizing and communicating with many people use mail for this purpose. It means you have a paper trail (there’s an outdated concept for ya) of the conversation. Hate it when you have to go digging through Messages to find something someone said.
Mail is awesome. Leave it alone.
The mantra is:
* do one thing and do it well.
* keep it simple.
The Calendar and Mail applications serve the purpose. Right to the point with simplicity but functionally complete.
Apple Mail is optimized for simplicity and sturdiness, and to run identically on platforms going back a decade or more. Apple doesn’t want to chase feature-parity with pay apps it will never catch up to. As with Calendar it offers solid features for hundreds of millions of users with underlying plumbing that other apps can utilize.
If Apple ever made a “huge update” I’d swap it for the similarly bare bones open source [Thunderbird](https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/) mail app.
I have to use Outlook at work and I use Mail at home. At least Mail properly handles email threads, folders, and other basic functionality properly. It is infuriating how bad even new Outlook is with threads (don't even get me started if there are any necessary attachments in the thread) while not even existing in the old version of Outlook and how one can only add subfolders via the Outlook web interface.
I absolutely love the new Spark. I know it has a cost to it. I know a lot of people complained when they launched it. Then I used it and I think it just blows everything else out of the water.
Yup. Spark ftw. However their legacy app is years ahead of the new spark client. Not sure why they didn’t carry over all features with the newest version?
Of all the apps I tried on Mac OS Mail is still the best. It just works. Yes, it's not perfect, but what is? I'm happy they added "Send later" , for Apple that must be considered a breakthrough 😆
I think there's room for improvement but every time I've used a 3rd party mail app, I always end up back at Apple Mail eventually. Others eventually start charging subscriptions for features (Spark and Newton), have questionable data policies (Spark and Newton), are affordable but buggy as hell with absolutely no significant improvement years later (Canary), or look significantly uglier with horrible UX. Apple Mail is the best compromise and it's free.
Mail works better than the alternatives. Simple but effective interface, especially when using multiple accounts. Search occasionally misses what I think should be easy finds, both on Mac and iOS.
Thunderbird is a dog. Weird delays when getting email sometimes, the interface seems to lag, and it’s just a strange design.
I have to use Outlook for work but compared to Outlook for Windows, it’s years behind in design and functionality, with search options being the biggest flaw.
Apple probably thinks it’s fine as it is. Some people like simplicity. I use it for all my mail needs with Gmail and iCloud mail and AWS WorkMail. Please don’t bloat it like Outlook.
I like the mail app, I use Outlook at work and I hate how MS has changed it and it is bloatware. I've tried some of the other mail apps like Spark and emClient. They add too much complexity that doesn't need to be there. Mail is good simple and lean. I also like my calendar app separate from my mail app.
What in the world is up with the hostility in some of the comments on this post? It's a discussion. If someone doesn't like the mail app or prefers another app instead, why is it necessary to tell them to shut up for thinking differently than you? Disagree? Fine. But be a jerk about it? WTF...
I’m about to trade Mac Mail out for a 3rd party app - open to suggestions. I have an older MBP from 2017 running on the latest Ventura. Ever since last update it “forgets“ my default @ me address for sending mails and it fails to apply Rules for incoming mail.
I’m aware of planned obsolescence and know full well it’s my fault for having an old computer and being poor. Still, it bothers me that something fundamental as a native Mail application could be allowed to fail so completely.
Significantly snappier in recent years, I have been using it since I dumped Outlook 10 or more years ago and never looked back.
I can't think of anything it does that annoys me, nor anything it does not do that I need. I read my me . com (iCloud) mail there, along with my work account, personal gmail account and a second gmail account for a charity I work for. All in one place, separate mailboxes, one simple interface. It works and I can't recall a failure.
It all depends on what demands you have on an Mail program. The majority of users is very happy with mail app because they just want emails reading and writing and in some kind of case ad a new event at their calendar which works perfectly fine. I don't know what you need for writing and reading mails, but it is up to you. No need to rant about it.
if spark is better, why not use that ?. I rather keep mail as it is, I can do all the stuff I need to. I dont experience any of the difficulties you mention and I get about 100 to 150 mails a day. and I certainly would hate any ux design changes. I'm majorly fed up with interface changes to please the "oh shiny crowd" which happens to a lot of applications.
What exactly Mail misses? What do you need more to send and recieve an e-mail?
Apple OS and apps generally are a masterpiece of simplicity. That is why so much people love it. If you really need extended features, the. i guess you’ll stick with more advanced apps from the AppStore.
Btw I’m happy I’m not in anyway tied up to Microsoft.. Outlook at work, whatever, not my job… Personally I use Proton.
Sending and receiving are not the only utility of a mail app for me. The main one, is sorting through new emails. Gmail groups then nicely into tabs, Mail puts them into an unreadable list.
Mail search is beyond useless, whether Mac or iOS. Music is even worse, where it literally won't find thing unless spelled identically and with correct capitalization. It's really starting to feel like Apple hasn't bothered much with the Mac OS in a good decade or so.
Much like the silent and unexplained removal, in 10.9, of the ability to display plaintext versions rather than html.
The only updating Mail needs is a rollback to the 10.8 or earlier version.
What specific features do you think apple needs to add to [Mail.app](https://Mail.app)? Ive been using it every day for 25 years and though there are a few bugs, and I do miss old school features like buttons that actually have COLOR in them, overall its a great mail app. I have 18 different accounts set up for many different things and it all works extremely well.
I literally switched from android/windows to iOS/Mac for the mail app. I struggled for 6 years trying client after client that could reliably integrate all of my many different email accounts, calendars, and contact lists. Everything on android and windows failed. Either it couldn’t sync to write to a calendar, or search functionality didn’t work, or contacts were not imported correctly, there was always something. During this entire time, I was ignoring the mail app on my iPad, thinking it can’t be good. Lo and behold when I finally tried it, it was the only client which WORKED.
