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Managing email can be a very personal thing – if you are an obsessive user of tags, the mark as unread, snooze or filters feature, it can be difficult to find out which email client makes the most sense for managing your messages. While many of us go directly to Gmail for the sake of convenience, there are significantly good and powerful email clients available for Android not made by Google. Here are five that we think stand out for their features, unique capabilities or appeal to those who care about privacy.
Spark Email – Connect Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook mail
Spark is one of the most popular Mac clients, thanks to its ease of use and advanced features. It arrived on Android in April 2019 and has received significant updates since then. The application works with any provider and supports multiple accounts. It can automatically categorize emails so you can focus on those that matter.
Unlike standard email services, it comes with the ability to suspend the message or send it later. Since Spark is a cross-platform application, they are also synchronized with your other devices, making it easier to keep working on your computer’s email. Its most relevant functionality is the ability to collaborate on messages with your co-workers or discuss emails in private within your team, which is particularly useful if you are managing professional communications through Spark. To increase privacy, you can even protect your messages with a password or fingerprint, which can be useful if you regularly receive confidential emails. Finally, as any modern application should, the client comes with a built-in dark mode to make reading e-mails easy for your eyes.
Microsoft Outlook: Organize Your Email and Calendar
Whether you are reading private email or synchronizing your corporate account with your phone, Outlook is a great option. It offers a similar interface to the desktop client and is well integrated with other Office applications, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint, making it easy to work on the go. Like most customers, it offers a priority mailbox, called Focused, as well as a dark mode. Unlike most of its competitors, however, it comes with calendar integration, which is a great way to easily manage RSVPs or send out new invitations.
The application is also optimized for productivity, thanks to an easy connection with Teams, Zoom and other video call providers without complications. It can also suggest responses automatically, helping you save time when replying to messages. Likewise, it can automatically identify your email itineraries and add them to your calendar so you don’t have to worry about them during your next business trip. Finally, if you’re on the go, you can ask Outlook to play your emails or upcoming appointments out loud, helping you stay up to date with your work while keeping your hands free.
Email – Lightning Fast & Secure Mail
Edison Mail aims to make email management simple and intuitive. The application comes with a wizard similar to Inbox, allows you to use templates and comes with a dark mode. It is also very customizable and works with an unlimited number of accounts, allowing you to manage all your communications in a single application. Some interesting features include price alerts in the event that the price of a product you bought falls, unsent messages, suggestions for smart responses and an integrated search engine.
Spike Email Messenger – your inbox, reinvented
Spike is built with an interface similar to instant messaging applications. The idea is not to move from one application to another, with everything combined into one, including to-do lists and notes. It also allows you to collaborate on documents in your inbox, with the ability to chat live with colleagues at the same time. Some other interesting features include unsent messages, dark mode and scheduled emails.
Spike may not be the perfect email client for everyone, but it’s great to consider whether you’re part of a team that needs to work on the same projects and topics. However, it would make more sense to use it if you pair it with the desktop application, which offers the same features and synchronizes your conversations.
Boxer – ONE Workspace
Boxer’s main focus is to help you take action on messages directly from your inbox using swipe gestures, without having to open the message itself. For example, you can quickly add an item to your task list, or mark a message as spam, without wasting time executing many clicks. Thanks to the integration of the calendar, it also allows you to easily share your availability with others and participate in conference calls with ease. I would mainly advise using Boxer if you deal with a lot of professional emails. For personal communications, I recommend that you look for alternatives like Spark or Edison Mail.
ProtonMail – Encrypted email
Privacy is becoming a growing concern, so you may want to consider encrypting your email communications. The purpose of ProtonMail is to do just that, making it virtually impossible for anyone to read the messages, except for the sender and recipient. Depending on what you need, however, ProtonMail can be bothersome, as you need to change your email provider and have to restrict yourself to this specific application. I personally would not want to experience this problem, as I am not exchanging nuclear codes for email, but that choice is up to you to make based on the amount of encryption required versus ease of use and versatility.
