Let me cut through the noise and tell you straight up: I am smitten with Airmail 2.0 and wished that all my Windows user friends could use this Mac email client.
As you may know, I’ve reviewed and tried a number of email clients recently (Inky, Postbox, Mailbox and Sparrow).
I finally settled on Sparrow.
It was a nice bridge from native Gmail and offered enough features to make me happy. It was a good balance of options, power, minimalism, and ease of use for me. However, it has always felt like it lack a little something. I have also been on Bloop’s Airmail Beta program and had tried Airmail several times. It too felt like it fell a little short; half baked, even, but once Sparrow rode off into the sunset—it hasn’t been updated in a very long time—I figured that I would hop on over to Airmail.
So when I saw that Bloop released Airmail 2.0 along with the Yosemite update, I had a feeling that I had found the perfect email client.
And I was right.
Airmail 2.0
The layout and design of Airmail 2.0 reminds me a lot of Sparrow and Airmail 1.0 in all the right ways. Meanwhile, it touts features and feels that go far beyond either of these predecessors. Whether you’re using one Gmail account or four of them, Airmail 2.0 has all the right bells and whistles to make email more awesome.
- Adding email tags is super quick and easy.
- Enabling Quick Reply on all of my accounts makes typical email replies super quick and easy.
- The interface is the most Yosemite styled app I’ve seen, yet.
- Keyboard shortcuts are great—not really sure about the touchpad motions.
- The layout can be tweaked several different ways.
- Send to Evernote, Calendar, etc…
Slick, right?
You can also integrate Google Drive, Dropbox, Droplr, CloudApp, FTP and Open Directory.
I recommend going through all the preferences once you’ve installed Airmail 2.0 and wired up your email (Exchange, iCloud™, Gmail™, IMAP, POP3, Google™ Apps, Yahoo!™, AOL™, Outlook.com™ or Live.com™) and tweak Airmail 2.0 to your liking. It’s subtle, but has been really nice to tweak a few things to function like Sparrow in a few areas, while fixing some of the annoying Sparrow settings.
As for future features, I am sure Bloop will sculpt and make Airmail 2.0 even better (although that’s hard to imagine—LOL). They have also set up Airmail Plugins, so I’ll be curious to see if and how developers might expand Airmail 2.0’s power.
Quick Look
[YouTube]
Screenshots
Conclusion
Unless you’re a Mailbox kind of email user, Airmail 2 is the Mac email client for you. If you’ve enjoyed Sparrow, you’ll become a die-hard Airmail 2.0 fanboy like. It’s lighting fast, has just the right features, and has made the time I spend in my email so much more enjoyable. Sparrow made my inbox battle tolerable, Airmail 2.0 has made it awesome.
For a limited time, upgrade pricing is available at a 50% discount. Normally you’re going to pay $19.99—which is totally worth the price—but with the price at only $9.99, it’s a no brainer.
Snag AirMail 2.0 from the Mac App Store or learn more on the AirMail website.
Have any questions about Airmail 2.0? Ask me!
Giveaway
ChurchMag would like to give someone a free copy of this awesome app. Here’s how you can enter to win:
Share this post via Facebook, Twitter or Google+ and be sure to mention ChurchMag.Leave a comment below and tell us how your currently checking your email from your desktop.
I’ll pick a winner THIS FRIDAY!
Winner listed below… 😀
Eric Dye
Support Lead at Valet, and Proprietor of DYECASTING. Human by day, gamer at night, lover of coffee, and all things spicy.
I’m currently using the native Mail app on my MBA. It gets the job done but I like the ability to integrate cloud services. I use Google Drive & Dropbox a lot. So having that integration would be extremely helpful!
Yeah. I dig the integration, too. I loved the idea of Mail app, but I really like filing my email.
I Use Gmail, outlock, and Mail.
That’s really diverse! Thankfully, Airmail 2.0 will bring all of those into one, unified place for you.
I’m currently using Airmail 1.4.1 and enjoy it a lot. I updated to OS X 10.10 Yosemite at home and I’m thinking about giving Mac Mail another try. But Airmail 2.0 looks great, would love to win it and continue using the updated version.