6 months later I’m on an iPhone and MacBook and goddamn I hate being cliche but the damn thing just works.
Don’t get me started on the hot pile that is outlook…
I've stayed loyal to Mail surrounded by coworkers who switched to Outlook. Sometimes the simplest tool is the most effective. Having said that, the search functionality and search ui could definitely use an overhaul, per-folder searches and such.
Search is incredibly bad. I can know exactly who sent it to me and even a general idea of the subject line or date received and it won’t find it. Very frustrating when I need specific information.
Nah that’s the beauty of an App Store. Mail is for everyone. If you ran better features… there’s an app for that. Plus they’ll get called out for Sherlocking every single time cause it’s too late.
There’s rumors with them aggressively embedding AI into the OSes that some of these features will come, but it has to work for 7 to 97. Everyone is never going to be pleased.
Tbh Mail is pretty nice tbh … maybe the update is a bit slow in comparison to gmail
But it has no ads in it
And I am using it for all my accounts
Yes , including outlook for my college, it’s just nice 🤌🏻
Mail is too limited, I removed it. Gmail is 100x more useful.
Calendar is also limited, but I put up with it because it looks nice and integrates nicely with Lock Screen widgets. There is no Google Calendar watch complication either.
Mail has shat me to tears for years on so many levels. Recently I'm not getting some emails with Hide My Mail addresses in my inbox, nor in Junk - no trace of them anywhere.
I have like 5 emails added but for all of them my name is the same. So when someone emails me I can’t tell which email they sent it to because it just says my name, clicking it doesn’t help either. I have to go through all 5 and see which it was sent to
Can you give any specific examples? You made a few broad statements but without actual use cases I have no context from you other than “I don’t like it”.
BTW, @me and @icloud aren’t different accounts, just aliases to the same account.
The design goes back to NextSTEP, and there’s existing code from those days still in there. I actually think the design is classic and adheres to the Mac design ethos. I’m rather fond of it.
I think that Mail is very good as it is. Not every app needs a complete visual overhaul every five years. It’s okay if the design stays the same for a long time.
It’s probably my favorite of the stock apps.
The only thing I wish we could “change” is how much mail to sync. I don’t need to download 20+ years worth of email for each account I have connected.
I agree with some of the others when trying other apps, they just stop working and Mail never has
100%, what I really want to see is better inbox filtering to set newsletters aside, icon view attachments (this is really the worst thing about mail rn), when snoozing messages they should disappear from the inbox otherwise what's the point? and also favicons to quickly identify senders would be awesome.
Been using Apple Mail for a decade now and while it could use a coat of fresh paint and some quality of life improvements, I am quite happy with it. Tried other apps but keep coming back to Apple Mail.
Hello. To be honest, I should do changes to the settings that control Mail signatures to be more like the ones from Thunderbird. The ones from Thunderbird are offering things of more ease.
I like it for its simplicity, and search. Outlook is dogshit, but for those that like it they can use it. Any OS default mail reader should be simple an unobtrusive. If you want 300 things hanging off it, sign up for Mailbird on Mac. In the Windows version you can literally integrate everything social media, dozens of calendars (except Apple's... lol) and apparently this 8000 thread CPU hog is coming to Mac.
I still consider it the best email application available. I utilize it for all my personal and business accounts.
Regarding my work email (employer), I opt for Spark on the iPhone, solely to keep this email separate from my personal and business accounts. Spark doesn't win any awards from me, but it’s the least annoying option among all other email apps I've tested.
I have no issues with it. It’s a mail app. It gets my mail and sends my mail with no issue. Not sure what y’all expect it to do anything more would just slow it down and make it cumbersome
I love it. I have 6 accounts running. I have something like 30 GB of messages dating back to 1999 that I love to go back and read every once in a while. Spotlight search is great, although probably once a year I need to rebuild Mail because search acts up. I love scheduled sending and the fact that it's done on-device unlike every other email app which stores the message on their servers. I love Remind Me as well.
Having said that, It's not perfect and I would welcome a cosmetic facelift and more features, but all I know is it works better than any other email app I've tried and I've tried all of them. Spark is pretty cool but I don't trust a third party with my email.
It seems like people having problems with [Mail.app](http://Mail.app) are using Gmail, but I abode Gmail like the plague. Google literally scanned all of your messages — evening looking inside Zip archives! — until they stopped relatively recently because of privacy complaints. I cannot understand why anyone would be using Gmail in 2024 when iCloud accounts are secure, private, free, and Apple doesn't use your information for advertising.
Mail Imap config pane is now broken, on some vendors smtp config you can't even edit the ports and SSL config, you have to hope that they advertise their settings correctly.
I don’t know about huge update, but I think the mail view (brand images, verification) could use a bit of tweaking. Gurman has said that Mail (along with a few other core apps) will be getting a decent amount of change, so excited to see what they change (he was extremely accurate last year).
One other thing I would change is the adding of photos or files. It regularly messes up the formatting of the email.
I need to synchronize rules online. When I don't have my mac on. The rule doesn't work. (Functional rules on the web have too little functionality).
And I really need faceID security
I think Apple's Mail.app is the most perfect email software out there, and I never want it to change.
I use it daily throughout Mac, iPad and iPhone. Email is a half a century old protocol, and cultural history has formed its ideal interface.
If you are a business and not a private person, or feel the need to 'enrich your email experience' with an ai assistant, the blockchain or funny colours, there’s enough bullshit out there to pay for.
They just need to fix the transition from plugins to 'extensions' asap, so GPGtools (which Apple explicitly recommends and internally uses themselves) finally gets back to work after all that time.
It's awful. I prefer the interface because I'm v used to it and the keyboard shortcuts are burned into my muscle memory, but search sucks, it takes *forever* to pull in messages from our hosted Exchange service (like, tomorrow morning when I get to the office, it'll be an hour or so to retrieve the thousand or so messages I've gotten over the weekend, over a very fast connection). It's gotten to wear if I need to go back and find some thing I have to log into our webinar face and use the search there, that's also true for my IMAP account. I should start looking at alternatives.
