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Best email app for iPhone to keep a clean inbox?
- Thread starter saintforlife
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Since the sad Mailbox announcement I have been trying to find the best email app for my needs. Sadly, no one app completely satisfies me.
I'm switching between Outlook and Inbox. With inbox for some reason there is no icon badge (number) for email included in bundles (yes, I have notifications enabled for that bundle). Also the inbox UI can sometimes be a bit messy and confusing to read at a glance. It's messy like a teenagers favourite messaging app, which I think is the point. Better attachment/file management would be good.
Outlook on the other hand has a nice clean 'grown up' UI. Unfortunately the 'focused' inbox idea is not working for me, I need more control. The contacts list is full of old contacts from gmail which I don't want. And the half baked calendar is unwanted (I used calendars 5 for that).
So far it's Google inbox, mainly due to its 'push' ability. But I will be trying spark next...
I'm switching between Outlook and Inbox. With inbox for some reason there is no icon badge (number) for email included in bundles (yes, I have notifications enabled for that bundle). Also the inbox UI can sometimes be a bit messy and confusing to read at a glance. It's messy like a teenagers favourite messaging app, which I think is the point. Better attachment/file management would be good.
Outlook on the other hand has a nice clean 'grown up' UI. Unfortunately the 'focused' inbox idea is not working for me, I need more control. The contacts list is full of old contacts from gmail which I don't want. And the half baked calendar is unwanted (I used calendars 5 for that).
So far it's Google inbox, mainly due to its 'push' ability. But I will be trying spark next...
You can turn the Focus Inbox off and use it as standard (quick flick switch in settings - I didn't like focus either as I want a 0 inbox not just to choose which emails are most important!), continue to use any calendar you want and not import contacts from gmail as well I think ?
From memory I link email on Google but not contact or calendar and choose that as I setup the connection between the app and Google.
I also disabled the focus inbox. I can never relax with software determining which emails are/aren't important, and it's just another place to check messages. I prefer to do the filtering and only have 1 place to check.
I am running into similar issues. Each of the main ones have most of the features but not have all.
Outlook
Spark
Inbox (gmail)
Outlook
- Can't adjust snooze times. This is ridiculous that I can't say when tomorrow starts. I get in the office at 7, not he standard 8 or 9 that most companies have work begin.
- Only two swipe zones.
Spark
- Can't adjust snooze times.
Inbox (gmail)
- Looks completely cluttered.
- No option for unified inbox. I have two accounts I have to check and it makes me switch between accounts. I know I am forward mail but this is personal and work email and they need to be kept separate.
- Does not label emails when I user the standard browser interface so I need to type "label:snoozed" in the search box to find them.
Go to "settings" and "feedback." There are many different features that they're currently working on. You even see which ones are in progress or being considered. I've added my vote and comments on several, including swipe zones, calendar view, etc.
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Just voted for a couple. I feel like that is extremely open and unusual for Microsoft to open up feature requests like this. For it to be sociable don't seem normal for them.
I have had a couple of problems with the app and started a support request. They have responded quickly and helpfully every time. Surprised me too.
Same here. A company might spam me, but when I do buy from them and need to know when a product is dispatched or delayed how will it know the difference. When I know it can't be 100% correct all the time, I will have to check both - so it's easier and quicker to just have one (although it nice to have notifications just for important emails). I REALLY like Google Inbox's bundles, I just wish the UI wasn't so 'busy' with all the colors and points first letter icons etc. Because the notifications don't work properly either in Inbox I'm still looking around. I tried Spark and it's pretty nice, but there is just something not quite right about it that I can't put my finger on.
I only have 2 gripes about Spark, but they're big gripes (for me):
- No iPad app for a unified experience.
- No way to adjust how many lines are in message preview. I like to be able to get the gist of an email without going into it.
So is this swipe for all messages avialable only for the smart inbox? That 3 dots to swipe doesn't show up for regular Inbox card.
It does show up when I click View All in the Inbox and scroll..scroll to the bottom of the list. I think for this 3-dots swipe to show up, you have to view all email in that card, even on the Smart Inbox with more than 4 emails, you first have to view all to get this option.
It should work without having to View All and scrolling over all emails, or may be a quicker option to navigate to the top/bottom of the list. Haven't figured out if its already there.
It should work without having to View All and scrolling over all emails, or may be a quicker option to navigate to the top/bottom of the list. Haven't figured out if its already there.
Does it not? It’s on either side of the number of messages at the bottom...
