AI readers choose Airmail, Outlook and Nylas N1 as top email apps

AppleInsider

We polled our AppleInsider audience to vote for their favorite email application for the Mac. The winner is Airmail, with Outlook coming in as a close second.

Last week we asked you to vote for your favorite email application for the Mac, other than Apple's own Mail app. You nominated Polymail, Airmail, Postbox, Nylas N1 and Unibox. We received enough write-in votes for Outlook and Thunderbird that they were included in our poll.

The results are in

After thousands of votes, the winner of the AppleInsider Reader's Choice Award goes to Airmail. While Airmail supports many POP3 email services, it feels specifically designed for Gmail. It has a unified inbox and alias support, making it a sound option for advanced users.

Airmail takes advantage of many of Apple's features like iCloud sync, iCloud attachment upload and share, and Multi Touch gestures.

It sells for $9.99 in the Mac App Store, or you can brave the free beta version on Airmail's website.

Other notes

Even though we specifically excluded Apple's Mail app from this poll, it received over 400 write-in votes. Outlook was a write-in nominee and yet it still managed to climb to second place. Nylas N1, which came in third, is an open-source, extensible application available here.

Final Results

1. Airmail (23%)
2. Outlook (17%)
3. Nylas N1 (10%)
4. Postbox (8%)
5. Polymail (8%)
6. Thunderbird (6%)
7. Unibox (5%)
8. MailMate (1%)

Other's receiving votes:
Mailplane, Eudora, Boxy, Kiwi

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6sgoldfish

It's a shame Sparrow was killed by Google. It could have easily topped the list.

rob53

Come on AI. You make a statement about the best Mac email app then specifically exclude Mail. What kind of poll is that? What's worse is all the people who included Outlook. I don't even remember seeing this poll and Outlook would have received a negative number from me. What's worse if I've never heard of the majority of these. 

arirando

Ok, I agree with rob53, I use Apple's Mail on the Mac and it's perfect! It should've been included in the poll, which I also did not see, had I seen it I would've definitely voted. The other thing, though, that's actually comic is that on iPhone I use Outlook! Apple's native iOS app is not as efficient as Outlook so I had to ditch it in favor of Outlook's client. So as funny as it may sound I'm working with Apple's Mail on the Mac and Outlook on the iPhone and, oh boy, do they sync well! Much better than Apple's own on both devices!

mdriftmeyer

None of them hold a candle to Mail.app.

lkrupp

"Even though we specifically excluded Apple's Mail app from this poll, it received over 400 write-in votes. Outlook was a write-in nominee and yet it still managed to climb to second place.”

What purpose does this survey serve other than paid advertising? So these third party email apps can claim “Chosen as top email program by AI readers?”  As one commenter replied these apps were never heard of by the vast majority of users.

robin huber

Why hasn't USPS sued Airmail for the use of its name?

techpr

I used to be an Airmail v1 user and after the v2 ripoff I moved back to Mail.app and since then Mail.app is just perfect. 

redefiler

mdriftmeyer said:

None of them hold a candle to Mail.app.

Here, here.  But some people are hyper susceptible to shady upsells, they'll install lots of redundant crap in misguided attempts to be power users.  

Outlook is the single worst piece of software written for Windows.  It's a bug riddled piece of garbage, that's running purely on those still memorized by 90's branding.  You'd be insane to trust it on non-native platforms, as it's totally unreliable for archiving/exporting email for mailboxes over 2GB, and I've seen first hand, after several IT consultants and a forensic data firm tried resurrecting several users' instances of self-corrupting Outlook files.

2oh1

The results of this poll would have been far more helpful if they'd included Apple's Mail app. I've tried several listed above, including Airmail. I had to bail on Airmail and I haven't missed it. Too many developers misplace their priority on being different instead of just focussing all of their efforts on creating the best app they can. Different for the sake of being different usually ends up being poor design by design.

bestkeptsecret

Was there even an option to vote for the Mail.app? 

darwiniandude

Misleading headline!
"We polled our AppleInsider audience to vote for their favorite email application for the Mac."

Well no, you didn't. Because you didn't let people choose Mail.app!

I've tried lots and Mail is consistently the most solid. In work support roles I've had massive issues with (Mac) Outlook and Entourage. 

Lets do a poll:
What is the best electric car in your opinion? (other than Tesla)
1) Mitsubishi iMiev
2) BMW i3
3) Chevrolet VOLT
4) Chevrolet BOLT
5) Other, please specify:

Wow! The Nissan Leaf climbed to the top even though it was a write in option! Nissan Leaf is the best EV as voted by Apple Insider readers!

darwiniandude

redefiler said:

mdriftmeyer said:

None of them hold a candle to Mail.app.