I use it. It's a tool and serves it's purpose. I like that it doesn't have the bloat and heft that something like outlook has. The mail app is pretty powerful though. But if you don't like it, there are plenty of other mail clients out there or you could just use the web interface.
Really bothers me I can’t have smart mailboxes in iOS like on the macOS app. I have to manually move every mail to folders. If I set up rules on iCloud.com, cause you can’t do it on iOS, I won’t get notifications for new mail that’s automatically moved to smart folders.
It would be really cool if Apple were consistent and designed Mail to be much more about allowing the user to maintain their privacy and not to be contacted by people they don't want to hear from. I've been using [Hey.com](http://Hey.com) for this and I love Hey, but it's probably the most expensive.
Mail is fine. I wish it was easier to set up rules and to sort, but it’s as solid as a rock and that counts.
The AppleTV app is what I really want to see changed. It’s shocking how little control I have over my library. I’d like to be able to sort my movies and TV shows into my own categories and lists. I’d like to be able to force the movies in a series to sort in release order rather than alphabetically. Simple simple things that should be hard to roll out.
I'm afraid if I hook it up to my Gmail wrong, it will delete my 15 years of Gmail on the Google servers, rather than back it up locally.
Also, Mail has no tagging.
Two reasons I don't use it.
While I understand that OP have a preference for Outlook, I for one is one who dislike Outlook with a vengeance. I would just like them to clean up the UI (like it used to look like before they went "Big Sur" on it.
Definitely not. You know what all the other apps listed have? Ads and tons of bloat like dumb ai features being shoved everywhere. MacOS mail and iOS mail do everything that I need: read my mail and occasionally write one. It just works.
No. If anything, Mail needs a huge downgrade. I want the traditional layout back, and I want absolutely no Outlook, New Outlook, or New New Outlook features. Mail and Thunderbird do email right, and Outlook (and all of the variations) do not.
Taking in account the ones that are out there mail is the most efficient with all the tools needed but what’s better is: it’s free! It does need a new redesign, the ability to track emails and postpone and send later or at least a clear documentation about how to develop plugins with the ability to not just make them in swift but in conjunction with other languages and running scripts…. Oh and also a better way to add signatures to emails and not the weird one that it has right now
I absolutely disagree. For the average user it’s absolutely enough. There is no need for added complexity. I love mail for its simplicity for my personal mail accounts. Everything business is in outlook anyway. But no, I don’t think it’s really necessary to over complicate mail.
I mainly use gmail, and somewhere around last year got introduced to mimestream, that’s something the mail app should aim to be. It’s a great app, but it also has a yearly subscription which I am not very fond of paying.
I stopped using Mail years ago. I now use Spark, an outstanding program that advertises itself with the tagline, “love your email again.” I actually do love it a lot more than before! It works great on Mak, PC, and iOS devices.
Mail is just front end for gMail, ....Outlook ...
iCloud email server is shit
Apple walk away from business computing... email integration... years ago.
I've been using Thunderbird for years. I love the ability to filter and create filters based on sender and assign them to their own folder. The ability to create unlimited folders based on subject or sender cannot be underestimated. I also like the ability to sort by read, attachments, subject, and do it all with one click. Yes, it may take more resources than Mail does, but its ease of use is worth the tradeoff IMHO.
I have seperate folders for each family member, each bank, each newspaper I subscribe to, each vendor I deal with, each state agency I deal with, and each doctor I visit. If I need to quickly reference an email I got weeks ago from a specific party, this cuts the search time down considerably.
If I could do all those things with Mail, I'd use it, but I can't. I can't stand Mail app.
I want to switch away from the Outlook app but the Focused vs Other feature is incredibly useful and doesn’t seem to exist anywhere else. At least not somewhere that has cross platform apps.
Sure thing it needs an update. I barely can find anything on this crap. Most of the time when I have to check out the e-mail I prefer logging into my mail provider actual page, since Apple cannot really develop good alternative. Most of the categories are hidden or barely refresh, making it real hard to receive mails on. As much as I like this OS, mail ain't a thing I like.
I tried really hard using Apple’s Mail for 2 months. It needs a complete revamp, it’s not useful at all and only complicates things (like automatically opening a second window just to answer to an email thread)
No problem for me in the Apple Mail app. I use all my email accounts with no problems.
I’ve tried numerous mail apps over the years and they all have some gimmick. I always return to Apple Mail app and it’s all I’ve used exclusively for the last 5 years.
Depends on the volume of messages you get, I expect.
It works fine for me now but would have been terrible in the past. Slack took over the vast majority of comms in my work life and I just get the odd update from work apps in email now.
For personal it’s fine too. I have a Gmail, work/freelance google account and an iCloud account.
While I understand where this is coming from funnily enough I do like the simplicity of the app. On iOS as well.
If Mail was more like outlook, I’d probably stop using it.
My work enforces the use of outlook for iOS. I would be hard pressed to find an app that fails harder at what it attempts to do. iOS mail is easy to use, and gives a good overview. Same goes for iOS calendar, where you can actually see important information like meeting agenda, meeting room, etc. In outlook you have to hunt and peck to find the correct calendar entry, because making a simple 5/7 day view is apparently hard. Once you find it, all it shows in the description is the first line of the calendar appointment, which usually goes something “Hi …”, and you have to click it to view the details, and even then important information is not up front and visible, but instead hidden beneath everything else.
Agreed outlook is far to cluttered 😜 I like the Mail App 🤷♂️
Yep. To me Mail app is perfect. iTunes in the other hand…. Some of the worst app from Apple. I pay for iTunes subscription for my iPhone and everytime I use the mac version of it, I'm always thinking of terminating my subscription.
Well it’s been discontinued for many years. Have you tried the music app? It’s also bad
Ah, Music app is what I meant to say. I don't see that much of differences between iTunes and Music and thats why i use both interchangeably.
