Multi-Platform Email Client

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Geektastic

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#239905 10-Aug-2018 09:27

I'm posting this here because it is a general question and covers more than one platform, so the specific platform forums do not seem logical homes for it - mods feel free to move if you think it deserves a different home!

I use Newton email to manage my email on Mac OSX, Windows, iOS and Android. It looks and works the same on all of those, which is important to me - I do not want to be trying to run different Mail apps on every device. At present I have no Windows needs but in case I do (I did) I need one that works there too.

Newton is being shut down, which is a shame but which was probably inevitable once they started charging real money for it. I did not mind paying - the app was very good and people have to eat; I would rather pay a straight transaction fee than have my data sold or be advertised at all day to be honest.

Looking for GZ recommendations for a good replacement (not Outlook - don't get on with it). It needs to work on all those platforms and be able to combine Apple email addresses and Gmail email addresses. There are heaps of very nice ones for the Mac side of it but often they do not have Android versions.

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#2071513 10-Aug-2018 20:24

Thunderbird. Head and shoulders better than most of the competition - same experience on Mac, Linux, Windows. Rock solid performance even with larger mail boxes. Works with tricky imap accounts far better than most others. It's been my goto for those who are ready to ditch outlook and has rarely disappointed.

Pumpedd

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#2071519 10-Aug-2018 20:53

I have a friend who uses eM client and loves it.

jarledb

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#2071521 10-Aug-2018 20:55

I see Thunderbird suggested. Would work for Windows, Linux and Mac - but won't help you on mobile.

If you want the same experience accross devices I think switching all your email to Google Suite / Gmail might be the way to go.

Google has the Gmail app (that can take Google Mail accounts, as well as Gmail accounts) for iOS and Android. And on Windows, Linux and Mac you can just use the web interface.

I know its a bit of a change in workflow, but the web interface for Gmail once you know how to use it is far superior to any mail client I have ever used (and I have used a lot of them).

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timmmay

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#2071526 10-Aug-2018 21:06

I've used thunderbird for years. I have about 1GB of email, 60% local archive, 40% IMAP. Thunderbird is fine once it starts, but it's slow to launch - takes about 8 seconds to start these days. Might just need a fresh install.

I don't know of any client that works on all devices. I use different clients - K9 on Android, Thunderbird on Windows, two different web interfaces.

nunz

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#2071530 10-Aug-2018 21:22

timmmay:

I've used thunderbird for years. I have about 1GB of email, 60% local archive, 40% IMAP. Thunderbird is fine once it starts, but it's slow to launch - takes about 8 seconds to start these days. Might just need a fresh install.

I don't know of any client that works on all devices. I use different clients - K9 on Android, Thunderbird on Windows, two different web interfaces.

I dont think there is a universal that includes mobile. Even Web interfaces have different layout etc on mobile. Mobile outlook is as close as i've seen but I do not like it. Outlook seems to be more PITN than ever before and doing dumb things making it less usable - e.g. focused inbox, the new accounts interface that you have to crack to get active sync working etc.

KiwiSurfer

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#2071556 10-Aug-2018 22:19

There can be benefits to using the native app on some platforms. Apple's Mail app on iOS is the best I've used on any mobile platform and works well with most IMAP providers (with the exception of Gmail but that is Google's poor IMAP implementation at fault really). I use it with my FastMail mailbox and it's fast, reliable and flawless. On the other extreme I've found the mail app that comes with Android to be the absolute worst I've used—I found K-9 Mail to be a good replacement but that was a long time ago so not sure if my recommendation still stands.

If you can consolidate your mail to one provider it may be worth looking at Gmail. They have good apps for many mobile platforms and you can use the web interface on non-mobile platforms. I'm not a fan of Google though so I would recommend looking at FastMail who have their own apps on iOS/Android as well as a excellent webmail platform rivalling Gmail.

Geektastic

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#2071578 10-Aug-2018 23:25

Thanks all.

Newton was great because it works the same across OSX, Windows, Android and iOS. It was well designed and worked very well but sadly not enough users signed up and it will be turned off in Mid September.