Here, here.  But some people are hyper susceptible to shady upsells, they'll install lots of redundant crap in misguided attempts to be power users.  

Outlook is the single worst piece of software written for Windows.  It's a bug riddled piece of garbage, that's running purely on those still memorized by 90's branding.  You'd be insane to trust it on non-native platforms, as it's totally unreliable for archiving/exporting email for mailboxes over 2GB, and I've seen first hand, after several IT consultants and a forensic data firm tried resurrecting several users' instances of self-corrupting Outlook files.

YES! Let's store everything in one giant file and hope it doesn't get corrupted. Outlook for Mac, latest version, severely breaks with:
Any POP account
Gmail accounts
Many IMAP accounts
Mailboxes over 2GB in size

in other words, it's useless. 

zaba

Outlook, the biggest piece of shite that ever existed (next to word, PowerPoint, Windows 8, internet explorer). Apple mail works just fine.

rcfa

Here's a new poll: Do like to be shot or poisoned? Staying alive isn't an option...

Here's the results: 80% of readers want to be shot, 20% want to be poisoned. Not!

buzdots

Other notes

Even though we specifically excluded Apple's Mail app from this poll, it received over 400 write-in votes. Outlook was a write-in nominee and yet it still managed to climb to second place. Nylas N1, which came in third, is an open-source, extensible application available here.

Final Results

1. Airmail (23%)
2. Outlook (17%)
3. Nylas N1 (10%)
4. Postbox (8%)
5. Polymail (8%)
6. Thunderbird (6%)
7. Unibox (5%)
8. MailMate (1%)

Other's receiving votes:
Mailplane, Eudora, Boxy, Kiwi

How in Gods green earth can you claim 400 write in votes for Mail.app and then display everything else as a percentage?

What the hell were the total number of votes for all the others combined - 150?  You said thousands but that doesn't hold water.
Percentages without a total number doesn't mean shit when you throw in one single figure that was never part of the outcome.

23% of 2000 is 460 (Airmail).  Exactly how many over 400 did Mail.app get?

Obviously polls are not AI's forte.

edited January 2016

expa

Mailbird? Perfect mail app!!!

damn_its_hot

buzdots said:

Other notes

Even though we specifically excluded Apple's Mail app from this poll, it received over 400 write-in votes. Outlook was a write-in nominee and yet it still managed to climb to second place. Nylas N1, which came in third, is an open-source, extensible application available here.

Final Results

1. Airmail (23%)
2. Outlook (17%)
3. Nylas N1 (10%)
4. Postbox (8%)
5. Polymail (8%)
6. Thunderbird (6%)
7. Unibox (5%)
8. MailMate (1%)

Other's receiving votes:
Mailplane, Eudora, Boxy, Kiwi

How in Gods green earth can you claim 400 write in votes for Mail.app and then display everything else as a percentage?

What the hell were the total number of votes for all the others combined - 150?  You said thousands but that doesn't hold water.
Percentages without a total number doesn't mean shit when you throw in one single figure that was never part of the outcome.

23% of 2000 is 460 (Airmail).  Exactly how many over 400 did Mail.app get?

Obviously polls are not AI's forte.

 At a minimum these would also be on the auto list:

1. Chevy Spark
2. Fiat 500e
3. Ford Focus Electric
4. Kia Soul EV
5. Mercedes B EV
6. Nissan Leaf
7. Toyota Prius
8. Volkswagen E-Golf

along with that many more again if you count plug-in hybrids. I know this is not about EVs so I won't belabor the point. Does go to show with almost no looking how easy it is to extend a list for a poll.

AI throwing in the numbers like that is very questionable indeed!

twistedarts

Oulook???? Really?????? Airmail???? C'mon there is no better solution than Thunderbird. Oh and it is free.... Puh-Leez $10 for a mail reader??????? Absurd... Oh and since they broke mail in 10.4.8 there is no point in even mentioning it.

ikomrad

The Apple mail app is good for really, really basic users If you want your mail app to manage your email by using built in intelligence to separate newsletters, notifications from service, and email from people, you need something like spark and email. 3rd party apps have great integration with other services like dropbox, google drive, etc. Nice built in features like clicking Unsubscribe( Airmail ) to unsubscribe from newsletters.. I could go on for hours about features that the stock Mail app doesn't have, but if I had that kind of time, I would need an email app to manage my mail for me Do any of these apps besides outlook have support for editing server-side Exchange rules?