Just wish it was integrated with calendar, reminders and notes. 3 separate apps running? WTF. Then I'd be good to go. The browser apps are ridiculously useless
I prefer the separate solution, because I can easily switch between them with the basic cmd+tab. Anyways, calendar+mail+some non-Teams communication app still takes less memory than outlook or teams only by themselves (if we compare it to running on Windows)
Expert tip for those of us stuck on Outlook for work - go to File->New and Select "Main Window" - creates a duplicate of the current window but you can then set it, say, Calendar view (where your original was an Email view). That way you can at least CMD-\~ to easily switch between the windows. I use AltTab so it shows up as a separate window. For me, I use Mimestream for all personal email accounts (but doesn't support iCloud unfortunately). I don't love the Apple Mail app compared to Mimestream.
Use outlook for work, and this so much. The number of times I’m like “where do my email go” and it’s because I’ve got the calendar view open 🙄
Same…. I hate when I accept an invitation the details just disappear
Notes and email is totally different. Please Apple don't merge them. That's like merging Mail and telephone or Mail and photos.
Funny enough Notes was in mail on the Mac during MobileMe days, and split out later to a separate app.
Yeah I have no idea why you would want these totally unrelated things in one app.
They are integrated! See those dates in your e-mails that are underlined? Hover over them to have MacOS suggest making an event! Got a message from somebody whose contact details you want to save? Hover over their signature block and add the info to contacts, either a new one, or append to an existing one.
The three MacOS apps work together better than the three functions of Outlook do, in my experience. Why do you care if it's three separate apps in the first place?
I’d be happy if they just integrated reminded and calendar.
It covers the basics. If you have more complex needs, get something else. Problem solved. While Apple should and does provide basic apps to cover basic services, if they get too complex, they are stepping into the territory of third-party apps, which is a bit tricky. They are one of the A's in FAANG, which makes them an easy target to claim they are competing unfairly. Better if they avoid the whole issue. If they do decide to go there, they'd be competing with Outlook, which has pretty well settled the debate on low-end mail applications. While Apple might be able to cook up something that better fits with MacOS, they would be spending money on something that would take a very long to recoup, if it could be done at all.
I like it the most, everything else just breaks at some point and you cannot get mail for a whole day or is paid, while mail app is like McDonald’s for me. Maybe not the best, but you always know what to expect.
What to expect: a mail app that’s impossible to underestimate
Same, the other clients have thousands of useless buttons and functions… It’s just to send mail the current app is perfect for me.
Outlook is the scum of the earth and I hate it with every fiber of my being.
I get viscerally upset when I’m forced to use outlook for any reason. That and teams. I hate them both with an unholy passion. Excel is cool though.
I will join this cult today!
Overbloat ware. Mail is fine
A few years ago I liked Outlook. Used it on the Desktop and Phone, thought the calendar integration was great. And then they... just kept making it worse, and worse, and worse. Now I'm in the "no way never not on my life" camp. I'll never figure out what hole the design team for the "todos" section fell down, but it appears bottomless.
Same here, it is worst email experience I've had anywhere. Completely opaque, unreliable and as user friendly as satan.
I second this. I used to work for a cable company and had to fix outlook all day every day when people would call in. I assume now that IMAP exists it isn't so bad when you just have to delete the account and readd it because outlook corrupted everything and can't fix itself. Mail isn't perfect, sometimes you might need to rebuild the mailbox or something. But the UI is great, And if you don't like that you can switch to the other way of doing it. I hope they start using ML to do better junk mail filtering in the future. But realistically, the app is pretty dang good as it is. I think OP just prefers Outlook which is fine, they're allowed to be wrong. Good thing Microsoft makes Outlook for Mac, so OP can spend some money and be happily wrong.
This. One of my least favourite things about Outlook is its proprietary pst format. Why, when ever.single.other.mail.client.on.the.planet uses the standard mbox format???
Imagine having to work with it every day at the office. ON A WINDOWS PC. AAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh
It’s the nightmare I’m living. On a dell laptop from 2017. I need 5 Minutes to open the app.
I seriously hope not. The mail app shines with its simplicity and usefulness.
I hate outlook sooo much. I have to use it for work and do everything I can do use Apple Mail and MailMate whenever possible.
How about better a search? The one provided really is an abomination.
Yeah, I think most things in the Apple suite could just use some quality of life improvements, otherwise I think the app design itself is quite good.
Are we talking about Mail or Outlook 😉 The Outlook one is just awful too.
Oh yeah, it's great until you want to do something really advanced like, erm, tables. Can't do it.
Well, in a way. On the other hand, try attaching an image to an email (not inline, but as an actual attachment). In my opinion it’s small things like the one above that disqualify the app. It could use some small improvements.
When you attach the image or file inline it’s still an attachment. If you don’t want it to render inline, right click and choose “View as icon”. Don’t think that’s “disqualifying”.
They don’t know or can’t tell the difference between a Mime attachment and how the app chooses to display or render it.
I really hate Outlook. I'm forced to use it at work and every day it's a damn pain in the ass
I agree, they've just thrown a whole bunch of "features" into it without thinking about the user experience.
Outlook - oh, you mean this bloated piece of **** ! Apple Mail is lean and efficient. I prefer it over alternatives. If I would go for something else, it would probably be Thunderbird. I ditched Spark a while ago because I don’t like an in between on my mails, for privacy reasons.
I’m one of those that like the app as it is, simple and focused on mail. The only thing I’m missing is for the rules I’ve setup on the desktop app to be synched and useable for the iOS app. I know I could rewrite them using the web interface, but it’d be cumbersome to always having to open the web interface anytime I tweak them. OP, what are examples of things you are missing in the app, I’m curious to know?
