10 Popular Email Apps for iPhone
Users tend to default to the two most popular email apps for iPhone: Gmail, or the iOS Mail app that comes pre-installed on all iPhones.
However, there are plenty of other email apps out there that should be considered for someone that wants to get the most out of their time and their device!
If you want to optimize your emails with an app that fits your specific needs, then you’ve come to the right place.
In the article below, you’ll find a curated list of the best iPhone-compatible email apps!
10 Popular Email Apps For iPhone
Make sure you know your email tendencies before you head into this list.
Choosing the right email app can make the process of organizing your digital life much easier, and minimize the time you spend on your phone each day. Here’s everything you need to know about the most popular email apps for iPhone.
1. Spark Mail
Spark Mail is mainly focused around professionals who have to maintain an organized inbox, especially those that need to work within (or manage) a team.
It was produced relatively recently in May 2015 by a company that develops productivity tools, called Readdle.
Although they’re relatively new to the game, they have a great track record with improving on the stock-standard apps.
Readdle offers other products such as a PDF reader, calendar, document workflow manager, and a document reader which all claim to improve on often-used apps to make them more efficient!
Spark uses AI to enhance user experience and streamline email management. It can generate drafts, edit drafts, summarize emails, provide quick AI replies, rephrase drafts, correct grammar, adjust tone, and provide AI summaries. These features provide instant insights from emails and threads, and users can choose the summary style that suits their needs.
Spark Mail has a free-to-use plan, but does come with Premium and ‘Premium Teams’ options as well.
The free-to-use plan has a better email archiving/deleting system, clearly filters emails from real people away from newsletters and promotions, and is simple to use.
The Premium plan costs $4.99 per month, and includes increased filtering tools, which ‘reduce distractions and highlight priority email’.
Premium Teams will cost you around $6.99 per month. Not only does it come with all the previous functions, it actually has an extra feature that may be a game changer for some people.
Namely, upgrading to Premium Teams will allow you to create group inboxes! This makes communications within teams easier, and allows you to collaborate in real time on email drafts as well.
2. iOS Mail
iOS mail, or Apple mail, is, of course, going to be among the most popular email apps for iPhone! This is because it comes pre-installed on any iPhone, and it’s free – and who doesn’t love free stuff?
This might be your top choice if you don’t have a high mass of important or time sensitive emails coming in, and you don’t have to send too many out.
If you’re really only sending emails to one or two people at a time, you probably won’t need anything too complicated, so iOS Mail works great in that regard.
It’s straightforward to attach files, archive or delete emails, and is compatible with almost any type of email account you might have. However, it has a lot fewer features than more recently developed apps.
iOS Mail is probably the best app if you don’t use your emails a lot, and therefore don’t need the ‘power features’ that come with other apps.
3. Microsoft Outlook
If you don’t want to adjust to a radically different functionality and user interface from Apple Mail, then Microsoft Outlook is the next logical step for you.
Outlook is also a popular app for businesses, both on PC and on phones, because of the way it integrates different platforms into one app.
Outlook easily integrates with third-party apps such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote, Trello, and more, and operates as a great ‘bridge’ between your Apple phone and your Microsoft PC.
Outlook uses AI to improve its functionality. It offers features like Tone Suggestion, Conciseness, Summarization, and Copilot. These help users deliver messages thoughtfully, write concisely, summarize long texts, and generate responses. However, it doesn’t adapt to user interactions or preferences.
Outlook comes with customizable swipe functions for delete, archive, and more. It also has a built-in calendar to help you stay organized, and to schedule emails.
You can even schedule for emails to return to your inbox if you go on holiday, or if you know you are prone to forgetfulness!
4. Polymail
Polymail is business-focused all the way. Their website says that it aims to save you time on reaching ‘inbox zero’ everyday.
It comes with a few very interesting functions which are aimed at managers and people who need to coordinate with teams.
Polymail allows you to track what’s happening with your emails after you send them, giving detailed insight into who is reading them and when.
It also has a smart message template function, and keeps comprehensive profile info on your contacts. It also comes with shared calendars.
All of these functions claim to save the average user 4 hours per week!
It also has quite a significant price range:
- $10 per month for the Basic plan, which is best for a single user, or a partnership
- $24 per month for the Premium plan, which should cover most teams, as it comes with 20 connected accounts plus extra functions
- $49 per month for the ‘Enterprise’ plan, which is designed to be enough for a whole business, with up to 20 shared calendars, plenty of sales-focused functions, as well as everything Polymail has to offer.
5. Gmail
Gmail! All Android phones come with Gmail, so if you’re switching to iPhone over from the former you might already be familiar with Gmail and its user interface.
Gmail is probably the most simplistic email app, so it’s best for someone that isn’t particularly tech savvy (or just wants to keep things super easy).
Aside from that, the main reason you might want to use Gmail is because of its interactivity with other Google apps.
Gmail connects well with Docs, Drive, Youtube and more. The best part is you probably already have an account!
Gmail uses AI for drafting emails, suggesting words, providing quick responses, composing automated messages, and filtering spam.
