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Paco II

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Sep 13, 2009
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Anyone know what the deal is with Spark and dark mode? I know they posted a teaser of it months ago, but it's never materialized. Was curious if anyone had heard anything about it.
 

1144557

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Sep 13, 2018
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Still in beta. They are quite slow, unfortunately.

Something is very off with Readdle that it's been nearly 2 full months since the iOS13 official release. And they didnt even start a beta of their app when iOS was in beta like all other apps did to be ready for release day. The dark mode beta only started maybe 4-5 weeks ago if that

And they are still having HTML rendering issues with dark mode as of today that Outlook and Edison got right away 1-2 months ago now. And the app doesnt respect iOS font size so it looks goofy if you like your system font a certain size as it wont match.

They just put out an app store update so clearly the new version isnt release worth still.

It's just not doing so well honestly and I've moved on. Outlook has fewer features but just works.
 
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Paco II

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Sep 13, 2009
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I get the sense that Spark for iOS is not high on their priority list anymore.


Still in beta. They are quite slow, unfortunately.

Something is very off with Readdle that it's been nearly 2 full months since the iOS13 official release. And they didnt even start a beta of their app when iOS was in beta like all other apps did to be ready for release day. The dark mode beta only started maybe 4-5 weeks ago if that

And they are still having HTML rendering issues with dark mode as of today that Outlook and Edison got right away 1-2 months ago now. And the app doesnt respect iOS font size so it looks goofy if you like your system font a certain size as it wont match.

They just put out an app store update so clearly the new version isnt release worth still.

It's just not doing so well honestly and I've moved on. Outlook has fewer features but just works.
 
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1144557

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I get the sense that Spark for iOS is not high on their priority list anymore.

Very well may not be. I cant say how many people are paying for teams, but that is the only money being made on Spark (unless they really are selling data to ad companies) versus an app like say PDF Expert which is a monthly subscription.

I would move on honestly to something that will 100% be here a year from now, but just IMO
 

Ash Pole

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Mar 2, 2015
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Very well may not be. I cant say how many people are paying for teams, but that is the only money being made on Spark....
Spark Premium is $6.39 a month....that's not exactly cheap. Readdle is a Ukrainian company. Considering that the Ukraine annual household income is only $1,700, they must be making a fortune with their new subscription model.
 
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1144557

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Spark Premium is $6.39 a month....that's not exactly cheap. Readdle is a Ukrainian company. Considering that the Ukraine annual household income is only $1,700, they must be making a fortune with their new subscription model.

Little more than that. Regardless, they also have 125 employees (who may or may not be making more than average; the higher ups certainly are) after the server costs as paid supports all the free. Even if 1 in 100 people pays that's not a lot versus the free.

The point was they have their money why bother improving the app faster/more? iOS13 has been out 2 months and in beta for 3 months before that. Its inexcusable not to have an iOS13 version out with dark mode when all the other mail apps figured it out weeks ago. Even more so if they are making that much on it.
 
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Ash Pole

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Mar 2, 2015
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You do realize that Spark is just one of 7 apps that Readdle offers on the app store. Their bread and butter is PDF Expert which recently went subscription. I have already paid them TWICE for PDF Expert. Now they expect me to sign-up for a $50 yearly sub for an app that's been static for 4 years. I mean, you can't even crop a page. Fortunately I found a better solution for my PDF needs.
 

1144557

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Sep 13, 2018
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You do realize that Spark is just one of 7 apps that Readdle offers on the app store. Their bread and butter is PDF Expert which recently went subscription. I have already paid them TWICE for PDF Expert. Now they expect me to sign-up for a $50 yearly sub for an app that's been static for 4 years. I mean, you can't even crop a page. Fortunately I found a better solution for my PDF needs.

I fully realize. No company would support an unprofitable app, nor with another.

And even more evidence there is no excuse for how slow they are. iOS13 was put into beta 5 months ago now. Everyone else has figured out dark mode email- Airmail, Edison, Outlook, Canary, Gmail (been on a slow rollout though) etc etc.
 

bumbo

macrumors 6502
May 6, 2009
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Spark just released a new version of the app and it has Dark Mode. Just downloaded and I think they've nailed it. It looks great and is everything the app should have been from a while ago. I'm switching back from Outlook
 

1144557

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Sep 13, 2018
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Now that we can talk about it (couldnt as beta testers) meh. The redesign is nice but it is not dramatically different that it took this long to get out. The core functions and features are basically the same. YOu have avatars and can rearrange the bottom function bar; that's all I recognize as new. It's a little more "cutesy" looking.

But some stuff I dont like. The font size is HUGE (IMO) and doesnt respect system font size which is should so everyone can have it the size they want; if you have system font as the smallest it just looks goofy tinker toy huge.

Their dark mode also in some emails isnt dark while the stock Mail app or Outlook get it right.

Maybe its just me but the main sidebar menu animation sliding in feels SLOWWW and sluggish. Makes the app feel slow.

Also no unsubscribe feature like stock or most all 3rd party apps.

These have all been pointed out to the dev and get the "added to out list" generic response that may or may never happen.
 
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ksmith80209

macrumors 6502a
Aug 15, 2007
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Wait — the text is huge for you? It's tiny — or at least far smaller than almost any other app — for me. Can you do a screen shot?
 

nburwell

macrumors 603
May 6, 2008
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But some stuff I dont like. The font size is HUGE (IMO) and doesnt respect system font size which is should so everyone can have it the size they want; if you have system font as the smallest it just looks goofy tinker toy huge.

I noticed this as well today. I was dumbfounded that I couldn't adjust the text size at all (or even have it match the system font size). I ultimately deleted the app (I had re-downloaded it to check out how dark mode looked).

Not sure if it is a bug, but hopefully they push an update to allow the ability to adjust the font size. Glad to see that I was not the only one who noticed the font size was huge.
 

Paco II

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 13, 2009
2,288
706
Am *not* liking some of the changes. There is so much white space now. Everything just feels bigger, and not in a good way. And why kill off the widget?? And while I appreciate the dark mode, as mentioned previously, many emails are not displayed in dark mode. I do like being able to customize the toolbar. Very mixed bag.
 
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10win

macrumors newbie
Jun 9, 2015
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I like the new design, however it could be more like apple mail (like outlook or edison mail).
Also, can't disable threaded mails.
 
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