I have been using the mac for 14 years now. This is the only app that has an ancient view and ui design. The filtering on it is old compared to other apps now. The functionality is there i know but i don’t remember it having a new ui ux. Safari got a lot, also other Apple apps got redesigns over the past 5 years. Even the icon itself. Messages and Contacts got a huge love last year. Specially as the App is integrated across all devices, even on the iPhone and iPad, it feels out of design of the new Apps which got huge boosts over the years.
Mail filters probably shouldn’t be used at all. Do your filtering on the server. I would certainly support overhauling Mail filters, but that would require work on iCloud as well.
macOS Mail has some really annoying „bugs“. The Smart Folder move suggestion is complete shit as soon as you start working with multiple mail accounts. Sometimes signatures just don’t work, the send later feature would be nice but didn’t work 3 times for me
I think [Mail.app](http://Mail.app) is great, and I hope it stays lightweight instead of becoming bloated and slow like Outlook
Mail may need an update, but Outlook should not be the goal. That interface was designed by a mentally disabled toddler. It's annoying, intrusive, hard to look at and read not matter how you set it, and needlessly difficult to perform the simplest of tasks. Like all Microsoft software - you feel you have to fight it every step of the way. This is the exact opposite of what Apple should strive for.
I honestly can’t think of a single Microsoft product with a decent UI. The ribbon was the worst decision they’ve ever made and makes it even harder to find what you’re looking for. When you’ve got to Google how to set an out-of-office notification, you’ve done something wrong. It’s under the file tab???? WTAF? Thankfully you can still use the menus on the macOS version. Windows users are not so lucky.
They are famous for horribly inhuman UIs and workflows.
Well put.
Email apps in general haven't gotten the love the need in a while in my opinion. Most developers seem to think it's a dead technology outside of corporate or very niche sectors. And you can sort of see the point, for most people email is probably something they only use on a smartphone if at all.
I think most people who work any kind of business that involves organizing and communicating with many people use mail for this purpose. It means you have a paper trail (there’s an outdated concept for ya) of the conversation. Hate it when you have to go digging through Messages to find something someone said.
I’m using Mimestream, it’s a native Mac app for Gmail, works really fast. I think it’s built by someone from Apple who worked on Mail.
Nah. Mail is fine. It only needs to be snappier.
Mail is awesome. Leave it alone. The mantra is: * do one thing and do it well. * keep it simple. The Calendar and Mail applications serve the purpose. Right to the point with simplicity but functionally complete.
^This
Apple Mail is optimized for simplicity and sturdiness, and to run identically on platforms going back a decade or more. Apple doesn’t want to chase feature-parity with pay apps it will never catch up to. As with Calendar it offers solid features for hundreds of millions of users with underlying plumbing that other apps can utilize. If Apple ever made a “huge update” I’d swap it for the similarly bare bones open source [Thunderbird](https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/) mail app.
I have to use Outlook at work and I use Mail at home. At least Mail properly handles email threads, folders, and other basic functionality properly. It is infuriating how bad even new Outlook is with threads (don't even get me started if there are any necessary attachments in the thread) while not even existing in the old version of Outlook and how one can only add subfolders via the Outlook web interface.
I absolutely love the new Spark. I know it has a cost to it. I know a lot of people complained when they launched it. Then I used it and I think it just blows everything else out of the water.
I came here to up vote this. Spark is outstanding! So is documents, by the same company.
Yup. Spark ftw. However their legacy app is years ahead of the new spark client. Not sure why they didn’t carry over all features with the newest version?
Honestly, if they just updated it to add attachments like every other email, i’d be very happy with it
Could you perhaps specify, succinctly, what you think needs to be updated? What is this “main app” of which you speak?
I’ve seen an article that there *could be* an overhaul or revamp of the Mail app in the next WWDC.
I think may be you sould see some video about how use mail app Mike power user https://youtu.be/FSzAZ2mfMpY?si=gunkeJAwIg2p0_on
Of all the apps I tried on Mac OS Mail is still the best. It just works. Yes, it's not perfect, but what is? I'm happy they added "Send later" , for Apple that must be considered a breakthrough 😆
I really like mail, it is simple and does the work
Please do not replicate the festering behemoth that is Outlook. I want a mail app that does mail.
I sometimes think this, then open gmail or mail on Windows 11, or Outlook (new and old) Yeah, MacOS Mail is good.
I think there's room for improvement but every time I've used a 3rd party mail app, I always end up back at Apple Mail eventually. Others eventually start charging subscriptions for features (Spark and Newton), have questionable data policies (Spark and Newton), are affordable but buggy as hell with absolutely no significant improvement years later (Canary), or look significantly uglier with horrible UX. Apple Mail is the best compromise and it's free.
The Mail app is the best mail client. What are you drunk on?
Mail works better than the alternatives. Simple but effective interface, especially when using multiple accounts. Search occasionally misses what I think should be easy finds, both on Mac and iOS. Thunderbird is a dog. Weird delays when getting email sometimes, the interface seems to lag, and it’s just a strange design. I have to use Outlook for work but compared to Outlook for Windows, it’s years behind in design and functionality, with search options being the biggest flaw.
I was paid to use Outlook and hated every moment in it. Bloated, unreliable, even incoherent. I will gladly use Mail for free.
Apple probably thinks it’s fine as it is. Some people like simplicity. I use it for all my mail needs with Gmail and iCloud mail and AWS WorkMail. Please don’t bloat it like Outlook.
I like the mail app, I use Outlook at work and I hate how MS has changed it and it is bloatware. I've tried some of the other mail apps like Spark and emClient. They add too much complexity that doesn't need to be there. Mail is good simple and lean. I also like my calendar app separate from my mail app.
What in the world is up with the hostility in some of the comments on this post? It's a discussion. If someone doesn't like the mail app or prefers another app instead, why is it necessary to tell them to shut up for thinking differently than you? Disagree? Fine. But be a jerk about it? WTF...
Welcome to Reddit, where everyone has opinions and “theirs” just sucks…
I just wish that Mail would allow me to snooze emails. Other than that, I find it’s great.