Yeah, I found that Airmail 1 was a lot like Sparrow, so I saved my pennies and tried the beta version ever so often to see how it was progressing. I also tried Mac Mail, but it ended up feeling kind of heavy. Now that I’ve been rockin’ Airmail 2.0, I am finally settled.
Cody….YOU WIN!!!!!! 😀
Right now, I check my mail through my phone or on through mac email client. BORING!
Oh, no! LOL! 😉
Airmail 2.0 won’t help with the email on your phone, but you’ll love it as a desktop app—I’m sure. 🙂
Survived using Airmail 1 throughout last year. But using Mail.app to try out handoff now.
Handoff is good on mail.app, but otherwise miss Airmail for it’s awesome feature-set.
Exactly why I prefer Airmail.
It’s only been a week with Mail.app and I’ve already started missing Airmail, from Dropbox and Evernote integration to the slick unified inbox.
Yeah, the tie between the mobile and the desktop app with Mailapp is pretty slick.
I’m currently using Mailplane as my main mail app. I keep 6 gmail accounts going, so my mail has to do multiple account well!
I’ve been trying out Mailbox beta, and although it’s lovely to look at, I’m just too much of a label-aholic to really become best friends with it…
But that video of of airmail 2 – ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh it look nice 🙂
You’re a label-aholic like me! 😀
Yes, it’s time to move past Mailplane. 😛
Wow. I went back and forth between Airmail 1, Postbox, and Mailbox app for sometime. I really liked Airmail 1, but just felt like it was missing some things. Now though, it looks like it is all grown up.
I was going to try to win a copy from you guys, but I am so impressed with what I see in this review, I went ahead and purchased it because I couldn’t wait.
I am a sucker for a good email client, but this time, you had me at, “Evernote reminder integration.”
Great, review!
Cheers!
Demian
And I imagine you’re loving it. 😀
I want!!! I use Gmail to connect all my email accounts. I find Mac’s native email client a bit redundant at times.
Airmail 2.0 would make your Gmailing SO nice. 😀
I tried Airmail 1.0 and was semi impressed. Been a Mailbox fan ever since the iOS app launched (and then desktop). However, this looks tempting.
Mwah-ah-ah-AHHHH! I tempted you from Mailbox.
I use Gmail in a tab in Chrome or Safari.
:0
New to AirMail, just bought it and trying it out. Not happy 🙁 I’m not super tech savvy — but if it’s user friendly I can usually figure it out. Can’t however, figure out how to add other g-mail accounts (I have 4) after I added the first one. It’s very frustrating. I’ve tried to find the info online and it just tells me about the very first “add accounts” feature at set-up. I’ve tried trashing and reloading the app… but it still keeps my first gmail account info. Please help! How do I add more accounts? Thanks!
Go to your preferences (CMD+,).
The first pane it pulls up is Accounts. Click the plus symbol (+) in the lower left corner.
Used Airmail 1. Kept up mixing my conversations. Bought version 2, hoped problem would be resolved, isn’t the case. Mentioned it through mail, twitter,… Never got a decent answer. So bye bye Airmail.
Weird.
I seem to have the same problem, does anyone know how to resolve this issue?
Have you reached out to Airmail?
Great and enticing review, Eric. Thank you.
I’ve been a Mail.app user for years after switching from Entourage and back a few times. Now, there are just two many weird and phantom things going on with Mail.app. (Most of my accounts… 9 out of 12… are Gmail/IMAP). Things like new emails disappearing from Inbox and only to be found via a hunt into the Archive, for one. I’m nervous since if I didn’t see it in the Inbox to begin with, I’d have no idea it came nor how to find it.
So… I’m looking for an alternative. Have tried Mailbox, but I don’t see the ability to import from Mail.app On My Mac folders/mailboxes, also other things like signatures (use a bunch).
On to the question… how does Airmail compare in those areas? (I have dozens of mailboxes/folders of local emails.)
Thanks!
Tom
I am unsure about importing from Mail.app. HOWEVER, I do know that the Gmail/IMAP stuff just updates. May take a while—it did for me—but now I can do deep searches for old mail, etc… As for signatures, the skys the limit. I’ve got custom signatures for each my accounts, and even if I start penning an email and realize I am using the wrong account, when I switch accounts, it auto updates my signature.
