Best Email Apps for Productivity on iOS

As more of us tend to work on the go, email apps have become vital to our online existence. But, with so many email apps available for iOS, how do you know which one to pick? Well, we’ve rounded up our top 8 email apps for productivity on iOS (ranked in no particular order), so read on to find out more!

1. Apple Mail

Apple’s Mail app is already built straight into your iPhone, free, and ready to go- making it an easy option.

Whatever you use for your email—including iCloud, AOL, Gmail, Outlook, or Exchange—you can use it on the Mail app as it supports full integration, including POP.

Aside from the fact that it already comes with your iPhone, the app is also updated regularly. Not only that, but it will automatically sync to your Calendar as well!

While, like most Apple products, it’s incredibly user-friendly (simply swipe to flag, mark as unread, or file emails), you unfortunately cannot customize it, and advanced options are limited.

2. Spark Mail

Spark Mail also supports integration of all of the usual email providers, but brings a little more pizazz to the party by enabling you to connect a variety of third-party apps.

These include Things, Evernote, Dropbox, Trello, ToDo, Google Drive, and Reminders.

Spark can also sync appointments across its built-in calendar. It has an email templates feature as well, which you can sync across all of your existing devices.

You can also snooze email, schedule your replies for a later time, send follow-up reminders, and enable smart notifications.

One of the best things about Spark is that you can enable personalization and customization, and, better yet, it’s free!

If you love Spark, you can even use it for your organization.

On the Teams plan, you can collaborate on emails together, have private conversations, and create permanent links to email messages.
The basic version is free, but if you want to upgrade with extra file storage, enhanced link sharing, team roles and control, you can go for one of their paid versions.

3. Shortwave

Shortwave is a Gmail-based client that you can install on both your iPhone and your computer.

Created by a team who used to work at Google and Firebase, the client is based on the now-defunct Inbox by Gmail.

Free to use, Shortwave bundles your emails into specific types and treats your Gmail inbox much like a to-do list.

By marking your emails as ‘done’, you can then see which emails have been ‘completed’. This little psychological trick can actually boost your productivity!

Like Spark, you can also snooze emails for later, but Shortwave tries to treat your emails more like a messaging app than an email app.

You’ll find channels available, similar to Slack and Discord, making this another good option for sharing with your organization.

There is a basic team plan available, but for more control over this, you’ll have to pay.

You can also customize your notifications, to make sure that you’re only getting notified about the types of messages that really matter to you!

4. Gmail

If you use Gmail, then the Gmail app is a surefire way to give you exactly what you need.

As an email app, it gives you all of the functionality you’ve come to expect from the web browser version.

However, where the iOS app really stands out is its ability to integrate with other Google apps.

If you already use Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sheets, then the Gmail app allows you to access, attach, preview, edit, update, and save, all from within the app.

Ultimately, if you’re a Google fan, you should be using this app to make your integration and productivity life that much easier.

There is some customization, same as you would have for the browser version of Gmail.

You can choose from default, comfortable, or compact, all of which have slightly different functions.

The ability to snooze emails is also available, and you can ‘undo’ a sent email if you accidentally hit send too soon.

iCloud, Outlook, Yahoo, and IMAP are all supported, and the app is free, but let’s be honest: If you’re using the Gmail app, it’s probably because you’re using Gmail!

5. Spike

Spike is an email client that has truly brought the current online communication styles to the forefront.

Before you ask: Yes, it is an email client and yes, we know it looks like a messaging app. But isn’t that the beauty of it?

Spike is probably closer to Slack than it is to an email client.

It removes the headers and signatures and uses AI to auto-sort your inbox into a Priority Inbox.

You can also join up with your organization, and send group emails, which feel more like messages.

It’s even possible to encrypt conversations, which may be particularly useful for work use.

More collaborative tools exist, such as Notes, Tasks, and To-Do lists, all of which you can share with teams.

You can also conduct video and audio meetings from the same app, making it more efficient without the need to switch between different apps.

Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, iCloud, Outlook, IONOS, GoDadd, Exchange, AOL, and IMAP are all supported.

You can also integrate with Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, and more besides.
For personal use, Spike is completely free, but if you decide to sign up with your organization, there are two paid plans. Both, however, come with a free trial.

6. Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is another oldie but a goodie.

The iOS app is much more streamlined and clean, which may be a bit of a breath of fresh air from the desktop client. It also supports all major email accounts except for POP3.

With a ‘Focused Inbox’, prioritizing your email based on your regular contacts, it also has an ‘Other Inbox’ for everything else.

Other features include basic file management with integration with other Microsoft products and Dropbox, plus other third-party apps and, of course, a calendar.

Functionality is customizable—you can set up exactly what you want your left and right swipes to do—and is also available as an Apple Watch app to check your email when you’re out and about with ease.

Speaking of: If you want to deal with an email later, you can schedule it to show up in your inbox at a particular time.

Also completely free, if you’re a fan of Microsoft and are already using Microsoft 365, you should strongly consider this app.

7. Edison Mail

Edison Mail is a great mail app if you have lots of emails that need to be sorted into different groups.

That’s because Edison is not only an email app but also a powerful virtual assistant tool.

In addition to filtering, you can also unsend emails up to 15 seconds after hitting the send button.

However, it’s not just useful, it’s also pretty: With a built-in Dark Mode, Edison makes reading emails at all hours convenient!

Like many of the other apps on this list, you can custom-snooze emails. In addition to this, you can also pin messages, block senders, and search quickly through your emails with its AI-based assistant tool.
Edison is currently completely free to use, but you should bear in mind that it was recently acquired by Yipit, so there may be changes coming in the future.

8. ProtonMail

ProtonMail is an extremely secure email app, with all of their servers based in Switzerland.

Specifically designed for privacy and security, there are no ads getting in the way, and end-to-end encryption is available. You can even encrypt your contacts lists.

While it’s a bit of a hassle to access email from other services (you’ll have to set up forwarding), the whole point of this app is to keep you and your data secure.

You can lock sent mail with passwords, or even set an expiration date.

If security is your main concern, then ProtonMail is probably the best email client for you.

And in terms of productivity, you can rest assured that when

you’re sending emails on the go, your data is secure! ProtonMail has a free version, plus two paid versions.

So there you have it—our best email apps for productivity on iPhones! Do you use any of the above clients, or something else? Let us know in the comments!

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