I’m about to trade Mac Mail out for a 3rd party app - open to suggestions. I have an older MBP from 2017 running on the latest Ventura. Ever since last update it “forgets“ my default @ me address for sending mails and it fails to apply Rules for incoming mail. I’m aware of planned obsolescence and know full well it’s my fault for having an old computer and being poor. Still, it bothers me that something fundamental as a native Mail application could be allowed to fail so completely.
Mail search still beats all the others in my book
I hate outlook and teams
Significantly snappier in recent years, I have been using it since I dumped Outlook 10 or more years ago and never looked back. I can't think of anything it does that annoys me, nor anything it does not do that I need. I read my me . com (iCloud) mail there, along with my work account, personal gmail account and a second gmail account for a charity I work for. All in one place, separate mailboxes, one simple interface. It works and I can't recall a failure.
I would like to do at least have the Mac and iOS mail apps mirror each other. Ie smart folders made on Mac work with iOS mail app also.
It all depends on what demands you have on an Mail program. The majority of users is very happy with mail app because they just want emails reading and writing and in some kind of case ad a new event at their calendar which works perfectly fine. I don't know what you need for writing and reading mails, but it is up to you. No need to rant about it.
if spark is better, why not use that ?. I rather keep mail as it is, I can do all the stuff I need to. I dont experience any of the difficulties you mention and I get about 100 to 150 mails a day. and I certainly would hate any ux design changes. I'm majorly fed up with interface changes to please the "oh shiny crowd" which happens to a lot of applications.
Its simple. I like it. I use Outlook professionally every day and I loathe it.
100% agree! And put CONTACTS on the list as well.
It's good as it is.
What exactly Mail misses? What do you need more to send and recieve an e-mail? Apple OS and apps generally are a masterpiece of simplicity. That is why so much people love it. If you really need extended features, the. i guess you’ll stick with more advanced apps from the AppStore. Btw I’m happy I’m not in anyway tied up to Microsoft.. Outlook at work, whatever, not my job… Personally I use Proton.
Sending and receiving are not the only utility of a mail app for me. The main one, is sorting through new emails. Gmail groups then nicely into tabs, Mail puts them into an unreadable list.
Mail search is beyond useless, whether Mac or iOS. Music is even worse, where it literally won't find thing unless spelled identically and with correct capitalization. It's really starting to feel like Apple hasn't bothered much with the Mac OS in a good decade or so.
I like Apple Mail with one exception they recently removed a feature to not download content. It’s just gone. No explanation.
Much like the silent and unexplained removal, in 10.9, of the ability to display plaintext versions rather than html. The only updating Mail needs is a rollback to the 10.8 or earlier version.
It works fine for me. I don’t need anything added.
Like a lot of you I’m stuck using outlook for work, my employer gets very mad if you use a 3rd party client
I just use Gmail and Yahoo directly via the browser🤷🏻♂️
I’ve tried a ton of mail apps, and my favorite is Mimestream. Looks and feels like Mail, but works much better with Gmail.
What specific features do you think apple needs to add to [Mail.app](https://Mail.app)? Ive been using it every day for 25 years and though there are a few bugs, and I do miss old school features like buttons that actually have COLOR in them, overall its a great mail app. I have 18 different accounts set up for many different things and it all works extremely well.
I literally switched from android/windows to iOS/Mac for the mail app. I struggled for 6 years trying client after client that could reliably integrate all of my many different email accounts, calendars, and contact lists. Everything on android and windows failed. Either it couldn’t sync to write to a calendar, or search functionality didn’t work, or contacts were not imported correctly, there was always something. During this entire time, I was ignoring the mail app on my iPad, thinking it can’t be good. Lo and behold when I finally tried it, it was the only client which WORKED. 6 months later I’m on an iPhone and MacBook and goddamn I hate being cliche but the damn thing just works. Don’t get me started on the hot pile that is outlook…
I dislike both Mail and Outlook. Used to use thunderbird but I’ve started using MimeStream and never looked back.
I've stayed loyal to Mail surrounded by coworkers who switched to Outlook. Sometimes the simplest tool is the most effective. Having said that, the search functionality and search ui could definitely use an overhaul, per-folder searches and such.
Search is incredibly bad. I can know exactly who sent it to me and even a general idea of the subject line or date received and it won’t find it. Very frustrating when I need specific information.
I like its simplicity. If you’re comparing it to Outlook, just use Outlook.
I would love to use mail if it would work... the notifications, the sync all messed up if you don't use icloud...
I’m using Mimestream until Apple’s mail is improved. The developer used to work at Apple on Mail actually
Nah that’s the beauty of an App Store. Mail is for everyone. If you ran better features… there’s an app for that. Plus they’ll get called out for Sherlocking every single time cause it’s too late. There’s rumors with them aggressively embedding AI into the OSes that some of these features will come, but it has to work for 7 to 97. Everyone is never going to be pleased.
Tbh Mail is pretty nice tbh … maybe the update is a bit slow in comparison to gmail But it has no ads in it And I am using it for all my accounts Yes , including outlook for my college, it’s just nice 🤌🏻
Mail is too limited, I removed it. Gmail is 100x more useful. Calendar is also limited, but I put up with it because it looks nice and integrates nicely with Lock Screen widgets. There is no Google Calendar watch complication either.
Mail has shat me to tears for years on so many levels. Recently I'm not getting some emails with Hide My Mail addresses in my inbox, nor in Junk - no trace of them anywhere.
I don’t use the mail app on the Mac, web based Gmail and Proton Mail are more user friendly for me.
“Turn Mail into Outlook” seems to be far less popular of an idea than you anticipated.
I have like 5 emails added but for all of them my name is the same. So when someone emails me I can’t tell which email they sent it to because it just says my name, clicking it doesn’t help either. I have to go through all 5 and see which it was sent to
I do agree the app is outdated in terms of design, but for me it’s simple and it always works. Does everything I need.