I am using spark but have an issue. I am seeing an issue with emails I snoozed on iPhone don't carry over to the app on the iPad. I know it is the same app but still. It shows the snoozed email in snoozed pins but on iPad it is showing in my inbox. I don't see why their server struggles the way it is.
Customizable snooze is now possible in the update that was just pushed out. 
Hello
This is my first time posting here- I am heartbroken because Mailbox is discontinuing service in 2 months. I rely on it 100% to keep my inbox at 0 and keep my life simple.
I've tested Spark on my iphone but when I snooze emails in Spark, it stays in the inbox on my desktop (gmail web interface and any desktop email program)
The point of snoozing emails, IMHO, is to get them out of my inbox until a later date and what would the point be if it is only snoozed in Spark, not elsewhere?
Can somebody help? Either there is a solution for Spark that I'm not aware about, or another app that has what I am looking for?
Thank you!
This is my first time posting here- I am heartbroken because Mailbox is discontinuing service in 2 months. I rely on it 100% to keep my inbox at 0 and keep my life simple.
I've tested Spark on my iphone but when I snooze emails in Spark, it stays in the inbox on my desktop (gmail web interface and any desktop email program)
The point of snoozing emails, IMHO, is to get them out of my inbox until a later date and what would the point be if it is only snoozed in Spark, not elsewhere?
Can somebody help? Either there is a solution for Spark that I'm not aware about, or another app that has what I am looking for?
Thank you!
Yes. I have had the same problem sometimes between devices and also if I pull up my gmail on the web. I don't know what is causing the issue, but today I had three emails I snoozed yesterday in my gmail web inbox. They weren't showing in either app as they were snoozed for a later date. I deleted the snooze on the app, which sent them back to the inbox, and I snoozed them again there and it cleared the gmail web inbox at that point. Why those three didn't work I do not know? There latest update adds some customization option I just wish that one of the snooze options was today evening instead of tomorrow evening. Maybe it can be added later.
Much better then it was and very similar to mailbox. Love this app now. Looking forward to iPad version in a couple weeks.
Customizable snooze is now possible in the update that was just pushed out.
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The Mac and iPad versions are coming out soon. I've already signed up for the beta.
Here's an article discussing it:
http://exchangeserverpro.com/outlook-for-ios-and-android
Also here:
https://4sysops.com/archives/is-microsofts-outlook-app-for-ios-and-android-insecure/
"Credential storage
In the original release of the Outlook app for iOS and Android, authentications against Office 365 Exchange used basic authentication. This could mean your credentials were stored in a Microsoft–run cloud service that resided inside Amazon Web Services.
As of a June 2015 update, Office 365 Exchange now uses OAuth in the Outlook app, removing the possibility that Office 365 credentials will be stored. The new authentication procedure uses Active Directory Authentication Library (ADAL)–based authentication. Accounts with a cloud-based username/password are directed to an Office 365 sign-in page; accounts with an Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)–based username/password are directed to the ADFS sign-in page. Office 365 Exchange joins Outlook.com, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, and Gmail as services that use OAuth within the Outlook app.
As of the publication of this article [Sept. 2, 2015], Yahoo, iCloud, and on-premises Exchange Server do not support OAuth. For these services, the Outlook app does store your credential in encrypted form in the Outlook cloud service. A random AES-128 key (called a device key) is generated during the first run of the app. When a user logs in to a non-OAuth service, the username, password, and device key are transmitted to the Outlook cloud service via a TLS encrypted connection. The cloud service verifies the password and then encrypts the password with the device key. The device key is then wiped from memory, never having been stored on disk. When a user checks for mail, the device key is sent to the cloud service and used to decrypt the encrypted password. After the Outlook cloud service has checked for mail, the device key is wiped from memory again.
If you’re using Office 365 Exchange, the move to OAuth in the Outlook app removes the concern about stored credentials. However, if you’re running on-premises Exchange, the storage of user credentials (even in encrypted form) is a risk that your security department will have to consider.
One additional risk in the current architecture is the use of Amazon Web Services to run the Outlook cloud service. Microsoft has said that a “coming IT control” is the move of the cloud service from Amazon Web Services to Microsoft Azure, but the company has not offered a timeline for when the move will be made. The current iteration of the Outlook web service does meet Category A of the Compliance Framework for Office 365, which does not include EU Model Clauses (EUMC), HIPAA Business Associate Agreement, or FedRAMP, just to name a few. I hope the move to Azure will clear up many of these current limitations."
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Thanks, that's very helpful. I haven't been following that and have just been using Mail!