Mailbox app reservations go live in App Store
Developer Orchestra's free iPhone email client 'Mailbox' is now live in the App Store, with reservations being filled for those who registered with the company in late January.
AppleInsider was able to take an advanced look at Mailbox last month and found it to be a solid addition to any email workflow.
The app's unique interface allows users to turn a Gmail inbox into a type of "to-do" list, where each message can be "snoozed" for later perusal.
For example, if an email isn't urgent, but will require action the next day, a user can select the "tomorrow" snooze, which will move the message out of the active inbox and return it the next day. Snooze time settings are fully customizable.
The iPhone-only app features swipe gestures reminiscent of to-do app Clear, with users being able to swipe left or right to activate snooze timers and send message strings to the archive folder or a customizable lists folder. Emails can also be deleted with a longer swipe.
Anyone can download the app for free from the App Store, and those users who pre-registered can enter their reservation numbers for first-come, first-served account activation. Those who have yet to sign up can do so in-app, while all users can watch the reservation line in real-time.
AppleInsider was able to take an advanced look at Mailbox last month and found it to be a solid addition to any email workflow.
The app's unique interface allows users to turn a Gmail inbox into a type of "to-do" list, where each message can be "snoozed" for later perusal.
For example, if an email isn't urgent, but will require action the next day, a user can select the "tomorrow" snooze, which will move the message out of the active inbox and return it the next day. Snooze time settings are fully customizable.
The iPhone-only app features swipe gestures reminiscent of to-do app Clear, with users being able to swipe left or right to activate snooze timers and send message strings to the archive folder or a customizable lists folder. Emails can also be deleted with a longer swipe.
Anyone can download the app for free from the App Store, and those users who pre-registered can enter their reservation numbers for first-come, first-served account activation. Those who have yet to sign up can do so in-app, while all users can watch the reservation line in real-time.
Comments
Hype-ware.
seems pretty useless since it can't be the default email client.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lightknight
How do they deal with the 30% cut from Apple for this service?
nepotism
Not sure how long I'll keep it anyway...
Is anyone else having problems finding in the app store?
am i understanding that correctly? yeah, uhm, no thanks.
Try "orchestra mail" that is how I found it.
It's just another email client, and I see no benefit over the built-in email on the iOS.
indeed. haven't kept up with apple's policy and policy changes regarding use of the udid, but the mailboxapp website says
are they in line with apple on that?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vokbain
I have no idea why this is constantly a topic in the news (here at least).
It's just another email client, and I see no benefit over the built-in email on the iOS.
I see a big benefit over the iOS client. And I will not touch it. Add a middleman between my email provider and me is bad enough. That they want my contact list is too much.
This looks like a good target for Apple to snarf up. They can show their investors that they are in fact using the money they have.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac Bear
I have looked at their confidentiality statement and I am not sure I want to use this app. They store my emails and contact apparently. I am not sure I see why a Mail client would do this.
Yes this concerns me. I'd like to know what they do and why they do it.
Not just for privacy concerns either - I want my mail to work and be accessible from my Mac AND my phone, and if this stops that happening then it's not particularly useful to me.
However, I've been using Orchestra's todo app for several months and it works great. I create a ToDo item in one of my projects, and apply it to someone else on the list. They get my ToDo item and can comment, accept or reject it. Great app. How it integrates with Orchestra's mail app is another question!.
Want into Mailbox app early? Here's how to get past the countdown screen and into the app before your invitation time.
First, make sure Mailbox is completely closed.
Download iExplorer for your computer, copy the preferences plist to your computer (in App->Library->Preferences, its named com.orchestra.v2.plist), open it with a text editor capable of viewing a Plist (recommendations below) and find the key ' orchestra.velvet.room.allowed' and change the word <false/> to <true/> for the entry immediately below it. Save the file.
On Mac, you'll need Xcode or TextWrangler (I used TextWrangler, free on the App Store) to open the Plist.
On Windows, you will need special software to actually get a readable plist file. I found plist Editor to work: http://www.icopybot.com/plist-editor.htm[2]
Then move it back and overwrite the old one using iExplorer.
Launch Mailbox and you're in!
Edit: A bit more step-by-step for iExplorer is below:
After you install iExplorer, plug in your phone.
In iExplorer click on your phone, and open the 'Apps' section.
Open the Mailbox app.
Open The Folder 'Library->Preferences'
Copy out the file I listed above, and edit it in a text editor as described above.
Drag the saved, modified file back into iExplorer into the Preferences folder and overwrite the old file.
Then launch Mailbox. (Make sure mailbox was force quite during all of this)
have you received compensation or payments in any form (in-kind, cash payments, etc.) in exchange for publishing this article?
jailbreak!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pooch
a reservations system? so i can upload my userids and passwords to the mailbox servers and let them check my email for me and then push it to the app?
am i understanding that correctly? yeah, uhm, no thanks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac Bear
I have looked at their confidentiality statement and I am not sure I want to use this app. They store my emails and contact apparently. I am not sure I see why a Mail client would do this.
People lining up -- in a virtual line -- to hand over their Google IDs and passwords. To a company they've never heard of. So that company can give them access to their own emails and contacts.
And it's not just email and contract data (though I'm sure that's the honeypot), that is also the login info for a lot of people's documents in Google Apps, files in Google Drive, info from Google+ (for the twelve people who use +)...
One thing I'm sure of is that I think we'll see a lot more applications use this "waitlist" as a viral "marketing technique" in the next few months...
Quote:
How do they deal with the 30% cut from Apple for this service?
Well, 30% of zero is zero. I bet they can afford to pay that.
Originally Posted by Pooch
dear appleinsider,
have you received compensation or payments in any form (in-kind, cash payments, etc.) in exchange for publishing this article?
I'm sort of curious about that. The articles (plural) about this software have generally turned toward the fact that your stuff is being stored on their server and how many consider this an unacceptable course of action, but this, and the other topics of discussion, have all been user-started. The site itself is just reporting the existence of the app, and in a way that seems to be like a review thereof. But what were the circumstances that allowed this review of a beta? Did Mailbox approach AI, or was it the other way around?