Can you give any specific examples? You made a few broad statements but without actual use cases I have no context from you other than “I don’t like it”. BTW, @me and @icloud aren’t different accounts, just aliases to the same account. The design goes back to NextSTEP, and there’s existing code from those days still in there. I actually think the design is classic and adheres to the Mac design ethos. I’m rather fond of it.
Really there is someone using Mail clients in 2024?
The app does everything I need, personally. Microsoft Outlook is free, if you need something more.
I think that Mail is very good as it is. Not every app needs a complete visual overhaul every five years. It’s okay if the design stays the same for a long time. It’s probably my favorite of the stock apps.
This is the best mail app on the market if you have more than one mail account
Mail app is clean and simple. Please don’t change it
The only thing I wish we could “change” is how much mail to sync. I don’t need to download 20+ years worth of email for each account I have connected. I agree with some of the others when trying other apps, they just stop working and Mail never has
The LAST thing I want is for Apple Mail to be like Outlook!!!! LOL
Ugh I hear you. Mail default iOS absolutely sucks!
100%, what I really want to see is better inbox filtering to set newsletters aside, icon view attachments (this is really the worst thing about mail rn), when snoozing messages they should disappear from the inbox otherwise what's the point? and also favicons to quickly identify senders would be awesome.
Been using Apple Mail for a decade now and while it could use a coat of fresh paint and some quality of life improvements, I am quite happy with it. Tried other apps but keep coming back to Apple Mail.
Hello. To be honest, I should do changes to the settings that control Mail signatures to be more like the ones from Thunderbird. The ones from Thunderbird are offering things of more ease.
I like it for its simplicity, and search. Outlook is dogshit, but for those that like it they can use it. Any OS default mail reader should be simple an unobtrusive. If you want 300 things hanging off it, sign up for Mailbird on Mac. In the Windows version you can literally integrate everything social media, dozens of calendars (except Apple's... lol) and apparently this 8000 thread CPU hog is coming to Mac.
I like it the way it is. Does the job. :)
I still consider it the best email application available. I utilize it for all my personal and business accounts. Regarding my work email (employer), I opt for Spark on the iPhone, solely to keep this email separate from my personal and business accounts. Spark doesn't win any awards from me, but it’s the least annoying option among all other email apps I've tested.
I have no issues with it. It’s a mail app. It gets my mail and sends my mail with no issue. Not sure what y’all expect it to do anything more would just slow it down and make it cumbersome
I love it. I have 6 accounts running. I have something like 30 GB of messages dating back to 1999 that I love to go back and read every once in a while. Spotlight search is great, although probably once a year I need to rebuild Mail because search acts up. I love scheduled sending and the fact that it's done on-device unlike every other email app which stores the message on their servers. I love Remind Me as well. Having said that, It's not perfect and I would welcome a cosmetic facelift and more features, but all I know is it works better than any other email app I've tried and I've tried all of them. Spark is pretty cool but I don't trust a third party with my email. It seems like people having problems with [Mail.app](http://Mail.app) are using Gmail, but I abode Gmail like the plague. Google literally scanned all of your messages — evening looking inside Zip archives! — until they stopped relatively recently because of privacy complaints. I cannot understand why anyone would be using Gmail in 2024 when iCloud accounts are secure, private, free, and Apple doesn't use your information for advertising.
I stopped using Mail.app 2 years ago as I had huge issues finding email, search was just broken. Is that fixed now?
I just wish it had optional secondary authorization both on MacOS and iOS built in. PIN code, faceid/touchid.
Mail Imap config pane is now broken, on some vendors smtp config you can't even edit the ports and SSL config, you have to hope that they advertise their settings correctly.
I switched to Canary a few years ago and am pretty happy with it. I don’t dislike the mail app, but wanted something different.
Mail needs more work, Contacts needs A LOT more work, and Calendar also needs more work…
I don’t know about huge update, but I think the mail view (brand images, verification) could use a bit of tweaking. Gurman has said that Mail (along with a few other core apps) will be getting a decent amount of change, so excited to see what they change (he was extremely accurate last year). One other thing I would change is the adding of photos or files. It regularly messes up the formatting of the email.
Totally crap. Quit using it since years, the more a tried it the most I wanted to quit.
I need to synchronize rules online. When I don't have my mac on. The rule doesn't work. (Functional rules on the web have too little functionality). And I really need faceID security
Works for me & has done for maaaaaaany many years!
I also want to see something more appealing coming out, but I’m worried that they might screw it at the end.
I think Apple's Mail.app is the most perfect email software out there, and I never want it to change. I use it daily throughout Mac, iPad and iPhone. Email is a half a century old protocol, and cultural history has formed its ideal interface. If you are a business and not a private person, or feel the need to 'enrich your email experience' with an ai assistant, the blockchain or funny colours, there’s enough bullshit out there to pay for. They just need to fix the transition from plugins to 'extensions' asap, so GPGtools (which Apple explicitly recommends and internally uses themselves) finally gets back to work after all that time.
Yes and calendar. They are just shit.
It's awful. I prefer the interface because I'm v used to it and the keyboard shortcuts are burned into my muscle memory, but search sucks, it takes *forever* to pull in messages from our hosted Exchange service (like, tomorrow morning when I get to the office, it'll be an hour or so to retrieve the thousand or so messages I've gotten over the weekend, over a very fast connection). It's gotten to wear if I need to go back and find some thing I have to log into our webinar face and use the search there, that's also true for my IMAP account. I should start looking at alternatives.
I use it. It's a tool and serves it's purpose. I like that it doesn't have the bloat and heft that something like outlook has. The mail app is pretty powerful though. But if you don't like it, there are plenty of other mail clients out there or you could just use the web interface.
apple funboys at it again.
Really bothers me I can’t have smart mailboxes in iOS like on the macOS app. I have to manually move every mail to folders. If I set up rules on iCloud.com, cause you can’t do it on iOS, I won’t get notifications for new mail that’s automatically moved to smart folders.
