Tech

3 reasons you should try my new favorite email app, Spark

Alex Heath

2015-12-14T22:09:00Z

Last week I found out that my favorite email app, Mailbox, was getting the axe.

The news sent me into a frantic search for an email app that could replace Mailbox — no easy task given how integral it's been to my daily life the past three years.

After testing several of the most popular email apps out there, including Microsoft's Outlook and Google's experimental Inbox app, I landed on a relatively new email app called Spark, which is built by Readdle, a Ukrainian app development company.

1. Spark's Smart Inbox automatically groups emails into different groups, like newsletters and alerts.

There are two main inbox views in Spark: the main inbox, which is displayed in chronological order like you'd expect, and the Smart Inbox, which automatically groups similar emails together, like recurring newsletters and messages from specific people the app thinks deserve your attention.

I like checking my Smart Inbox first thing in the morning to get a quick glance at what kind of emails are filling my inbox. It's a helpful visual breakdown of what I have to deal with.

2. The app lets you customize how you interact with email on a pretty granular level.

Spark lets you customize just about every part of the app, including how its different windows ("widgets") are laid out. You can hide individual widgets, like the separate menu for browsing attachments, if you don't plan on using them.

I appreciate an email app that lets me customize how things work on a detailed level, which is an area that Spark excels in. I can have multiple signatures, connect my Dropbox and Pocket accounts, and much more.

3. You can 'snooze' emails for later.

UOj9OLyO5iN7ptgiUBfJAMIERSM1oHBRu03CjEkRQko

Being able to snooze emails for later was an absolute must-have feature for an email app to replace Mailbox. I've relied on Mailbox's snoozing abilities for so long, and I was pleased to see Spark get a very similar feature in a recent update.

If an email hits my inbox that I want to look at later, I can swipe on it and choose from a list of times. Spark will even send me a push notification alerting me when a snoozed email arrives in my inbox again.

Spark is a free app for the iPhone and Apple Watch. An iPad and Mac version is currently in the works.

If you're looking for a powerful but easy to use email app, I strongly recommend giving Spark a try. It has everything an email app should offer and several extra features that make it stand out.

It's free, and you can get it here.