I don't think I can merge my email for historical reasons. If I started from scratch today, I probably would but I have established Google accounts and established iCloud accounts which are business ones and the level of potential chaos that would ensue by shifting them (unless you could do some kind of hidden forwarding but that might be above my pay grade!) would probably be not worth it.

Maybe I should just shift back to an iPhone...!

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#2071601 11-Aug-2018 03:05

Geektastic: ... Newton was great because it works the same across OSX, Windows, Android and iOS. ...

It's a pity I didn't know about it. I'm on the same search as you.

Geektastic: ... I don't think I can merge my email for historical reasons. If I started from scratch today, I probably would but I have established Google accounts and established iCloud accounts which are business ones and the level of potential chaos that would ensue by shifting them (unless you could do some kind of hidden forwarding but that might be above my pay grade!) would probably be not worth it.

You might want to look into Send emails from a different address or alias in Gmail. You can easily select the sending account when creating an email (you just have to remember to do so). You can import all your different emails into Gmail, apply different labels / IMAP equivalent folders to easy filter them. Gmail can also continuously download new emails from the other accounts.

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timmmay

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#2071610 11-Aug-2018 07:36

Geektastic:

I don't think I can merge my email for historical reasons.

I've done a bit of email migration work. Give me a yell if you want to give me a bit more detail about your platforms and have me think about it for you.

reven

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#2071634 11-Aug-2018 09:19

just asking, maybe not for you but maybe someone who is in a similar situation, but why not just get your other email addresses to forward to your gmail/gmail import them directly. in gmail setup tags, so those emails are tagged as coming from that other email address, and then get gmail to automatically send any emails you reply to from those addresses with that replyto address?

then just use gmail.com on a desktop and gmail app on android/ios.

and if you wanted to go a step further and phase out all other email addresses except your main one, have gmail send all emails from your main address, so if someone emails bob@applemail.test you reply with bob@myrealemail.test so people learn your new email address quite easily. I did this when phasing out my ISP email years ago.

Geektastic

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#2071709 11-Aug-2018 11:49

I'll talk to @Timmmay about what can be done but shifting to Gmail may be the result that comes from all this rather than shifting platforms - although my moving back to iPhone line was only half in jest as getting the Android/iOS thing to play nice with calendar, contacts etc is a PITA if you need to use iCal etc. Ideally I would have Android hardware running iOS in a mobile Hackintosh!

Edit - I know you can (with sufficient tech skill and the willingness to jailbreak phone etc) get iOS to run on Android but when I say it, I mean I'd like it legitimately!

timmmay

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#2071727 11-Aug-2018 13:27

Migrating email to Google for business from IMAP servers is easy. I know you have a couple of domains on Google business account, but from memory it's one of the old free accounts? Not sure you can make free domains.

Migrating to Gmail is different, it's a different setup from Google for business. I tend to just use Thunderbird, drag and drop mail onto Gmail accessed via Thunderbird. That's pretty easy.

Pumpedd

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#2071728 11-Aug-2018 13:28

Geektastic:

I'll talk to @Timmmay about what can be done but shifting to Gmail may be the result that comes from all this rather than shifting platforms - although my moving back to iPhone line was only half in jest as getting the Android/iOS thing to play nice with calendar, contacts etc is a PITA if you need to use iCal etc. Ideally I would have Android hardware running iOS in a mobile Hackintosh!

Edit - I know you can (with sufficient tech skill and the willingness to jailbreak phone etc) get iOS to run on Android but when I say it, I mean I'd like it legitimately!

Is Gmail just webmail rather than a mail client?

timmmay

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#2071745 11-Aug-2018 14:02

Pumpedd:

Is Gmail just webmail rather than a mail client?

Just has a web interface, but allows IMAP clients to connect. It's not really good at following IMAP standards so things don't look quite right through an IMAP client, but it's close enough to be usable.

Pumpedd

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#2071747 11-Aug-2018 14:04

timmmay:

Pumpedd:

Is Gmail just webmail rather than a mail client?

Just has a web interface, but allows IMAP clients to connect. It's not really good at following IMAP standards so things don't look quite right through an IMAP client, but it's close enough to be usable.

I am using Outlook 2016 atm but its really overkill

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