It would be really cool if Apple were consistent and designed Mail to be much more about allowing the user to maintain their privacy and not to be contacted by people they don't want to hear from. I've been using [Hey.com](http://Hey.com) for this and I love Hey, but it's probably the most expensive.
Mail is fine. I wish it was easier to set up rules and to sort, but it’s as solid as a rock and that counts. The AppleTV app is what I really want to see changed. It’s shocking how little control I have over my library. I’d like to be able to sort my movies and TV shows into my own categories and lists. I’d like to be able to force the movies in a series to sort in release order rather than alphabetically. Simple simple things that should be hard to roll out.
I’m happy with it… email is email - it hasn’t really changed (and I hope it never does).
I'm afraid if I hook it up to my Gmail wrong, it will delete my 15 years of Gmail on the Google servers, rather than back it up locally. Also, Mail has no tagging. Two reasons I don't use it.
I like it, but I mostly use it on iOS. On Mac, I mostly use Mu4e in Emacs, though Mail does have its place from time to time.
While I understand that OP have a preference for Outlook, I for one is one who dislike Outlook with a vengeance. I would just like them to clean up the UI (like it used to look like before they went "Big Sur" on it.
I use Thunderbird for email on the Mac.
Definitely not. You know what all the other apps listed have? Ads and tons of bloat like dumb ai features being shoved everywhere. MacOS mail and iOS mail do everything that I need: read my mail and occasionally write one. It just works.
Couldn't agree more. Funny how Outlook, the more "features" it gets, the worse it is to use.
It is pretty basic
No. If anything, Mail needs a huge downgrade. I want the traditional layout back, and I want absolutely no Outlook, New Outlook, or New New Outlook features. Mail and Thunderbird do email right, and Outlook (and all of the variations) do not.
Outlook is barely usable for me. It feels Clunky. Apple Mail is fine. If it is not broken don't touch it.
I think its mail app. You can write email. You can read email. Apple, please don’t try to fix anything here - its not broken))
I like Canary mail since it has built in ai
Use Spark Classic. It does everything better than the stock mail app.
Ugh. You aren't making sense. Outlook is bad. [Mail.app](http://Mail.app) isn't.
It’s very outdated and the notifications have significant delay in IOS
I would use it if they introduced the focus vs others feature
Taking in account the ones that are out there mail is the most efficient with all the tools needed but what’s better is: it’s free! It does need a new redesign, the ability to track emails and postpone and send later or at least a clear documentation about how to develop plugins with the ability to not just make them in swift but in conjunction with other languages and running scripts…. Oh and also a better way to add signatures to emails and not the weird one that it has right now
I absolutely disagree. For the average user it’s absolutely enough. There is no need for added complexity. I love mail for its simplicity for my personal mail accounts. Everything business is in outlook anyway. But no, I don’t think it’s really necessary to over complicate mail.
Nope. I love it clean and simple. Don’t miss any of the functions. Let email be email without clutter.
It's a mail application. It's not your business tool or your organization planning tool.
yes.
I abhor Mail. I don’t even like Gmail, in all honesty. Outlook is doing pretty well for me.
I hate most of the apple Software, but i think Mail is real the best Mail App.
Spark 2 with avatars
Mail AND calendar both need a re-up. They’ve been neglected for so long
I mainly use gmail, and somewhere around last year got introduced to mimestream, that’s something the mail app should aim to be. It’s a great app, but it also has a yearly subscription which I am not very fond of paying.
My Mail app crashes multiple times a day and can very rarely actually successfully perform a query
I like the Mail app. It works well. My issues stem from email providers like Google (mailboxes not syncing between devices, since like iOS 14).
I stopped using Mail years ago. I now use Spark, an outstanding program that advertises itself with the tagline, “love your email again.” I actually do love it a lot more than before! It works great on Mak, PC, and iOS devices.
Contacts needs something
Mail is just front end for gMail, ....Outlook ... iCloud email server is shit Apple walk away from business computing... email integration... years ago.
I agree, mail needs an upgrade
Does Apple Mail properly support HTML signatures?
I've been using Thunderbird for years. I love the ability to filter and create filters based on sender and assign them to their own folder. The ability to create unlimited folders based on subject or sender cannot be underestimated. I also like the ability to sort by read, attachments, subject, and do it all with one click. Yes, it may take more resources than Mail does, but its ease of use is worth the tradeoff IMHO. I have seperate folders for each family member, each bank, each newspaper I subscribe to, each vendor I deal with, each state agency I deal with, and each doctor I visit. If I need to quickly reference an email I got weeks ago from a specific party, this cuts the search time down considerably. If I could do all those things with Mail, I'd use it, but I can't. I can't stand Mail app.
I want to switch away from the Outlook app but the Focused vs Other feature is incredibly useful and doesn’t seem to exist anywhere else. At least not somewhere that has cross platform apps.
Sure thing it needs an update. I barely can find anything on this crap. Most of the time when I have to check out the e-mail I prefer logging into my mail provider actual page, since Apple cannot really develop good alternative. Most of the categories are hidden or barely refresh, making it real hard to receive mails on. As much as I like this OS, mail ain't a thing I like.
I tried really hard using Apple’s Mail for 2 months. It needs a complete revamp, it’s not useful at all and only complicates things (like automatically opening a second window just to answer to an email thread)
No problem for me in the Apple Mail app. I use all my email accounts with no problems. I’ve tried numerous mail apps over the years and they all have some gimmick. I always return to Apple Mail app and it’s all I’ve used exclusively for the last 5 years.
Depends on the volume of messages you get, I expect. It works fine for me now but would have been terrible in the past. Slack took over the vast majority of comms in my work life and I just get the odd update from work apps in email now. For personal it’s fine too. I have a Gmail, work/freelance google account and an iCloud account.
The only thing Mail.app needs is customizable shortcuts. Cmd + opt + A for archive is stupid.