If you don’t have a huge email workload just want a free, simple email app, then Gmail is the go-to.
6. Yahoo! Mail
Yahoo! Mail has been around forever – since 1997, to be exact- and predates almost all the software you’re currently using.
It’s most comparable to the other free email apps, like Apple Mail and Gmail, but with a few distinctions.
Yahoo! Mail allows slightly more customizability than Gmail, but also comes with ads.
Yahoo Mail uses AI to enhance user experience through features like an improved search mode, a writing assistant, a message summary feature, and a Shopping Saver tool. These features, part of Yahoo Mail’s AI beta experience supported by Google Cloud’s AI technology, aim to save users time in writing and managing emails.
However, there is a premium option, Yahoo! Mail Plus, which offers some pretty cool things and costs just $5 per month!
Yahoo! Mail Plus is ad-free and comes with a suite of unique features, like the creation of disposable email addresses, increased email filtering and organizing tools, and 5,000 GB of email storage.
Yahoo! Mail Plus is best suited for someone who can take advantage of these unique features.
In terms of organization and team-management, there are other paid email services that do the job better.
7. Airmail
Airmail is the perfect compromise between a free-to-use email service and a paid, business-focused email service.
Its paid version comes in significantly cheaper than most at only $9.99 per year, and Airmail’s free version has more functions than the other free apps like Gmail or iOS Mail.
The main perks of Airmail are its high levels of customizability; as one reviewer puts it, there are “a lot of knobs to tinker with”, and its extensive list of apps that it integrates with.
If you want to smoothly transition between Google Drive, Onedrive, Dropbox, and Evernote, as well as curate an email app that is finetuned to how you use it, then Airmail should be your pick.
I imagine Airmail would be a good fit for someone that runs their own small business, such as an independent photographer.
This is because Airmail offers some tools that help you organize clients and contracts, as well as easily integrate with different software- without having to pay a lot for a suite of extensive tools you might not need if you were trying to coordinate a large team!
8. Edison Mail
Edison Mail is a free-to-use service, with three unique features that might draw you to it. It has all the basic ‘power tools’ like customisable swiping, and snoozing or scheduling emails.
Its unique features are:
- A smart assistant that helps you organize and categorize emails
- An Undo Time Window, which you can set from 3-15 seconds. This is a life-saving function if you regret an email, notice a typo, or forget to attach an attachment after sending!
- The ability to completely block a sender from reaching your inbox
- It also has a paid service called OnMail which adds more features such as creating a custom domain or splitting inboxes
Edison Mail+ is an AI-based email security subscription plan designed to combat email scams. It incorporates a range of security-enhancing features that can be integrated with the Edison Mail app. These features include sender verification, spam blocking, and contact validation, among others, providing a comprehensive functionality to ensure user security.
I would recommend Edison Mail for someone that likes the look of its unique features and is considering making an upgrade to a paid service, but wants to get the feel of an email service that is “halfway” between a paid and a free service.
9. TwoBird
TwoBird seems like the best email service for someone who doesn’t have to send hundreds of work emails per week, but still wants to make their life easier.
It’s developed by Gingerlabs, a team that creates productivity apps especially designed for creatives. Like the company’s other app, Notability, it seems most compatible with creatives.
It is a smooth and non-disruptive app, which has an interesting feature of removing fluff from emails (introductions, signatures, etc).
Its main issue is that it’s currently only compatible with Gmail, Google Workspace, or Outlook, but it is a new app that is still being actively developed.
At the moment, it’s completely free! I would recommend this app to someone who wants to minimize time spent looking at their phone, and needs a little help organizing their life with its built-in to-do list.
10. Triage
Triage is probably the most unique email app in this list. This is because it doesn’t try to be your primary email service. I’ll briefly explain how it works!
Triage presents your emails as a stack of “cards”. You quickly filter through the stack with one hand, swiping up to archive an email, swiping down to leave it unread and waiting in your inbox for later.
This is meant to allow you to do a quick run through of your emails when you have a spare few minutes, allowing you to focus more energy on the emails that matter.
Triage doesn’t have push notifications, and it doesn’t follow the usual structure of email clients at all. It is compatible with iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and generic IMAP email services.
I would recommend pairing Triage with a more comprehensive email app if you find yourself struggling with a large daily inbox, and not enough “desk time” to get through it all. It’s a one-off purchase of $1.99.
Wrapping Up
There you have it- the 10 most popular email apps for iPhone users!
Of course, which email app you choose is going to depend on what functions and features you need, and how frequently you’re using your email.
Each email app is aimed at a particular type of user: Casual, professional-lite (creatives, contractors), professional-heavy (managers of large teams, CEO’s)- and, of course, the delightful oddity that is Triage!
Be clear on the type of user you are, and pick the one that suits you best. If you find yourself running low on time to get through your inbox, it may be a good idea to pair one of the email apps above with Triage!
Don’t worry too much about the cost of the monthly fees on these services, as even if there are any, they are almost always worth it.
If it even saves you one hour, then you’ve already paid off more than the monthly fee, after all.
Happy emailing!