Again, as for your ‘local emails,’ I don’t know how it handles that. :-/
Hey man!
I’ve gone and bought the new version as well as a result of your review.
Good job 🙂
Busy waiting for it to install as we speak.
Tempted to get this especially because it has Evernote integration. I’m currently using Unibox. Have you looked at that program and how would you rate them comparitively?
I have not used Unibox—but after seeing it—I’ll have to take a closer look. 😀
I paid for and used both Airmail 1 and 2… same problems with both. They mix-up, combine conversations AND the search function went from buggy to not functioning at all. I don’t care what you type in the search box, the results will be the same 50 emails.
Sad to hear. I have not experienced this at all. :-/
Does the new Airmail 2.0 app have a setting for deleting email from the server once downloaded into Airmail? I have a pop3 account and this was a major deal breaker in the old Airmail app. All email programs I have used have a setting to delete messages from the server.
I am not showing this as an option for Gmail, but that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be the case for other setups. Have you tried emailing or Tweeting to the developer?
I love Airmail 2 and I installed it in three Macs. Among other e-mail accounts, I created a local folder (or local account), but I’m unable to synchronize this folder in the different Macs. The other e-mail accounts are perfectly synchronized (I use IMAp accounts).
Any suggestion?
Best regards in advance!
Yeah, the IMAP will naturally sync, as for the app, I’m not too sure. It’s not native, so that could be tricky to do. You might be able to do some Dropbox or other cloud storage ninja tricks to sync the other stuff?
Thanks but… How I tell to Airmail 2 that my local folder is in Dropbox?
Hmmmm. I thought that can be done, but upon further review, I can’t see how. You might try reaching out the developer?
I installed Airmail 2 two weeks ago and like it very much, but struggle to read the apps font size.
I really don’t think that I should have to lift my MBC R to eye level in order to read fonts I otherwise cannot see, nor can change.
Otherwise it is a huge improvement on other mail apps I have tried
I like this client, but unable to find how to send to a group of contacts which holds +200 adresses in it ?
Don’t want to put them all one by one when writing an email
Oh, yikes. Yeah, I’m not sure there’s an easy way to deal with email groups in Airmail. Can you set one up in Gmail and see if Airmail picks it up as a regular contact? You might email them about it, too. Who knows, maybe they’ll add it as a feature. 😀
I also like this app, but have the same problem. Surely there is a way to send to groups, but I haven’t found it.
It looks like this is out of Airmail’s scope (for now anyway). I’ve emailed the developer about this—I’ll let you know if I hear anything. 🙂
Here’s what they said:
“For email groups, if the group is in the Contacts.app it should detect it.”
I just recently switched from windows/outlook to mac/airmail/busycal and am very happy… however I wonder if you know where the data files are on the mac for airmail2? i would like to know i have those backed up somehow other than Time Machine…. and are there anyways to import old outlook .pst files into airmail2? nice review btw… any info would be appreciated and thank you!!.
I would contact the developer about importing old Outlook files. As for data saved locally, if you’re using something like Gmail, the messages aren’t actually stored locally, but synced with the Gmail service.
I like Airmail in general. Nice lay out. Fine mapping.
What I don’t like, but may be I don’t understand it is the way it handle email addresses. The adressbook is really awful, there is no online sync with the adressbook of Apple, there is no structure in the adressbook at all.
I dont understand how to delete old dresses, or to change an address when people change there emailadress.
I really hope they make a update soon.
I haven’t used the address book much. I usually just start typing the name of the person I am trying to email, and then it begins to narrow down my options until I select the person I want to email.
Hi, I just started with AirMail and it looks great. What is driving me nuts, though, is that in a “conversation” I cannot see what folders the individual messages are in — and it seems very cumbersome to move or delete one message. Am I missing something? In Mac Mail you only see the messages that are still in that mailbox you’re looking at. I can see the advantage of having the entire thread in front of you, but I need to know where each message resides (e.g. which of them I’ve already deleted)….
Ed how do I add new email account?..